In the wake of Brexit, turns out racism is a very British thing

Comedian Nish Kumar giving a thumbs up


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On Brexit day, CBBC shared a video clip from its Horrible Histories programme on Twitter. Comedian Nish Kumar introduced the clip, which was intended to be a lighthearted history of “British things” aimed at children.

Unfortunately, some flag-waving Brexit fans didn’t respond too well to being told that tea, sugar, and cotton aren’t really British. Kumar received a racist backlash from people who clearly aren’t big on history:

Even the likes of BBC presenter Andrew Neil joined in the pile-on. Meanwhile, blame for the video’s “anti-British” message fell squarely on Kumar, despite the fact that Kumar only introduced the clip. In fact, the clip itself has been around for a while and wasn’t even made for Brexit:

Your racism is showing

Much as many people at Brexit Day celebrations might argue that they aren’t racist, just proud of being British, their true colours keep showing. And they are, quite frankly, disgusting:

Clearly, Brexit has emboldened those with racist views, which is obvious from the spike in racially-motivated hate crime in recent years. So the far-right leanings of some celebrating Brexit Day come as no surprise:

“Make Britain Great Again”

The nationalist lines of ‘getting our country back’ and ‘making Britain great again’ has an eerie echo of the Trump-supporting MAGA crowd in the US:

Sadly, Kumar’s experience of racism in the wake of Brexit isn’t the only one. It’s just more visible because of its public nature. Meanwhile, everyday experiences of racism for People of Colour carry on in Brexit Britain:

Those celebrating Brexit are doing so because they got what they wanted. But if they want me or Kumar to go back to where we came from, there’s bad news. Britain may have left the EU, but people like us aren’t going anywhere.

Featured image via YouTube/CBBC

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  • Show Comments

    1. “A tidal wave of gammon”
      An insult based on skin colour. Nice hypocrisy there. I’m sure someone once said something about judging someone by the content of their character rather than the colour of their skin.

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        1. I’m challenging a racist comment. Unless protected characteristics no longer apply? Please tell me how an insult based on skin colour isn’t racist, and show me where in my comment I was sticking up for anyone. I was pointing out the hypocrisy in using racist language in an article criticising racism.
          Are comments on The Canary limited to those who only parrot the same lines and is challenging the narrative is to be frowned upon? Or are you of the group that see any alternative opinion and viewpoint as ‘hate speech’ and ‘trolling’?

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    2. I have a simple question. Why conflate racism with Brexit?
      Brexit was a democratic exercise in which Remainers and Leavers alike participated in good faith and were to abide by whatever the outcome as any other democratic process before it.
      Since then we’ve had several elections with all results pointing heavily towards leaving the EU. If public opinion was different, Change UK would still be in business and not confined to the dustbin of history. The EU is not the vanguard of anti-racism otherwise it would have refused to partake in the destruction of Libya and Syria which in my opinion were just 2 examples of racism and bigotry.
      What do you say to those ethnic minorities that support democratic sovereignty? Do you tell them to forget it because you’re smarter than they are?
      As for George Floyd, let’s rewind to when Mark Duggan was shot by police. There was huge outrage including from the mainstream media against the rioters. Today its against a President that had nothing to do with the death of Mr Floyd. The hypocrisy is seriously over the Richter Scale and the sad incident is being politicised by an unelected bunch of self-appointed self serving elites. Wake up.

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