Thread by @shaistaAziz

#RishiSunak is the new Prime Minister, the first person of colour to become prime minister, and on #Diwali too. This is a hugely symbolic and representative moment for many, many people, and not just the usual suspects, those on the right of politics. 🧵

To dismiss or ignore this fact is to discount and dismiss facts, just as asking people of colour to celebrate Sunak becoming PM, by virtue of him being brown, is equally reductive, tokenistic, and dangerous.

Real representation has to be meaningful otherwise it’s pure tokenism. And real representation means actioning politics that don’t harm the people and communities you espouse to come from, the very people and communities disproportionately harmed by the multiple crisis

this country is in now and from the historical legacy of where Britain’s wealth and prestige came from.
Multiple uncomfortable facts and truths often overlap and intersect - and it’s important for people to have the capacity to hold space for this.

It’s called nuance.

I have zero time for Sunak and the Tories trashing of the country, and, I also recognise that the Tories have (eventually) delivered the first person of colour Prime Minister.
Sunak will be a big target for white supremacists and the organised far-right, just as Sadiq Khan

and Diane Abbott are. If we are serious about calling ourselves anti-racists, we have to stand up and speak up against all hate and bigotry, including against those we disagree with on multiple and fundamental levels.

We, anti-racists, will need to organise ourselves more than ever against the EXTRA racism that mainstreamed and unleashed now, as people and communities of colour are further scapegoated for the economic hardship and fear people are feeling.

AND once again, Labour has VERY serious questions to ask about the woeful lack of representation of Black and Brown people on the front bench and across the party including the very obviously missing Black men, women, and specifically Muslim women.