I’ll be honest it didn’t occur to me to make up a hypothetical black person less adept at spotting racism in his/her presence than yourself.
And you are still conflating ‘seeing’ racism with ‘experiencing’ racism and as for Fox possibly ‘knowing more about the stories and knew the journalists personally’ well yes it’s possible but then the mixed race woman has probably experienced more racism than Fox so well...what exactly? I should put greater value Fox’s opinion on the off chance he might know one of the journos?
And if this is just about taking your opinion, and presumably Fox’s, just as seriously as those who actually experience racism or prejudice then we have to disagree. I don’t elevate my own opinion to the same level as those with direct experience of these issues, and given how fond I am of my own opinion, I am hardly likely to elevate someone else’s.
The girl at work isn’t invented and isn’t hypothetical, she genuinely didn’t know who Robinson was and therefore you’d obviously rather I spoke about it than her, as she doesn’t know anything about him. It’s a key point that someone who shares the same background as the victims of racism, may not necessarily have the best view nor knowledge and therefore may not be a better opinion to go to than someone else who’s more read on the specific perpetrator(s).
It is about spotting racism though isn’t it? That’s what the whole Fox debate was about, whether the media was giving MM the same treatment as previous Royals, whether it was because of how she’s acted or whether it’s racism.
Your point would stand if every single ethnic minority individual in the country has experienced racism to a particular level that means they can understand it perfectly in all forms, can always spot it, knows about all perpetrators of racism against their background and I just don’t believe that’s true.
Another colleague, my former line manager, who still works for us in another role now, is also Jewish, with two Israeli parents.
Now he’s a big Blairite and into politics but he’s not the most clued up in all areas, which he admits.
We’re good friends and often chat about politics and he actually sought my views on why Labour had taken a dark twist into the realms of antisemitism and the crisis in the party. Despite being abused at school for the size of his nose etc. he didn’t understand it on that occasion and I explained the anti-Israel stance within the party and the hatred, the far left have, for the banking elite.
What do I mean by these examples? Well I am more clued up on the EDL and antisemitism in the Labour Party than a Muslim and a Jewish person I am friends with. Their background hasn’t helped them in their knowledge of racists that hate their ethnicity on these specific occasions and telling me I’m neither Muslim nor Jewish and going to them for their opinions, on these occasions, would have been detrimental to the entire debate, as they wouldn’t have been able to give you answer.
Of course a black man growing up in the 1970s will be able to tell you more about that than I ever could and I wouldn’t begin to tell him he’s wrong about those experiences, I just don’t think it means he or anyone else can tell me my opinion on racism today is worthless or less than someone else’s. I may have read something about a trope that he hasn’t, I understand the background to a particular incident more and as I’ve said, I may know more about the guilty parties and therefore my opinion can add to the debate, sometimes more than someone who happens to have the same skin colour to the victim(s).
I also see it as my civic and moral responsibility to talk about it and defend those I think are wrongly accused and defend those I feel are genuine victims of discrimination.
