David Starkey, esteemed intellectual, nationally recognised historian and star (if one can really use the word) of Jamie Oliver's Dream School, appears on national broadcast 'Newsnight' and makes inflammatory comments of a racial nature. Cue uproar in various quarters of society - , the 'Guardian reading trendy white liberal' quarter (Ed Milliband et al) (not that being one of these is a bad thing :-)), the 'ordinary not particularly liberal white person whose best friend is black ' quarter, and even the 'Daily Telegraph reading (closet Daily Mail reading) yet still trendy conservative' quarter (David Cameron et al). (That was a long one, I'll admit, a bit unnecessary). And of course, my people. The coloured folk.
So black people love signing on-line petitions. In fact, scratch that, people in general love signing on-line petitions. Unfortunately, I've noticed that black people in particular make demands for things that are, well, frankly.... a bit pointless.
I'll explain. Let's look at what happens if David Starkey (or the BBC) makes no apology. He gets maligned as a racist, he might have committed what Piers Morgan called 'career suicide', and people remain shocked and aghast for a few months, a year at most. He probably becomes the poster boy for conservative Enoch Powell sympathisers, the upholders of good, old fashioned British values. After a year, he crawls out his hole and tries to do some sort of history type program, but might well just be remembered as that guy who made those racist remarks, and all five T.V channels are a bit wary to take him on.
If the BBC makes an apology, what happens? Evidence that white people are being 'marginalised in their own country', that 'blacks are taking over', that 'freedom of speech is being eradicated'. He ends up being a martyr, beaten and bludgeoned into a politically correct corner by the blacks and their whiny friends, the white neo-liberal intellectuals.
If David Starkey himself makes an apology, then again, he gets sympathy for having to cave in to the 'system', this evil Big Brother that monitors and regulates white males and keeps them under the firm thumb of feminists, blacks, PC-er's, Muslims, homosexuals, and just about every minority group you can think of.
What do black people gain from this? I'm not sure. An emotional back rub? The reassurance that closet racists will remain in their closet? Or a misguided idea that the BBC represents them and is concerned about their feelings and how the rest of the population views them?
Let's start petitioning for things that will actually make a difference in our communities, and show our outrage by our actions. Let's start boycotting things that are actually really hurting us. Like misogynistic lyrics. Like MacDonald's and KFC (yeh, I said it, fried chicken kills black people.)
Maybe then we'll see real results, instead of just seeing rich white historians have to hide in their country manor for a couple of weeks.
Peace, folks (if you're willing to fight for it). x
