A Point of View

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A Point of View: Notions of Blackness

07/08/2020

Notions of Blackness

BBC Radio 4 - A Point of View, Notions of Blackness

Bernardine Evaristo reflects on black 'authenticity'.

Bernardine Evaristo argues that the comment this week by Labour MP Rupa Huq about Kwasi Kwarteng being only 'superficially' black was a 'silly throwaway one, not a racist attack'.

Bernardine Evaristo reflects on notions of blackness in the aftermath of comments made this week by the Labour MP, Rupa Huq, who described the Chancellor, Kwasi Kwarteng, as 'superficially' black.

'If one of the most egregious features of racism' Bernardine writes, 'is to reduce people to stereotypes, to homogenise and generalise the qualities of people according to their racialised identities, then what does it say about us when we describe a person as not really being black or Asian because they do not behave according to our values, cultural codes or political interests?'

Producer: Adele Armstrong 
Sound: Peter Bosher
Production coordinator: Iona Hammond
Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

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