Simon Says….What?

Simon Woolley (director and one of the founders of Operation Black Vote) indulges in a little sniping at other black pontificators in CiF:

Today the discriminatory factors that hold back black individuals are more subtle, more complex. We know, for example, that recruitment selection panels tend to recruit a reflection of themselves. Which is not good if you're not white and male. But how do you legislate when discrimination is so difficult to prove?

In order to tackle persistent inequality we still need the big stick – the law – but more than that we need sophisticated methods that change not just the process but also the thinking behind why others are seen as less able.

Harker's greatest insult was his negation of black leadership today. "So who, today, speaks for black people?" He mentions Diane Abbott MP but ignores black church leaders ministering to packed churches every Sunday, or activists such as barrister Matthew Ryder, Dr Rob Berkeley at the Runnymede Trust, and author Dreda Say Mitchell. These and other community leaders have responded. It's not their fault they are undermined and largely ignored.

Hmmm, that last name is familiar, for some reason.

*snaps fingers*

Ah! Right…