Lib Dems...............we're not racist but.........

............have you ever heard us say that as a party? NO. For one good reason. The only parties who preface what they have to say with "We're not racist but............." are the racists! They know that what they are peddling is racism dressed up in an excuse for democracy, they know that when anyone hears what they have to say they are likely to think it is racist.........so they try that simple device. If you are not racist, why on earth would you need to tell anyone? Its like me saying "I'm not tall but............." If its true its stating the flippin obvious! We don't need to say we're not racist because we don't say anything that any sane person could mistake for racism.

In this election two parties have been claiming they are not racist. UKIP (whose rhetoric in one of the hustings I attended differed little from the BNP) and the BNP. Ah yes.........it is not racist to warn people about being swamped by foreigners, especially if they are Turkish. Ah yes...........it is not racist to refuse to allow non whites to join your party. It is not racist to talk about forbidding "mixed" marriages. It is not racist to blame non whites for all our ills. Hmmmmm.............so what exactly would they regard as racist I wonder?

What happened last night was deeply shocking, but we all have to take some responsibility for it. Today I heard that when someone was asked why they had voted BNP the response was that it was because they listened. Listening means engaging, engaging means more than bombarding folk with paper. Let's listen carefully to what the electorate said last night, let's fight everything the racists stand for, but let's more importantly, start really listening to what those who are most marginalised are saying to us.

We maybe have the luxury to bang our drum about civil liberties, human rights, equality, the environment and all the other things we rightly consider hugely important, but if we do so without acknowledging that some of our fellow citizens are more concerned about whether they will have a roof over their head, a job, or food on the table tomorrow........we will totally miss the boat and betray one of our declared aims..........that no one should be enslaved by poverty. At the moment the BNP and UKIP are saying what people want to hear, they are affecting to feel their pain, they are offering, albeit, dishonest and simplistic explanations and solutions, they are stealing a march and we ignore that at our peril.