The hysterical and vicious reaction to the simple point that labels of ‘institutional, systemic and structural racism’ need to be supported by a wider range of empirical evidence and logical reasoning tells us that more of us need to be brave and speak out – we need to publicly defend both the report and its […]
You Don’t Need To Be Gay To Play A Gay Character
Ella Whelan at Spiked Online points out the problems with Russell T Davies’ calls for ‘authenticity ‘ in casting and defends artistic freedom: Outrage is the most lucrative form of cultural capital today. People tweeting their disgust at the fact that they didn’t like a production, or didn’t feel represented by it, is no longer […]
From Eastern Europe To Michael Brown: Blind Spots In Our Current Conversations About Race
Ildi Tillmann, at The Equiano Project, brings a fresh perspective on the question of historical erasure and asks what is lost when race becomes ‘a means to power’: In his recent documentary, What Killed Michael Brown, the author and narrator, Shelby Steele, makes various observations about American history, of which two particularly caught my attention. “We […]
Why Debate And Discussion Has Shifted Towards Identity Politics
Emma Gilland at The Equiano Project considers the difference between a strong sense of self-identity and the political and ethical shallowness of identity-as-a-label. She suggests identity politics speaks to a vacuum created through a combination of two important trends: the demise of class-based voting, and the inability of the established political class to fill this […]