Priti Patel, UK's home secretary, has said she backs the idea of a new law to make it easier to prosecute people who damage war memorials. She was speaking in the Commons during a statement on the Black Lives Matters protests.
Labour MP Florence Eshalomi suggested that Priti Patel did not understand the anger felt by people, particularly the young, and their desire for action to tackle structural racism.
Eshalomi said her son turned three yesterday. She said she did not want to have to wait until he was a teenager before there were changes in this country. Action was needed now, she said.
Patel said she had been clear about the level of injustice felt across the country.
She went on:
I’m really really saddened that [Eshalomi] has effectively said that this government doesn’t understand racial inequality.
Well, on that basis, it must have been a very different home secretary who as a child was frequently called a Paki in the playground, a very different home secretary who was racially abused in the streets or even advised to drop her surname and use her husbands in order to advance her career.
A different home secretary recently characterised ... in the Guardian newspaper as a fat cow with a ring through its nose - something that was not only racist but offensive, both culturally and religiously. [Patel was referring to a Steve Bell cartoon.]
So when it comes to racism, sexism, tolerance or social justice, I will not take lectures from the other side of the house.
I have already said repeatedly there is no place for racism in our country or in society. And sadly too many people are too willing, too casually, to dismiss the contributions of those who don’t necessarily confirm to pre-conceived views or ideas about how ethnic minorities should behave or think. This ... in my view is racist in itself.
#BlackLivesMatter
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