To think this is a wee bit racist?

[DaysAreWhereWeLive]

I've just been on Twitter to see that Chuka Ummuna is trending because he has thrown his hat into the ring for the Labour leadership contest.

The first two tweets called him 'the next Barrack Obama' (presumably because he's black) and 'the Fresh Prince'. (er, same)

Is it all just a bit cringy and wrong? Essentially they were pointing out nothing about his politics, his experience or his chances at leadership. Just the fact that he is black. Anybody else think the same?

ladyfairfax a laboured headline pun is how i'd read it too (fresh/new + prince/leader-in-waiting + convenient reference to the Brixton event) - in the same way that if Neil Kinnock's son was running for leadership, they'd probably call him 'The Prince of Wales'.

Thymeout, yeah I would say pointing out that yvette cooper was articulate is more sexist than pointing out chuka is black is racist.

surely being articulate is a prerequisite in a politician. Pointing it out suggests surprise at the fact.
You wouldn't point out that a female Nobel prize winner for physics was intelligent would you?

Mnpost - I can think of plenty of politicians who aren't very articulate - Theresa May for a start. She always sounds as if she's reading from a script and if she's challenged falls back on the Central Office soundbite of the week.

Gordon Brown wasn't nearly as fluent as Blair.

Some politicians are better at making points than others. Saying Yvette is very articulate has nothing to do with her gender.

Porridge - I think a lot of Americans would disagree with you about Obama. Try reading some of the posts on one of the U.S. cancer boards. There's many a testimony to what he did to improve Medicaid/Medicare.

As far as Umana goes, being black is going to be part of his narrative at this point in time. Remember how excited Black Britons were about Obama's win. Much as the son of the Pakistani bus conductor who's just got into the cabinet - can't remember his name - is happy to allow himself to be described as such. He is proud of it and why shouldn't he be?

Racism would be giving his race as a reason for not voting for him, rather than his politics or his ability.

Ok, agree to disagree. Depends on your definition of articulate i guess. The examples you give are valid, but if you gave people an articulacy a score out of 100 I expect almost all politicians would be in the top 10% of the country.

It's more the sport example I started with to be honest. You definitely get the likes of oxlade-chamberlain and Walcott always being described as 'articulate' whilst they wouldn't use that word to describe a white player.

Edit - granted 98% of white footballers aren't articulate, but they still dont use that word to describe the 2% that do, yet it's always used for black players

*that are

The irony of inarticulately describing articulate.... I'll go now.

I nearly replied citing white footballers. David Beckham comes to mind as being one of the 98% but there used to be a player called Danny Blanchflower who was all over the airwaves because he was good value. He would certainly have been described as 'articulate' and people were surprised, but he was white from Northern Ireland.

Don't know enough about cricketers. Are they more articulate in general than the average sportsman?

The problem with your argument is: wouldn't it then become difficult to say anything complimentary about a female or ethnic minority candidate as it would seem to imply that the ave female or ave member of the ethnic minority was lacking in that particular quality?

Ime, as a sec school teacher, there are many black females who can talk the hind leg off a donkey, so I don't associate being inarticulate with either gender or race.

For me it would only be racist if they were being derogatory otherwise it's just poor journalism trying to get a catchy headline

Button it doesn't matter if they are being derogatory ..

The two names used in this case have a context above and beyond 'Chuka Ummuna is black': he might, like Obama, be the first BAME leader in his country, and he has sung with Will Smith.

but if you said... Chuka Umunna was likely to have a big penis, be good at running, have a natural sense of rhythm or lovely teeth, the only context is 'Chuka Umunna is a black man', and those are all racist stereotypes, so it would be racist.

Thyme It isn't difficult to say something complimentary about a black man or a woman, but if someone makes a point of flagging that this person is competent at something with racist stereotypes would have is unusual, then it could be a problem.

I completely understand what you are saying but for me being racist is more than just words it's the intention of them, for example I was once called a black Mary poppins whilst in the park, by a stranger. Yes I'm black, yes I'm a childminder. It didn't offend me and I didn't feel like it was racist. There is a difference between stating someone is black and being offensive and derogatory

No - I see why you wouldn't necessarily mind that personally, although I think it's a bloody rum thing for a stranger to say, and I think you'd have been justified in being pissed off.

I'd say that is racist ('in what one way is this woman most obviously NOT Julie Andrews? She is black!), but in a way which many people might not actively mind. But I would certainly think it would be a problem if a journalist described you in that way.

Yes perhaps you are right it's definitely about context and tone!!

It would be interesting to know if Chuka felt it was racist and was offended by it.

Nope shouldn't think so.

However the important point here is labour are trying to fill the space too soon and havnt begun to understand or analyse why they lost

I agree- ultimately if Chuka isn't offended, no one else should be.

I think it is a very personal thing- with some things one person might not care and others might get massively offended.

I mentioned on another thread about an old gentleman referring to me as 'the coloured girl' and it didn't offend me in the context- I put it down to a generational thing- but then look at the Benedict Cumberbatch fluff up.

Yes that's exactly how I feel NK

I don't think any man would mind it being said that he had a big penis.

My point is that whilst having a big penis is generally regarded as a positive (!), it is racist to trot out that stereotype (and actually relates in unpleasant ways to the characterization of black men as sexually aggressive). And if, say, there was a photo of CU and his partner smiling, and the caption was something about 'bet we know why she's grinning - guess it's true what they say about black men!', that would without question be a racist caption.

Even if Chuka Umunna didn't think so, or didn't mind.

Didn't Chuka edit his own wikipedia page to suggest he was the UK's answer to Barack Obama?

Haha, yes he did!

www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/chuka-umunnas-british-obama-wikipedia-entry-came-from-his-former-office-8569083.html

I think it was done by his 'team' and I wouldn't be at all surprised it they were responsible for the tweets cited by OP.

As I said, it will be part of his narrative in the hope that it will play well with voters in the leadership election.

Precious and there I thought Milibands Labour Party was the most left wing since Michael Foot. As a prominent Marxist Ralph Miliband would be ashamed... Ha ha ha.

Precious- I was singing hahaha, let's go fly a kite if I remember correctly