Thursday 14 November 2013

But Andrea, People Like You Will Ensure It’s Never ‘Redundant’…

Andrea Stuart wishes 'Black History Month' wasn't needed:
The truth is that the trade in sugar and slaves helped build Britain's greatness and create some of our most beloved cultural symbols. It was sugar, harvested by slaves, that generated those great fortunes jockeyed for in the novels of Jane Austen, and helped to finance the splendid houses which provide the model for Downtown Abbey. Nor should we forget that even today, more than 150 years after slavery was abolished, Africans and their descendants remain markedly disadvantaged compared to the descendants of those who promoted the trade against them.
*yawn* Oh, sorry! I fell asleep there for a moment...
So why does this ignorance persist, 25 years after Black History Month was launched in Britain?
Because BHM is just a gimmick?
When Britain truly acknowledges its history, our society will realise that the brown and black faces in our midst are not interlopers or johnny-come-latelys, but the logical result of British participation in the world – and evidence of its long and intertwined involvement with its exploited colonies. Indeed, much of what we designate as black history is in fact simply English history – stories we should all remember and acknowledge. We minorities are here not as an act of charity but because we belong here, because we worked and starved and died over centuries to build this nation.
Most of the minorities here aren't any such thing! They are economic migrants or asylum seekers or illegals!
Slavery and colonialism is a ghost that still haunts modern Britain, because we have never fully exorcised it.
And you never will, since it provides so much opportunity for you and your kind.
Like any nation, Britain is what the academic Benedict Anderson described as an "imagined community": its self-image is determined by what it decides to recall and what it decides to disregard. Thus abolition is warmly remembered and commemorated as the heroic action of a civilised society, and the hundreds of years of barbaric slavery that preceded it are conveniently forgotten.
And just who was it, Andrea, who sold most of those slaves into their awful bondage? At least we abolished it, unlike some countries!
It is the duty of a mature democracy to not just celebrate its triumphs but to acknowledge its miscarriages. Instead of the jingoistic version of history championed by the likes of education secretary Michael Gove, we should aim to create a narrative for our citizens that tells the whole story, warts and all.
But 'the whole story, warts and all' is exactly what you don't want to hear, much less tell.
We will know Black History Month is successful only when it is redundant – when our history is understood by us all, and young people gain the pride and self-assurance that a genuine account of it would afford.
I look forward to that genuine account. But I'll never, ever hear it from your lips.

10 comments:

Joe Public said...

But us Brit whiteys were victims too:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/0340794704

Anonymous said...

People like Andrea can't handle the truth - it would ruin their professional status as a race professional and could put an end to grants, workshops and special status including positive discrimination.

Good post.

Just watched 15 mins of 'UK Border Patrol' nonsense.

What a waste of time and money. Costs thousands and thousands of pounds to achieve NOTHING at all.

xplod said...

Who was it who said "We only have three things to sell - Men, Women and Children"?

Oh, yes, now I remember - a tribal chieftain in Western Africa. (If I can find the reference, I'll add it).

Bucko said...

""Slavery and colonialism is a ghost that still haunts modern Britain, because we have never fully exorcised it.""

What a load of utter bollocks. Modern Britain hasn't engaged in colonialism or slavery. That was done by people from history. We can acknowledge that it was part of history and belongs their but people like this muppet have to keep bringing it to the future and living in it so that the victimhood status remains alive.

Some people did bad things in the past. Get over it.

Andy said...

WAAAHH! its all Whitey`s fault.

No,it isnt,fucking grow up and accept that bad things happened in the past and the failings of blacks today is soley down to their own character and culture.

Anonymous said...

More of the same in Oprah's new fillum:

The Butler (full title Lee Daniels' The Butler)[4][5] is a 2013 American historical fiction drama film directed by Lee Daniels, written by Danny Strong, and featuring an ensemble cast.[6] Loosely inspired by the real-life of Eugene Allen, the film stars Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines, an African-American who eyewitnesses notable events of the 20th century during his 34-year tenure serving as a White House butler.[7][8] It was the last film produced by Laura Ziskin,[9][10] who died in 2011.

Just heard this Daniels character on Radio4's film show - my God, slavery, black people being shot at random, most blacks are servants or in gaol yaddah, yaddah, no one asked US to be put in chains and brought to the US - bish bash bosh - no truth here either.

Greencoat said...

Phew! This woman is some windbag -can't they rig her up to the national grid to replace all those useless 'windfarms'?

Robert Edwards said...

There was a monument re. slavery unveiled in Liverpool a few years back. I recall thinking at the time: "All very well, but where were the images of the African chiefs who swapped their own people for a cargo of Brummagem trash? And where, pray, were the Royal Navy?"

An obvious absence, as I think of it...

(Expletives, naturally, deleted).

Anonymous said...

"Nor should we forget that even today, more than 150 years after slavery was abolished, Africans and their descendants remain markedly disadvantaged . . "

They have had 150 years to get their $H!T together ! If I were her, I would be moaning at those of my own race and asking why have they been so lazy.

Sorry, no sympathy.

PS Where the hell is the Give-o-fuck-ometer ?

JuliaM said...

"Costs thousands and thousands of pounds to achieve NOTHING at all."

Like so many government 'services'...

"Modern Britain hasn't engaged in colonialism or slavery."

Apart from all those people (shhh, whisper the word 'travellers') currently keeping slaves...

"More of the same in Oprah's new fillum.."

It has a great cast and an interesting premise, but you can see the propaganda a mile off!

"They have had 150 years to get their $H!T together ! If I were her, I would be moaning at those of my own race and asking why have they been so lazy."

Spot on!