I doubt you\’ll need me to tell you why this is our latest installment of “Real Racism”.
Excerpted from Robin De Peyer\’s article at the London Evening Standard:.
A student union officer who banned white people and men from an event promoting equality has claimed she “cannot be racist” because she is an ethnic minority woman.
Goldsmiths University\’s student union welfare and diversity officer Bahar Mustafa sparked a backlash when she told white people and men they should not attend an event on “diversifying the curriculum”.
She wrote on Facebook: “Invite loads of BME Women and non-binary people!! Also, if you\’ve been invited and you\’re a man and/or white PLEASE DON\’T COME just cos I invited a bunch of people and hope you will be responsible enough to respect this is a BME Women and non-binary event only.”
As you might expect, there was a considerable negative reaction to running a “diversifying the curriculum” event that specifically excluded people based on race and gender.
Ms. Mustafa\’s reaction?
“There have been charges laid against me that I am racist and sexist towards white men.
“I, an ethnic minority woman, cannot be racist or sexist towards white men, because racism and sexism describe structures of privilege based on race and gender.
“Therefore, women of colour and minority genders cannot be racist or sexist, since we do not stand to benefit from such a system.”
Translation: I am an ethnic minority woman…which liberates me to say and do anything that would be considered racist if other people said/did it, because, well, because I am an ethnic minority woman. So there.
That has all the logic and intelligence of “I can\’t be overdrawn, I still have checks”.
Real Racism. It comes in all forms from all sources. No one is immune to it or from it. Certainly not an imbecile who thinks her female plumbing and darker skin make her exempt, no matter how overtly racist she is.
(Incidentally, in case you are unfamiliar with the term, BME stands for Black Minority Ethnic.)
