I must confess to a degree of confusion and antipathy towards the term “white guilt”.  Who are “white people” and how are they expected to feel guilt for the actions and crimes of those who lived long ago? There are no mitigations, no redemption for the acts of William Wilberforce or the West Africa Squadron, nor indeed for black involvement in the slave trade…

For the political left, there is only the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade - no serfdom, no indentured servitude, no other oppression that can compare. 

I oppose racism and would never defend slavery or oppression.  Yet racial identity politics says you are either with us or a racist. To not support the specific form of anti-racist activist exemplified in the “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) movemnet is to be inherently racist, whether you know it or not. However, to support BLM, you must want to end capitalism and to defund the police, amongst other demands unrelated to racism specifically.  

The current dominant iteration of left-wing thinking enforces a narrative on the public where western societies and their institutions are inherently racist and oppressive.  There is no room for nuanced debate.  In pushing such a narrative, this ideology ignores inconvenient facts and the complexities of human life.  

In reality, the majority of people in Western societies align themselves liberally somewhere between the centre left and the centre right, with more in common than either can recognise. The hard-left and right of politics are a sparsely populated group where deeply unpopular views are held. Similarly, these ideological extremes also have far more in common with one another than they would care to acknowledge.  

Many popular terms in general British use originated in the US, a country significantly different to the UK.  Whilst there is shared heritage, this is far too thin and distant for political parallels. Yet in the modern information age, the killing of an African-American man can trigger demonstrations in the UK which use identical language. Of course, we are horrified by police brutality but what possible comparison can we draw from this?  Policing in the US bears no resemblance to that in the UK, they are worlds apart.  Did misplaced white guilt in Britain encourage many to take the knee crying “Black Lives Matter!”, without ever asking themselves what they actually want to achieve or what the challenges are in the UK? How can white people in the US and the UK share the same white guilt over race issues when our histories and societal make-ups are so different. Equally, ‘black’ communities in the UK and the US face different challenges and realities built on vastly different history. Yet BLM has the same policies in each country with the same racially charged rhetoric. 

Does racism exist in the UK today? Yes. Are the institutions such as the police institutionally racist? No.  Terms like “white guilt” apply a far too simplistic approach to complex issues.  In doing so, racism is used to explain all inequality ignoring wider complexities.  There is no doubt that segments of ‘black’ society suffer inequality and barriers to success, just as do working class white boys. Yet also other areas of the ‘black’ community outperform.  If we are to resolve inequality, then we must bring people together not divide one another. We need honest debate that does not apportion blame to a generalised racialized category like ‘whiteness’ but builds a common future. Positive, inclusive narratives, built on mutual respect, will yield cooperative policy. If you inflict a narrative of persecution and oppression on one part of society, while on the other imposing guilt for past crimes, how do you bring people together? We must unite not divide.  

There is no political party in the UK which seeks to defend racism, justify past slavery or perpetuate inequality.  Yet racism exists today, no political party denies this simple sad fact. All parties have policy suggestions to tackle these issues. But no one can argue that a nineteenth century black individual living in the United States or the UK would not see the realities of 2020 as far better than their own? 

The direction of progress in the UK and in the USA has been constantly towards greater equality. Modern hard-left politics tells us the modern world is a terrible place and the challenges faced today are more extreme than ever before. Yet reasoned thought soon tells us this is neither fair nor accurate. People today have greater freedom, prosperity and security than ever before. There is no place for guilt, only positive mutual action.   

Mark Cutting