There is something truly disturbing about the racist harassment that Kelis experienced at a London airport on Monday. The notion that an upper-class twit like Boris Johnson will do anything about it... well, that would just be laughable if it weren't so utterly and stupidly opportunistic.
According to a message on Kelis' Twitter account, the singer was called a "slave" and "a disgusting Nigerian" by a random traveler who accused her of cutting in line. It's not known whether the man was himself British or not--though he obviously spoke English quite well.
That random bigots might feel confident enough in the UK to spew such racist filth isn't really surprising. This is a country where the English Defence League does indeed still wield influence on the streets, where Romani people and Irish Travellers are facing the possible elimination of their way of life.
It's precisely why confronting racism in all its forms is so important--to close off the space that random little haters like this need to breathe. That's a solution that comes on the streets--not from the charlatan, elitist dunce that is the current Mayor of London.
Let's be clear: Boris Johnson has gone out of his way to make life harder for working class British Blacks his entire time as mayor. Since the UK riots he's jumped completely on board with David Cameron's "blame the 'criminal elements'" spiel. When he tweeted back to Kelis "I’m appalled & I’m on the case," it was little more than opportunism, piggybacking on a high-profile incident of racism and hoping that folks don't notice that he's actually contributed to an atmosphere where things like this become the norm.
If there's anyone who Kelis should be going to about this whole stomach-turning debacle, it's Love Music Hate Racism--not the stuffed suits simply looking to cover their own asses.
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