Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search

highplainsdem

(48,890 posts)
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 01:38 PM Jun 2019

Scottish MP calls Boris Johnson racist in Parliament, refuses to withdraw comment

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Yonnie3 (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: The Hill

The leader of U.K.'s Scottish National Party called Boris Johnson, the top contender in the Conservative Party's race for a new head and prime minister, a racist and refused to withdraw his allegations on Thursday when pressed on the comments.

"The member has called Muslim women letter boxes described African people as having watermelon smiles and another disgusting slur I would never dignify by repeating. If that's not racist, Mr. Speaker, I don't know what is," Ian Blackford said during prime minister's questions.

Blackford's remarks were reported by BBC and shared in a video by British ITV News reporter Shehab Khan on twitter.

Blackford said Johnson should be "banned from being Prime Minister," claiming the member of parliament and former mayor of London is "unfit for office."

-snip-

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/international/europe/449541-scottish-mp-calls-boris-johnson-racist-in-parliament-refuses-to



I'd missed these earlier stories about Boris Johnson.

Story about Johnson saying that Muslim women wearing burkas look like letter boxes, last August:

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-45083275



Story about Johnson making amazingly racist remarks about Africans, back in 2002 -- this is from a QZ article published in 2016 after Johnson became the UK's foreign secretary:


https://qz.com/africa/731695/britains-new-foreign-secretary-once-referred-to-africas-watermelon-smiles-and-piccanninies/


While Johnson’s gaffes and snide remarks span the globe, he may be uniquely unfit for diplomatic dealings in Africa. In an article criticizing then prime minister Tony Blair and his trip to the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2002, Johnson referred to Commonwealth members on the continent as “flag-waving piccaninnies.”

What a relief it must be for Blair to get out of England. It is said that the Queen has come to love the Commonwealth, partly because it supplies her with regular cheering crowds of flag-waving piccaninnies; and one can imagine that Blair, twice victor abroad but enmired at home, is similarly seduced by foreign politeness.

They say he is shortly off to the Congo. No doubt the AK47s will fall silent, and the pangas will stop their hacking of human flesh, and the tribal warriors will all break out in watermelon smiles to see the big white chief touch down in his big white British taxpayer-funded bird.


It didn’t stop there. In April, Johnson accused ”part Kenyan” US president Barack Obama of being anti-British because of the country’s colonial history. Describing the president’s petition for the UK to remain in the European Union, Johnson wrote in an editorial in the Sun newspaper, “Some said it was a snub to Britain. Some said it was a symbol of the part-Kenyan president’s ancestral dislike of the British empire — of which Churchill had been such a fervent defender.”



No wonder Trump likes him.



2 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight: NoneDon't highlight anything 5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Scottish MP calls Boris Johnson racist in Parliament, refuses to withdraw comment (Original Post) highplainsdem Jun 2019 OP
I lov the Scots,,,,,,,, Cryptoad Jun 2019 #1
Locking after a review by Forum Hosts Yonnie3 Jun 2019 #2

Cryptoad

(8,254 posts)
1. I lov the Scots,,,,,,,,
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 04:48 PM
Jun 2019

Yonnie3

(17,419 posts)
2. Locking after a review by Forum Hosts
Thu Jun 20, 2019, 07:58 PM
Jun 2019

Not important news of national interest.

Please re-post in General Discussion if you like.

Latest Discussions»Latest Breaking News»Scottish MP calls Boris J...