Priti Patel and English racism. By Anita Mureithi
NB: One of the favorite (and cringeworthy) terms in Indian mass media is 'Indian origin'. Well, ladies and gents, here's an 'Indian origin' racist for you. DS
It wasn’t long ago
that Patel refused to condemn football fans who booed as England players
kneeled in protest against racial injustice. Taking the knee was dismissed by
the Home Secretary as “gesture
politics”. Now that her racist dog-whistling rhetoric and policies have
emboldened the worst among us, she has taken to Twitter to criticise the very
same people she has been trying to appease.
Priti Patel is not the only Tory complicit in fanning the flames of racism and division. The morning after the final, Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted: “This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media. Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves.” However, many have been quick to highlight his hypocrisy following his own equivocation over whether spectators should boo England players taking the knee….