Photo: Neil Moralee. Flickr. Some rights reserved.“The British people have spoken, so f**k off back home”. Those were the words used by a thug who recently racially abused a Sikh woman where I live. The fact that the woman was British and home is around the corner was a mere fact that didn’t get in the way of an unbridled act of hatred.
A UN report lambasted the EU referendum campaign for using divisive, anti-immigrant rhetoric. It criticised politicians for entrenching prejudices and emboldening individuals to carry out acts of intimidation towards minority communities. UKIP’s immigrant invasion poster still haunts my 8 year old who lives in fear of deportation.
Rather than trying to tame the monster they helped spawn by invoking anti-immigration rhetoric in the EU referendum, the Tories, not to be out flanked by UKIP, are feeding it. The constant drip feed of dog whistling, whether it’s Amber Rudd’s lists or Theresa May’s “Christmas is under threat”, every utterance evokes a wave of nausea. Every attack unpicks another seam in the increasingly fragile fabric that binds our communities together.
