In defence of Diane Abbott: the reality of visible racism

Letter from Dave Knaggs in Carlisle

May I be as bold as to say: Diane Abbott is absolutely right. Her critics seem more interested in policing her phrasing than addressing the very real truths she raised.

The uncomfortable reality is that anti-Black racism is often immediate, visual and inescapable. A Black person can be discriminated against on sight, before a word is spoken, before a CV is seen, before any box is ticked. A job interviewer knows a candidate is Black the moment they walk into the room. That same employer might not know if someone is Irish, Jewish or a Traveller unless the applicant discloses it or is profiled based on surname or accent. The distinction here is not a hierarchy of suffering but a difference in how prejudice manifests and when.

This is evidenced by the fact that Black people are disproportionately stopped and searched by police, not because of what they say or do, but simply because of how they look. In the UK, Black people are nearly nine times more likely to be stopped under stop and search powers than white people. That statistic alone should silence the bad-faith outrage and provoke a national reckoning, but instead, we get the tabloids howling about a letter.

Let’s not forget: the murderers of Stephen Lawrence were a gang who deliberately targeted Black youth, their victims chosen not by religion, accent or surname, but by skin colour. Still today, young Black boys are unfairly profiled; is that not systemic racism, visible and brutal?

This is not to say other communities do not face racism. They do, and often viciously. Antisemitism and anti-Traveller hatred are alive and dangerous. Diane Abbott herself has consistently stood in solidarity with these communities, often more so than the political commentators now calling for her head.

But recognising the specificity of anti-Black racism (that it can be instantaneous and based on visual cues alone) is not an erasure of the pain of others. It is a necessary and honest observation. And if we cannot even say that out loud, what chance do we have of tackling the structures that keep racism alive?

Nigel Farage and many of his hoodlum band of followers frequently show unashamed racism with their hateful populism. Reform is a dangerous movement. Diane Abbot is a much-loved Black woman and respected Mother of the House, yet she is the focus of a row over racism. Bizarre! Diane Abbott was punished not for being wrong, but for being right and for saying it plainly.