A piece like this usually starts with how shocked the writer is about a racist incident but I think it’s time to be honest with readers and say, as a black woman, I am no longer shocked by the extent and dare I say it, the unimaginative nature of racism across the world.
The most recent racist nonsense stars Danny Baker who, until this morning, was a BBC Radio 5 Live DJ.
While some of us – especially as an expectant mother myself – were feeling elated for the royal couple on the birth of Archie (albeit ignoring a faint sense of worry for Meghan due to the harsh treatment she’s received), Baker thought it would be a perfect time to tweet a picture of a monkey in a suit holding the hands of two well-dressed people.
Danny captioned this picture with ‘royal baby leaves hospital’ and we are all aware of which baby this picture made reference to.
Danny Baker insists that his tweet isn’t racist because his mind isn’t ‘diseased’ and I think that statement actually annoyed me more than his horrendous tweet.
I am bored of hearing people defending their racist actions with statements like: ‘I’m not racist because I’m not a bad person’.
Perpetuating racism doesn’t require you to be a ‘bad’ person. It merely requires that your views of the world are informed by the myth you’ve been socialised into from birth – that you are superior to another group of people based on race.
I am not shocked by Danny Baker’s tweet but I am saddened by it for the same reason I was saddened by Alan Sugar’s tweet about the Senegalese world cup team.
Both of these men are old enough (but not too old) to be able to identify the error in their ways yet they refuse to. Even in their ‘apologies’ there’s a staunch refusal to acknowledge how deeply hurtful their ‘banter’ might be to those who are the subjects of it.
There are so many books and resources out there to explain racism in factual and humorous ways. Reni Eddo-Lodge wrote Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race and I created a satirical animated character called Sally in HR.
For those who are perplexed as to why the tweet by Danny is so offensive, it is important to address the fact that Meghan’s mother is a black woman.
It is Archie’s proximity to blackness that inspired Danny’s tweet of a monkey, whether he chooses to acknowledge this or not.
For centuries black people have been likened to monkeys. This is why I say racism is unimaginative at times, the same tropes are used against black people time and time again.
Then again the dehumanising imagery must be reinforced consistently for it to have any power. Archie has been likened to a monkey because of the black ancestry he possesses. Michelle Obama was referred to as an ‘ape in heels’ while she was still first lady. For the royal baby and the former first lady to have been likened to primates just goes to show that racism doesn’t disappear depending on the class you find yourself in within society.
What kind of racism should my child expect as an everyday person? Probably something much worse and I hate to even think about it. I am aware though, that I must be prepared for it.
Danny Baker’s tweet supports archaic race biology whether he knows enough history to be aware of this or not. It is a stance that claims black people are biologically inferior to white people and was very popular in the 1600s. It also became the basis of many theories that other ‘intellectuals’ published, like Karl Vogt who believed black people were related to apes and thus not fully human.
These nonsensical ‘scientific findings’ only served to temporarily legitimise atrocities like the transatlantic slave trade, colonisation and segregation/apartheid.
I am glad Danny Baker has been relieved of his role as a DJ at the BBC because men like him say incredibly racist things frequently and it is explained away.
I think this happens because the average Brit isn’t taught about the extent of atrocities the empire committed based on racism and therefore see no harm in their myopic and antiquated views.
To the best of my knowledge pictures of monkeys weren’t posted online to welcome the births of Archie’s royal cousins, George, Charlotte and Louis, so there is really no excuse for this type of behaviour.
The BBC made the right decision on this occasion and hopefully it will inspire people to educate themselves on why such a post is incredibly offensive.
Better education regarding history is necessary for us all if we are to move past disgusting behaviour such as the one exhibited by Danny Baker.
A baby who hasn’t even had a chance to really experience the world is already stripped of his humanity because of his blackness. I want better for Archie, for my unborn child and for all our children.
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