Is Britain the Best Place to be Black?
Short reflection on Kemi Badenoch's comments at the Conservative Party Conference
- by Jide Ehizele
As always, race continues to be a hot subject in current affairs. Kemi Badenoch's recent claim about being black in Britain at the Tory party conference seems to have caused some stir on social media.
“I tell my children that is the best country in the world to be black – because it’s a country that sees people, not labels” - Kemi Badenoch.
Some may argue that Kemi has an agenda here as she approaches the stage as the Equalities Minister. While I'm confident that she would acknowledge that Britain isn't perfect, her goal will undoubtedly be to promote a more positive and optimistic perspective. This doesn't mean that Kemi's point lacks validity; instead, some may contend that her speech's framing could potentially carry some bias, as her aim is to present the Conservative party in the best possible light.
Now onto the statement itself. When analysing whether the UK is the best country to be black, I think to answer the question, one needs to split the comment into two parts. Let’s firstly address the first part “best country in the world to be black”.
The vast majority of people will agree that very few countries offer the legal protection, freedom, and socioeconomic opportunities that Britain does for its minority groups. I mean, there is a reason why the UK continues to remain a highly desirable place to settle for immigrants, many of whom come from black-majority countries. This sentiment is cemented by Britain Future's report, 'Why the Windrush matters today', where 80% of ethnic minority Britons agree that the UK is a better place to live for someone from an ethnic minority than other countries like the USA, Germany, or France.
I remember my surprise upon discovering that the first black newsreader, Audrey Pulvar, to present the main evening news on a national French TV station did so in 2004. Meanwhile, our very own Trevor McDonald was a household name in Britain long before that. I found the following comment from Pulvar fascinating
"In France, the republic tries to level everyone out, to pretend they're all equal - so racism here is more latent. It doesn't explode, but it's there. When I go to London, I feel like I can breathe."
Therefore, it is certainly not unreasonable to say that Britain is one of the better countries to be black. However, Kemi specifically stated the world which opens up the debate to not only western countries but black majority ones too (I will shortly get into the relevance of this). The second part of her comment “…because it’s a country that sees people, not labels” implies that she is specifically talking about ‘otherness’ – that black people are accepted members of British society, judged by their contribution not skin colour.
However, the same report by Britain Future found that 67% of ethnic minority respondents agree that 'Black and Asian people face discrimination in their everyday lives in Britain today,' while only 10% disagree. This is a clear indication that a lot of ethnic minorities still feel like they are treated as 'others' in British life.
This is where Kemi's statement may encounter difficulty because, while most black people would not deny that Britain offers great socioeconomic comfort and security, this differs from feeling like one truly belongs. The fact that her claim was ultimately centred on 'sees people, not labels' may not align with the subjective experiences of a significant proportion of the black populace.
It then leaves room to challenge the assertion “….the best country in the world to be black" because there are several countries, such as Nigeria and Barbados, where a black person would not be considered an 'other' in regards to race. 'Black' is not a label across most countries in Africa.
Interestingly, Kemi Badenoch whilst born in the UK, moved to Nigeria during her early childhood and lived there until the age of 16 before coming back to the UK. If there is anyone who could assess whether Britain is indeed the best country in the world to be black, I guess it would be her.
Jide is a Christian thinker, born and bred in Lewisham. He has a fervent passion for socioeconomic issues and seeks social justice based on gospel ethics.
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Yes, she's conflating too many things making her overall statement untrue. If Kemi were to have said this this the best white majority country to be black in and then stopped, that would be arguable. But, of course, you are right that the countries where you could be confident that being black would not cause you any problems would be the ones where 'black' isn't a meaningful identity, just some literally inaccurate description of the skin colour of people of African descent used white, western country. ( I will always remember my extremely literal autistic 5-year-old daughter thinking I was getting confused with colours and explaining to me that her friend was not black but dark brown and demonstrating the difference with two crayons)
She is certainly wrong that we are country that sees people, not labels. We're dividing into more labels all the time. I can't spend a week on Twitter without being informed I am white, cis, fascist, wokeist, communist, liberal, atheist, terf, trans activist, leftist, remoaner, conservative, grifter, gelatinous mound of lard, Jewish, anti-white, white-supremacist, nationalist, globalist, elite, libertarian, homophobic, degenerate destroyer of western civilisation, Islamaphobtc, antisemitic, radical feminist, misogynist sack of shit.
I'm delighted if she has not ever been called any racist labels, but I assume she has someone else deal with her emails and doesn't check her social media notifications. I've seen her be called all kinds of racial slurs, including by people who consider themselves to ve anti-racist.
'Is Britain the Best Place to be Black?' as Cabinet minister Kemi Badenoch said in a recent speech. Well, Badenoch is a politician. Most of us don't think much of politicians, what are they good for? Firstly they are elected and also they can help to frame a discussion or 'create a narrative'. For too long the 'narrative' around race has been dominated by the political left and liberal media, papers like the Guardian, the only black newspaper in the UK The Voice, Channel 4 News, the BBC, the public sector, sports institutions like the Football Association and celebrities from the world of entertainment. The narrative has been gloomy and relentless, that life in the UK for black people is blighted by systemic and institutional racism, that this is so deep-seated that really there is nothing much that we can do about it.
Badenoch in a sound-bite is using her position to challenge this narrative and to rally those who do not like the way things are going but who are lacking a voice. Badenoch is living evidence that black people can get on; of course most of us will not become cabinet ministers, she is also a Conservative so we might not share her politics. But we can still agree that despite the problems we face there is still hope and opportunity, we can agree that we need to send an optimistic message to our young people. Some might say that Badenoch is exaggerating but sadly I would argue that there are many who seem to have a vested interest in exaggerating the extent of racism in our society, as though without a cohering opposition to racism there would be no black community.
We have reached a stage of political maturity where we need to accept and embrace the diversity amongst black people and/or people of colour. Community is something that has to be built, not presumed. Badenoch and her Conservative Cabinet colleague Suella Braverman and very different women but they are on the same side on this as is the writer of this article, (and me too).
Is Britain the Best Place to be Black? I can't answer that question, but we have hope and possibility, we might even be able provide an example for the rest of the world. The writer of this article is a Christian thinker, he will understand that we need to hate the sin but love the sinner, much of the dominant narrative from black writers and thinkers today comes close to reversing the racism that black people have endured.