A Question Time audience member has been showered with applause for an eloquent speech about racism, prompted by Amber Rudd’s apology for calling Diane Abbott a “coloured woman”.
Speaking on Thursday night’s show, the woman said “it’s only curtains that is coloured” and asked people to “put the bitterness behind us and look at each other from a different angle”.
Rudd said she was “mortified” after describing Abbott as “coloured” during an interview about online abuse.
Discussing the trolling that politicians now face on social media, the work and pensions secretary said: “It definitely is worse if you’re a woman and it’s worst of all if you’re a coloured woman.
“I know that Diane Abbott gets a huge amount of abuse and I think that’s something we need to continue to call out.”
Her comments came during an interview with Jeremy Vine on BBC Radio 2 on Thursday afternoon and prompted Abbott to respond in a Tweet, saying: “The term ‘coloured’, is an outdated, offensive and revealing choice of words.”
The woman speaking on Question Time said:
“I am a black lady and I think it’s about time that lady learned that it’s only curtains that is coloured and if you want to speak about people you don’t look at their colour, you look at them as human beings like everybody else.
“It breaks my heart to look at the children in this country that are mixed race – where do we go from here with this negative talk. We need to look at people and treat them like people.
“As for the slaves, we are still in it and it’s about time we put the bitterness behind us and look at each other from a different angle.
“And you do not have to ask somebody when they want a drink or a mouthful of food: ‘Shall you be as black as me before I can feed you or I be as white as the next person.’
“I think we all need to look at this world, not only this country but the whole world, and think and learn some lesson from it.
“I’m not interested in politics, I’m not interested in religion, I’m interested in people and that’s how it is.”
As well as garnering huge applause on the show, social media was also full of praise, with one viewer calling it “the very best speech I have ever heard”.
Rudd has since apologised to Abbott, tweeting that she was “mortified at my clumsy language”.
“My point stands: that no one should suffer abuse because of their race or gender,” she said.
But the cabinet minister faced serious criticism for her comments, with Labour MP Naz Shah arguing she “should know better” than to use the term.