Another Council meeting means another Motion. What is the point of them? All
Bexley Motions are the same. “This Council resolves to behave like decent
civilised human beings in future because up until now we have fallen a long way short of that.”
Like most of Bexley’s Motions the one put forward by Councillor Mabel Ogundayo
had been in the pipeline for so long (four years) that she considered it to be out of date.
Permission to update it was refused, the Mayor said that the rules are that
Councillors as a whole had to agree to the change and Leader O’Neill stood to
oppose it. She pulled the usual stunt of saying she was going to propose a
better one. The same old trick used so many times before.
Councillor Ogundayo was condemned to proposing the original old Motion. It was…
Bexley Council stands in solidarity with Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic
communities in Bexley and across the globe in their fight for justice in the
face of racism in all its forms.
We commit to working with our Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority communities
to further understand the harm and pain past and present day racism has
caused, and address the concerns raised. We commit to rooting out racism
within our own institution, partnering institutions and our public arena, as
well as celebrating the growing cultural diversity within our Borough.
This
may not be the easiest Council report to write because I am a racist. I know that because my MP’s right hand man told me so after reporting that almost 90%
of Abena Oppong-Asare’s Tweets following her election in 2019 were only of interest to black people.
It was confirmed last Monday afternoon when I was swept on to a
301 bus at the Clock Tower and from the back seat watched it fill to standing
room only. What would that be? 60 or 70 passengers. The driver was a white man
and beside myself one other man and one woman were white. There was also a
couple of Middle Eastern appearance, apparently together. Every other face was
very black. No one was behaving badly and the bus was remarkably quiet but I
suspect that by some definitions, taking note of my surroundings is racist.
I am one of those people who believe a man in a skirt and wearing lipstick has
no idea what it is like to be a woman and it is insane to think otherwise, and
applying the same logic to white on black racism, no white person can possibly know what
it is like to be black. I have probably led a charmed life in my 40 years living in South
East London by experiencing racism only once. A friend was called
“white vermin” for uprooting some ivy that was invading a neighbour’s garden.
Most people assume racism is a one way street but maybe it isn’t always.
To my mind, no one like me can dispute what Mabel had to say although I do
wonder how it can be that black children are picked upon in any number when in
my neck of the woods - and Mabel’s - they are in a very large majority. I live
within a few yards of the footpath that leads to Lesnes Abbey woods and the
school parties on their field trips are always predominately black.
So what did Mabel have to say? She began by thanking the Members opposite for their
support which I took to be pure sarcasm; and if it was not it should have been.
Councillor Ogundayo would prefer the four year old term ‘Black Asian, Minority, Ethnic’ to be changed to
ְ‘Global Majority Community’ as it excludes white people and Council staff
have expressed a preference for it, however the Conservatives are not in favour.
“The term Global Majority better reflects the realities of the world which
is 85% diverse groups”. (Statistically true no doubt but Bexley is a local Council
in Great Britain, not the United Nations. Despite the alleged opposition Bexley
Council now has a Global Majority Network for staff which seems to be an odd way
to go about suppressing any divisions there might be.)
“No single term can fully capture the complexities, the rich and varied history,
culture and contributions of the British diverse communities.”
Mabel said the Motion was originally put forward in response to the death of
[criminal] George Floyd in the USA [while being arrested] by a white police officer and excess deaths of black people
during Covid. Since then “the topic has lost the attention of most people but
racism in all its insidious forms continues to taint the fabric of society
worldwide and undermines the principles of equalities and fairness that should be
at the heart of every community including Bexley.”
Racism isn’t always overt, she said. “It can result in micro-aggressions which can cause
just as much hurt and damage. It is not good enough to be anti-racist, people
are treated differently because of the colour of their skin, or name, or
hairstyle, beard, wearing a hijab etc.”
“We must pick a side, we can’t complicate it, we can’t excuse it, we can’t
explain it, we have to call it out. All of us have that responsibility; a
responsibility to drive it out of our society.”
She went on to say that racism was her “passion” and related how she came to
Bexley as a young teenager. It was racism when on her first day at school her
“form teacher struggled to pronounce her name and the class burst out laughing”.
Later she suffered monkey messages, racist social media comments and given
detention because of her hairstyle. The school gang was called RA which stood
for Racist Attack and white parents refused to let her visit a white friend at home.
She accepted that these events some 15 plus years ago would not be accepted as
the norm now but “it does still happen and may be disguised”. Even now she has
racist words thrown at her in the street and even spat upon. (How do people get
into situations where that sort of thing can happen?)
“Some people refuse to sit next to me on a train and give dirty looks. In
Council some people roll their eyes when I mention racism. It has resulted in
hateful email to both my Council and home address” and the police have not been very helpful.
Bexley Council needs to do more than put up stands in the libraries for
Black History Month. It is not good enough. There needs to be school events and public
events. We must be careful what we type, references to black on black crime “are nothing but old rubbish”.
By introducing an amended Motion “Bexley Council is more interested in political point scoring”.
Bexley Conservatives have not seen fit to make their Amended Motion publicly
available so one might assume that they are less than proud of it but tomorrow
maybe I will report on how they went around defending their decision to kick Mabel’s into touch.
Well I don’t know about you but I think that is enough tight-rope walking for one day. Mabel Ogundayo has clearly suffered at the hands of racists and once or
twice I have noted the not so micro-aggressions
against her in the Council Chamber, all of which is unforgiveable. She has
always come across to me as a very likeable lady and effective Councillor for Thamesmead East.
There must be racism around but whether choosing a different seat on a train or
counting faces on a bus makes one a racist I am a lot less sure. Probably if I
say that I have only had three visitors into my house in the last week and they were all very black
it will confirm my status as an unconscious racist but if their way of life is broadly
similar to my own I cannot get very worked up about their presence. One visitor has a name
so complicated that I have been given permission to not bother trying to get my tongue around it!
It is very sad to hear how Mabel’s experiences in Bexley have left her with such
bad memories. I hope they don’t lead her towards too extreme remedies.
But rioting in the streets and waving foreign flags is something very different.