The news that 51% of Cumbrians consider the County to be a racist place is – if true - a depressing statistic. The news comes from a recently compiled BBC survey and as someone who has been an anti-racist campaigner since I became politically aware, but more importantly as a West Cumbrian, I find this news hard to take. Quite apart from apparently finding ourselves in the esteemed company of Adolf Hitler, Slobodan Milosevic, Robert Mugabe and the Ku Klux Klan I simply don’t recognise the picture of Cumbrians which this survey paints.
Racism is based upon ignorance and stupidity – I don’t believe that Cumbrians are either of these things. We are a warm, compassionate people - accepting, accommodating and tolerant. Many Cumbrians can trace their roots (distant and not so distant) to Ireland, Poland, Italy, Scotland, Scandinavia and increasingly Asia, Africa and the Antipodes. These influences make us a better place – of that there can be no doubt. Neither should there be any doubt, only weeks after Remembrance Sunday, what the multi-ethnic soldiers, sailors and airmen of the British Commonwealth fought against in the Second World War; racism was an integral component of the fascism of Hitler and Mussolini.
Perhaps (incredibly) there is still need for education about the evils of racism. 2007 will mark the 200th anniversary of Parliament's passing of the Slave Trade Act - a crucial turning point in this country's history, as it abolished slavery throughout the British Empire (though enforcing its effectiveness remained problematic for many years to come). This pioneering example of human rights politics was achieved by William Wilberforce (amongst others), the Member of Parliament for Hull. Large port cities such as Hull and Bristol have plans to mark the bicentenary of the abolition and as the last reputed English slaving port, I want Whitehaven to play its part too.
Although Whitehaven’s status as a slaving port was comparatively small, the trade in sugar and rum which so enriched the town was itself based upon slavery. It is surely necessary to mark the involvement of the town in this shameful episode in World History and in doing so, recognise the evils of racism. The harbour side would be a fitting site for a monument to recognise the suffering of those enslaved and act as a reminder to us all of what politics is capable of achieving. I have written to David Lammy , Minister in the Department of Culture, Media and Sport and himself a descendent of slaves, to find out what plans the government has to mark the bicentenary and what help is on offer to those areas that would like to mark the anniversary. Such a monument should be unashamedly educational.
Without acknowledging the lessons of history we are bound to repeat the same mistakes. The Slave Trade was nothing short of an African Holocaust. That this isn’t widely acknowledged might in part account for the fact that today there exists a growing Slave Trade (particularly amongst women and children) in Eastern Europe and elsewhere.
We are better than this survey suggests – online polls are notoriously unreliable and 168 people can hardly be said to accurately represent 500,000. So let us prove it. Let us celebrate our better instincts and the better nature of our nation and remember those whose misery and suffering brought riches to Copeland, and those political visionaries who chose to work against and succeeded in defeating, this grotesque evil.