Diane Abbot MP is in trouble. First she tweeted: "white people love playing divide and rule" and that black people should not fall into this trap - she did not resign. However, tasting blood, the anti-Abbot brigade (whoever they are) have now come up with a tweet Diane twittered earlier this week accusing taxi drivers of racism. She tweeted: '"Dubious of black people claiming they've never experienced racism. Ever tried hailing a taxi I always wonder?" - implying that cabbies ignore black people. So, should she resign?
In regard to the first tweet, whether or not whites "play divide and rule" with the black community, blacks certainly play divide and rule with the white community. Diane herself frequently discriminates between those well-known white groups: the Lib Dems and the Tories. She has often attempted to drive wedges between Cameron and Clegg - "divide and rule". In fact whites don't even need the influence of the black community; they divide themselves - try telling a Scot he's the same as an Englishman. The point is that there's no such thing as a cohesive 'white community', 'black community' or even 'orange community' (Essex). Diane is certainly guilty of gross generalisation.
Her second tweet makes a similar assumption; that there is a cohesive (racist) taxi driver community. The spokesman for their Union said cabbies are irate that they have been lumped together in one racist rank, especially when half of them are from ethnic minorities themselves. Are black cabbies refusing to pick up black people? Well, maybe. Maybe Diane is right, maybe black taxi drivers are refusing to pick up blacks. However, if true, then this seems unlikely to be mainly due to racism.
So, if you're a reasonable sort of cabbie chap from an Afro-Caribbean background who hardly ever short changes anyone (we shall call you Bob), then what would induce you to ignore another chap from an Afro-Caribbean background? Well according to the government (as quoted in the Daily Telegraph), we are six times more likely to distrust someone because they're poor rather than because they're black/white/blotchy purple. Bob ignores his fellow black person because he's poor.
Imagine a world where all the immigrants to Britain were not from the poorest in society, but rather from the richest - all the Indians would be splendid maharajah type fellows, well versed in Kipling and able to open the batting for the village team, all the Africans could be handsome princes, wise, rich and excellent pace bowlers...Then contrast these immigrants to some of the home grown Anglo-Saxon scum we produce over here who don't know the difference between a googly and a leg break. I speculate that in this world discrimination would not be xenophobic but pauperophobic.
The issue is that in the real world immigrants are often (at least initially) poor and end up in the rougher parts of town. According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation the poverty rates among ethnic minorities is twice that of the whites. The different skin colour becomes an identifier for lower spending power and thus we have racism.
So, Diane's racist accusations of racism are mistaken - discrimination and prejudice is not directed against other races but against the poor. The problem is that the two are often confused.
Diane has spent her life campaigning for better race relations but now, given that it is not a major issue, she should move on to relations between rich and poor. To do so, I speculate that 'the poor' need to be replaced with a different bogeyman - in order for there to be an 'us' there has to be a 'them'. Humans seem to flourish when there is a common enemy.
Instead of discriminating against the poor or the foreign, we should discriminate against bad people; blacks, whites, MPs, chavs, cabbies, the poor, the rich, HuffPost bloggers... anyone who is 'evil'. We just need to work out how Father Christmas can tell the difference between the naughty and the nice and then implement a nationwide campaign, spearheaded by Diane Abbot MP, against evil people. Her crime is not discriminating against people, but discriminating against the wrong people!