Being Racist?

I'm sure many people are aware now of the furore over Celebrity Big Brother and the racist taunts by the housemates to Shilpa. In India, effigies are being burnt, with crowds shouting 'Death to the producers of Big Brother!' (Is it possible to create an effigy if you don't know what someone looks like?) Channel 4 have denied any racism on the housemates part, saying that it was simply ‘a clash of culture and class’.

I only mention this as I was on my tea break the other day, reading the Daily Mail. Horrible I know, but there were no other papers about. On the back page, the main sports headline was the story of Newcastle midfielder Emre’s alleged racist taunts to Everton’s Yobo. Inside, I read that Janet Street Porter has been accused of racially abusing one of her neighbours (She has subsequently been arrested and has apologies for shouting at her neighbour, but denies any racism).

Redditch United, playing in the Conference North, has also been fined £5000 after one of their players refused to leave the field having receiving racial abuse from Workington fans. The game, which was played back in October, ended up being abandoned, with the FA awarding the three points to Workington. This was in despite of the police arresting a man over the racial abuse, who pleaded guilty.

What is shocking about all of the above is that, whether the concerned individuals are guilty of not or racism, it would appear that attitudes to racial diversity are still very much in question in this country. Racism in football is nothing new, but this doesn’t mean that it has to ever be accepted. Some might consider this to be a matter of political correctness, but should society not strive to correct injustices caused by prejudice? There has been sweeping changes and reform in society’s thinking, and for most, any form of racism is unacceptable. It would be unfair to apply such a sweeping generalization to society at large. However, Big Brother et al is forcing us once again to ask ourselves, is Britain racist?