Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu has seemed to dominate this week’s talk shows, appearing on ‘This Morning’ on Monday (13th Jan) and Good Morning Britain a day later (Tuesday 14th) to discuss the racial bias in the treatment of Meghan Markle in the UK. Yet, her discussions ended up as a lesson in trying to educate all the talk hosts on the topic of racism in the UK.
Dr Mos-Shogbamimu explained how a lot of the criticism Markle has been receiving was steeped in privilege, resulting in why many of the criticizers can’t see how their opinions stem from a racial judgment. She informed This Morning hosts Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield that: ‘The reason why the racism experienced by Meghan feels so personal, and it deeply resonates with a lot of people, is because it’s symptomatic by the racism of the United Kingdom.’
Schofield, however, was unable to see her point as he failed to understand how the criticism of Meghan was inherently racist, which seems to be the recurring problem as it is exhausting explaining to privileged individuals how their privilege blinds their view. Dr Mos-Shogamimu carried on explaining, ‘White privilege whitewashes racist and inflammatory language as unconscious bias. It perpetuates the bigotry of intolerant white people as ignorant, it defends and protects their private views once spoken as misspeak, and then it camouflages racist behaviour as error of judgement.’
This discussion went on further on Tuesday (14th Jan) on Good Morning Britain and escalated to a more heated level with Piers Morgan, as he failed to listen and learn from his guest. To Dr Mos-Shogbamimu’s points, he shouted over her with the claim: ‘Racism doesn’t exist, where is it?’
In literally asking where racism in the UK is, despite many people – those of colour, especially – being able to provide clear examples every day, Morgan showed just how blind that some are to racism, and how frustrating it is when people refuse to listen to lived experiences in favour of denying it outright.
Those who are blind to it need to learn the subtleties of racism in the UK, and how they can do their best to fight against it – however, it shouldn’t be the job of Black people and people of colour to explain it every time. As has been shown with Dr Mos-Shogbamimu, racism in the UK is alive and well – but sadly, the friendly faces we recognise from the TV aren’t doing their part in helping to fight it.
