6-minute read
Dermot Feenan
LLB MA LLM Barrister-at-Law FRSA
This short blog examines typical features of responses from those who engage in racist stereotyping, in this case on Twitter. The blog identifies and explains the types of responses and reflects on whether, when and how to respond in the hope that this will assist others who engage in anti-racism work.
The blog is part of work-in-progress on ways to understand and respond to racism.
Background
On 9 July, The Traveller Movement, a London-based national charity that works in partnership with Irish Traveller, Gypsy and Roma communities to challenge discrimination and promote inclusion, posted an image of a poster in Poole, Dorset, which contained the following text:
“Beware. Travellers are in our area, make sure that your garages are kept locked, your sheds are secure, and watch your neighbours houses and drives. Dont [sic] be afraid to let the travellers [sic] know you have seen them, if need be take photos of their vehicles. Ring 999 if you see a traveller [sic] or a strange vehicle or pick-up in this area. Think safety and security.”
Such signs are not uncommon in England. They consist of racist stereotyping of Travellers as thieves. They perpetuate, through the language of danger and threat of theft by Travellers, the vilification and exclusion that Travellers have experienced for centuries.
The sign in Poole was especially noxious in this form of racialised othering by stating: “Ring 999 if you see a traveller”. The idea that the mere sight of a Traveller justifies contacting the emergency number for police indicates the depth of racist stereotyping and vilification involved.
The Traveller Movement quite rightly drew the poster to the attention of Poole Police and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council, by tagging them into their tweet.
Poole Police responded on a procedural matter, as follows:
Hi all, thanks for making us aware of this. We would like to remind everyone to only call 999 in an emergency – crime in progress or threat to life. To report something, including hate crimes or anti-social behaviour, please visit http://dorset.police.uk/do-it-online Many thanks, ^YW
Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council responded:
Good Morning, Thank you for reporting this to us. We have logged with our Cleansing Team to remove the poster, Kind Regards EG
The Traveller Movement tweet received at least procedurally acceptable responses from the Police and the Council. (I don’t address here their lack of response on the racist substance of the poster.)
A question and responses
The Traveller Movement’s tweet started with a question: “The last acceptable form of racism?” They answered the question: “Unfortunately yes.”
This referral to the “last acceptable form of racism” was appropriate. It drew from a statement in 2004 by Trevor Phillips, head of the former Commission for Racial Equality who referred to discrimination against Travellers and Gypsies as “the last ‘respectable’ form of racism.”
The persistence of that racism has led to the term being re-applied – as illustrated in the 2017 report by The Traveller Movement The Last Acceptable Form of Racism: The Pervasive Discrimination and Prejudice Experienced by Gypsy, Roma and Traveller Communities. The expression reflects a widely accepted view that racism against Travellers remains an almost intractable form of racism after years of anti-racist work.
The Traveller Movement received a number of replies to their tweet, most condemning the poster. However, there were a few which sought to reinforce the racist stereotype in the poster, including this tweet from @Diarmuid1104:
Nope….it’s called crime prevention…..and I would google what the word “Racism” is because you are not a different race.
I have returned recently to work on the rights of Travellers, as illustrated in ‘Complaint: The Truth About Traveller Crime‘: a published version of a complaint that I submitted to the broadcast regulator Ofcom that Channel 4 breached parts of the Broadcasting Code for the programme ‘The Truth About Traveller Crime’. That programme was indicative of the stereotyping of Travellers as criminal and dangerous. I have also been reflecting considerably over the last few years on racism, equality and discrimination – not least in relation to law, the discipline in which I am professionally trained and have worked as an academic for much of my life.
I thought a reply to the tweet by @Diarmuid1104 would be an opportunity to share my knowledge of the law on equality. It would be part of ongoing solidarity with Gypsy, Roma and Traveller (GRT) people, who not only continue to experience widespread and deep discrimination, social exclusion, and disadvantage but are also especially vulnerable given the shift to the right politically in recent years in many countries. The welfare of GRT people is, after all, a litmus test of the quality of law, human rights, and politics. A tweet might also help @Diarmuid1104 reflect on the earlier tweet and, perhaps, alter position. Even if it did not, it would serve a public educational function. I did so in the following thread.
The initial response from @Diarmuid1104 started reasonably. However, it then appeared to double down on the initial tweet. What was interesting were the various ways in which @Diarmuid1104 sought to avoid reflecting on the racial stereotype. A subsequent tweet repeated this conduct.
Making sense of racist conduct
The responses from @Diarmuid1104 reveal a number of features of typical racist conduct. These features are not exhaustive in illustrating racism (which also needs to be understood as systemic and as having distinctive historical and contemporary forms) but identifying them, laying them out and considering whether and if so how to respond are important tools in anti-racism work.
The features in @Diarmuid1104’s replies to me (as the ‘interlocutor’) are:
- Using racialised stereotyping of a racial group (here, Travellers).
- When corrected on incorrect knowledge of the law, demands that the law be changed to suit his/ her/ their own stereotype.
- Engaging in whataboutery (here, ‘victims of crime’, with a notable effrontery by claiming the racial group are thieves and then seeking to avoid his/ her/ their own stereotyping of that group by referring to the victims of this stereotype and then claiming that the person who pointed out the stereotype and the law isn’t interested in the ‘victims’ of his/ her/ their stereotype).
- Repetition of whataboutery, now representing a reinforcement of avoidance of responsibility for and reflection upon the previous stereotyping. This allows the next feature.
- Seeking to make the person who called out the racism the problem, along the following lines: my racism is not the problem – the problem is your lack of noting the fictive victims of my stereotyping/ showing compassion for the fictive victims of my stereotyping.
- Refusing to engage in explanation, with tendency to hide in ambiguity (like his/ her/ their anonymity).
- Demanding that the racial group change its name to fit his/ her/ their racial stereotype (Travellers can “change the word ‘Travellers’ to […] ‘Travelling T’s’”. This view simply reinforces racism by seeking to erase racial identity.
- Projection of fear, tinged with an element of paranoia, by imagining that by being asked to explain an ambiguous word the interlocutor seeks to ‘spur’ him/ her/ them and will then will be caught out by imagined “friends” of the interlocutor.
- Engaging in inappropriate, intrusive querying in public as to what his/ her/ their interlocutor would do as a ‘victim’ of the stereotyped criminality.
- Lazy or indifferent engagement with the interlocutor. If really concerned about any of the other issues he/ she/ they claim to be concerned about, an easy search online would provide ample evidence of those issues in the interlocutor’s published and peer-reviewed work.
The aforementioned techniques used by @Diarmuid1104 are also consistent with the strategy of Deny, Attack, and Reverse Victim and Offender (DARVO) by abusers (which is why I also suggest he/ she/ they might also benefit from psychodynamic therapy or psychotherapy with a therapist qualified in addressing racism).
Because of @Diarmuid1104’s racist and inappropriate behaviour, I’ve blocked him/ her/ them, and would suggest if you come across him/ her/ them you do so too. There is no general obligation to engage with those who persist in racism, who show unwillingness to reflect on their conduct, and who seek to cause damage.
The actual people harmed in the initial tweet are not the fictive ‘victims’ created in @Diarmuid1104’s imagination but Travellers who he/ she/ they stereotype. The challenge for those of us who do anti-racism work is to strategically determine whether, how, when to engage with those who engage in racism, such as @Diarmuid1104.
Public platforms such as Twitter can be used to reveal the myriad and complex features of racism, racial discrimination, and how these are sustained at the individual level in stereotypes, and accompanying techniques of avoidance and deflection.
In summary, the responses by @Diarmuid1104 reveal a number of these features:
- Denial of identity: here, that the racialised group is a ‘race’ (and therefore subject to legal protection) and doubling down by subsequently seeking to erase that identity.
- Refusal to correct or reflect upon racist stereotyping when this is pointed out (simply ignoring that stereotyping is racist).
- Whataboutery (interposing fictive victims of stereotyping).
- Projection (imagining that purported friends of his interlocutor will say ‘gotcha’ if he/ she/ they explain the meaning behind ambiguous words).
- Cowardice (hiding behind anonymity and ambiguity).
- Using, and continuing to use, a platform that enables racism (Twitter).
These are some of the typical responses used by those who engage in racism. Others include:
- Denial.
- Offence-taking/ victimhood: ‘I am not a racist/ how dare you call me racist’.
- To talk of racism is racist: claiming that the concept of race no longer exists and that to speak about it simply reinforces scientific racism – so don’t accuse me of racism.
- Personal/ ‘ad hominem’ (‘against the man’) attack rather than use of argument about the substance, e.g. whether this is racism or something else.
- Straw man argument: setting up an alternative, irrelevant argument (a ‘Straw Man’ – so-called because it is easy for them to attack this rather than engage with the actual issue).
Reflections on challenging racism on Twitter
My view about racist expressions on Twitter is that it is important, when possible, to challenge that racism, especially when it seeks to silence or otherwise harm the valid viewpoint of those most directly affected and their representatives.
It may also be important to formally report certain types of communication, including to Twitter (for abusive or harmful posts in violation of its terms and conditions) or to the police (for any hate speech that would amount to a hate incident/ criminal offence). If the response from Twitter or the police validates the report, communicate that response publicly as it helps inform others of action that works. (I’ll be writing more on reporting in a subsequent blog.)
The challenge may help someone reflect and turn away from a racist viewpoint. But it might not. The challenge might then demonstrate other objectives: public communication of commitment to anti-racism; allyship with the targeted individual/group/organisation; broader public education (e.g. through conveying information about the Equality Act 2010).
There is undoubtedly a risk that someone will up-the-ante in reply. Harsh personal attack can be difficult to confront. It might seem easier to not engage.
But sometimes a racist tweet deserves swift, immediate, and decisive condemnation.
Sometimes, though, it can be helpful in the face of apparent racism to step back and reflect on the content. It’s possible to misinterpret messages. Sometimes it’s too easy to allow the ego to seek to defend against an apparent slight. Twitter flaming is unedifying.
Regrettably, Twitter allows racist communication on their platforms, so it isn’t always possible to report the racism and have the individual suspended. This shouldn’t justify indifference.
Nor is any of this is to deny the efficacy of other appropriate responses to racism, for example keeping oneself informed and amplifying the voices of others who are subject to racism. But too many colleagues I know in academia and law (the fields I am most familiar with professionally) are content to avoid challenging oppressions against others except when it is neatly contained (through publications or litigation, respectively) and only when to do so reflects best on them. Sadly, such laissez faire, egoistic conservatism doesn’t engage effectively with messy, continuous, real-time oppression. It rarely signals genuine allyship.
The attempt in this blog to identify ways in which those who engage in racist stereotyping operate is intended to help make sense of the whether, what, how, and when in considering response. The blog is also intended to develop thinking about what is understood by racism, and especially to move away from the persistent widespread idea that it consists only in racial insult. The techniques used by @Diarmuid1104 are part of the complexity of racism, which also require complex responses. This blog has also been published in abbreviated form on Twitter to maximise this communication.
Challenging racism AND reinforcing positive representation
Mindful that racism is sometimes a function of ignorance about the lives of groups subject to racism, it’s important to redress that ignorance through education and supporting and amplifying the voices of those historically subject to marginalisation and oppression, including with reference to intersections of gender or the other protected characteristics, alongside socio-economic status.
So, check these organisations (based in England), via their Twitter handles, and see the work that they are doing to end racism and discrimination against Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities:
Friends, Families and Travellers: @GypsyTravellers
The Traveller Movement: @GypsyTravellerM
For fellow citizens of Ireland, I also invite you to check the State recognition of Travellers as a distinct ethnic group within the Irish nation, and reflect on the appointment of Mincéir Beoirs Dr Sindy Joyce (@SindyLJoyce), to the Council of State and Eileen Ní Fhloinn (@Love1solidarity) to Seanad Eireann; and Owen Patrick Ward (@OwenPWard1), an Irish Traveller elected to @nuigalway Údarás na hOllscoile (Governing Body of the University). I’d also like to introduce you, if you’re not already familiar with his work, to @GRTactivist; who is studying for a law degree and who continuously challenges anti-Traveller racist language on Twitter.
There are many other wonderful Travellers I’ve had the pleasure to learn about in my recent research, who I will be retweeting.
Amended: 15 July 2020
©DermotFeenan 2020