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Liddle Britain

The pernicious politics of ‘identity’

Rod Liddle

Wednesday, 21st February 2007

We should sweep it all away. All the discrimination, all the cant, all the misplaced attempts to instil pride in people simply because they have a greater (or, for that matter, lesser) amount of melanin. Why do we need award ceremonies, for example, like Mobo — Music of Black Origin? Why are there so many awards for black people in the media? Aren’t these little jamborees by their very definition racist? Don’t they perpetuate the notion that black people are in some way separate from the rest of us and, worse, that they should remain so? Why do our schools have a Black History Month every October? Shouldn’t the history of black people inform the subject every month of the year?

There’s a pretty nasty British-based website called the Stormfront White Nationalist Community. You can probably imagine what it’s like — and, indeed, the political disposition of the people who contribute to it. Basically, they make Taki look like Desmond Tutu. Kick ’em out now, all of them, immediately, is the gist. There are still white racists in Britain and this website signals its commitment to racism by the use of the word ‘white’ as a frequently deployed adjective signifying approval. The respectable Black Britain website, meanwhile, uses the word ‘black’ repeatedly in every single article. Being ‘black’ seems to be the only thing that matters. Isn’t that racist too?

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