New direction: Labour leader Keir Starmer (right) and deputy Angela Rayner (left) spot Diane Abbott and Clive Lewis at a PLP meeting.
Labour seems slow to comment on anything lately, but these words seem to have struck a raw nerve:
Then deal with the racist staffers in the Labour Party – otherwise, these are just empty words
— The Prole Star (@TheProleStar) June 5, 2020
It’s a good point, well-made. The Labour report that claimed party staff members had deliberately obstructed anti-Semitism investigations in order to make then-leader Jeremy Corbyn seem anti-Semitic himself, and that suggested the same staffers had conspired to prevent Labour from winning the 2017 general election (the 2019 election was not part of its subject matter), includes evidence of anti-black and minority ethnic racism too.
But new party leader Keir Starmer has not lifted a finger to investigate these claims.
Alleged anti-Semites are suspended the instant claims are made against them – true or false – and the allegations are now pursued with a fervour not seen since the Salem witch trials of the 17th century.
But Starmer’s – and Rayner’s – Labour seems to think it fine for staff members to persecute the UK’s first and longest-serving black female MP, who already suffers more than half of all the racist abuse directed at any MPs.
Perhaps this is the reason Labour is allegedly haemorrhaging BAME support, as reported by the Huffington Post:
Labour Party voters are still reeling from the aftermath of a leaked Labour report that has fuelled allegations of anti-Black racism at the heart of the party – and many have told HuffPost UK that they now feel “politically homeless”.
It also did something else that was not on the tin: raised grave concerns of anti-Black racism, otherwise referred to as Afriphobia, which campaigners argue have not been adequately addressed by the party’s leadership.
Labour officials used a string of insults in private WhatsApp groups to describe senior Black MPs and officials including Diane Abbott, Dawn Butler and Clive Lewis, the lengthy document revealed.
For a number of Black voters it meant it was time to part ways with the party.
For many, this scandal is the latest let-down in a long list of concerns around Blackness and the Labour Party such as lack of representation.
Now we see Starmer and Rayner making a token display of support for the Black Lives Matter movement in the wake of the killing of George Floyd.
This Writer has contributed more with the articles published on This Site about that subject.
Could it be that Labour really has become as racist – under Starmer – as some complained it was under Corbyn?
And do we really have to wait until July, when an inquiry into the Labour report is due to release its findings, for that to become clear?
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