James O'Brien questions Boris Johnson's track record on racism after BLM statement
9 June 2020, 14:07 | Updated: 9 June 2020, 14:14
James O'Brien: Boris Johnson's track record on racism after BLM speech
The past comments of Boris Johnson regarding race may undermine his message of support for Black Lives Matter, James O'Brien worried.
Boris Johnson last night released a video recognising the motivations of anti-racism protesters in the UK after the death of George Floyd sparked demonstrations here highlighting racial inequality The protests hit a peak when a statue of a slave trader was toppled in Bristol.
James O'Brien was unsure about "the believability of Boris Johnson's little video message expressing support for Black Lives Matter" because of his previous record of addressing the topic of racism.
"Whether it is possible to sustain that sort of sentiment when his track record is littered with racist conduct or racist language" was something that didn't sit well with James, as he proceeded to quote some articles written by the Prime Minister about the Queen's state trips to Africa and Barack Obama's position on the United Kingdom. "We haven't even mentioned the letterboxes" he added.
James asked listeners if he was being unfair and overly critical of the comments of Boris Johnson after reading some instances of racism from the PM.
"The horror of this question is of course I don't know who would answer yes to that except people who think his claims of being opposed to racism are horribly undermined by his past conduct."
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On the other side, James told listeners that he would "love to talk to someone who is cross with Boris Johnson for coming out against racism because that's certainly not what you voted for."
He went on to describe the kind of person that might defend the previous comments of the Prime Minister as "football hooligans who are going to be marching in favour of racism at the weekend."
James also scoffed at weak counter-arguments to the current debate around race in the UK, stating that people who may reference the grooming gangs scandal as "some sort of counter balance to this conversation."
"Explain to me how cross you are with Boris Johnson for not coming out against Black Lives Matter".
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