Let’s Celebrate Brexit and the Racist Tin of Fanta

“Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves.” – George Gordon Byron

It’s easy to point the finger and criticise. And let’s be honest, a lot of us find it fun to gossip. It’s one of the reasons why millions of people watch reality tv and viral videos. It’s that little bit of schadenfreude that we pretend we don’t have. And in a world that seems to have used the year 2016 as an experiment in rejecting any semblance of principle, compassion and truth, schadenfreude has literally become an emotional safe-space.

Of course, I’m also guilty of this. Watching Boris Johnson’s press conference with John Kerry trying to defend his previous insults was like watching a fat, sweaty public schoolboy confess that he was in fact the one who did a shit in the urinal. I haven’t seen Michael Gove since he stabbed both Dave and Boris ‘to save our country’ but I bet he’s rather less smug than usual; I’ve had to change my pants a number of times because of joyous thoughts at his self-imposed perdition. But the big one that I have to acknowledge is my guilty pleasure watching (mainly) hipsters, trustafarians, left-leaning thinkers and liberals aghast at the apparent demise of their post-racial, gay marriage, all inclusive, let’s sing kumbaya round the campfire society.

I know. I’m a hypocrite, right? I’m awful. This shit ain’t funny and I have no right to make light of it. I acknowledge some of you might feel this way. But I remind you that I said this is a guilty pleasure, stemming from years of conversations in the latest organic coffee house, community hub or artisan bakers when I have attempted to explain that their view of society as a colour-blind, equal place was delusionary. And I assure you that with 2 young sons who I hope I live to see fulfil their potential – and who I hope actually live to see their potential fulfilled – I do not make light of the consequences of Brexit, Trumpism or the ascent of populist, insular, extreme right-wing politics. It turns out I wasn't wrong to tell them to approach every situation with the confidence of an average, straight white man. No. My eyes are open and they always have been. And what I see is that the rock has been lifted and the misogynists, the racists, the bigots, the homophobes and all of the insecure baby-boomers have crawled in to the daylight, free to spout all of the resentment that’s been festering within them for years.

This is a good thing. Britain has always been a racist country. Yes, it has had a reputation for justice, tolerance and ‘fair play’ as its core values but this is a reputation that it bestowed upon itself. An alternative and objective view is that the British were the most successful exponents of the transatlantic slave trade, created a vast colonial empire that exploited the natural resources of countries for centuries, perpetuated genocide against indigenous people on every continent on earth and invented concentration camps. And obviously, Amerikkka has always been a racist country. Come on, don’t make me prove it guys. After all, Facts & Lies Matter.

The realisation by some white people that vast numbers of their kin aren’t fond of gays, blacks, Latinos, Asians, Jews, ANY kind of immigrant and couldn’t give a rat’s testicle about women’s rights has come as a shock to them. And this is why it’s such a good thing because information can lead to inspiration. In Britain, there were 61 attacks against European immigrants – yes, that’s right, other white people – in 12 weeks that were reported to the 27 EU embassies. Interestingly, this included incidents of Finns and Swedes being told to ‘go home’ because they had the temerity to speak a foreign language in public. And official Government statistics show that in July 2016, police recorded a 41% increase compared to the same month the year before in racially or religiously aggravated crimes. Data from 31 police forces highlighted that 1,546 racially or religiously aggravated offences were recorded in the two weeks up to and including the day of the referendum on June 23rd. However, in the fortnight after the poll this jumped to 2,241. Even the National Police Chief’s Council admitted that the number of incidents rose by 58% in the week following the Brexit vote. Certainly it seems intolerance has been emboldened on our shores.

In America, white Christian evangelicals have proven that they are in effect White ISIS. 80% of them voted for Trump, demonstrating that their version of Jesus to the world isn’t one of love thy neighbour as much as it is grab their pussy. To them, the God of Zechariah says do not devise evil in your hearts against one another – unless of course they’re Muslims. Or foreigners. Or gays. Jesus loves you, but especially if you’re straight and white apparently. Plus he wants abused children to be forced to give birth to other abused children. And a majority of white female voters (53%) have declared that they don’t mind their pussies being grabbed, losing the right to decide what they do with their bodies or not being paid the same to do equal work to a man as long as they’re still considered white. For God’s sake, that’s just asking too much. Which at least goes to show that just as racism is not the exclusive domain of the white male, misogyny is also inflicted on women by women. HL Mencken commented on this and uttered this immortal line. ‘A misogynist is a man who hates women as much as women hate each other.’

So for these and other reasons, I feel like celebrating the shattering of the illusion. Because now we can have real discussions about the fears that provoke the prejudices. Now the racists, homophobes, religious freaks and misogynists won’t be hiding behind their keyboards because they feel that the world is theirs and will feel emboldened enough to communicate directly. Granted it’ll likely be a series of unintelligible grunts ending with a phrase like, ‘you think you’re so ****ing smart you (insert appropriate slur here), why don’t you **** off’, but it’s a start.

And I feel like celebrating because I no longer have to question whether impressing the history of struggle against white oppression or highlighting the unfairness of white privilege to my children, was creating prejudice within them. Turns out, my eyes were open all the time. And that was a good thing.