So historian David Starkey is a “racist” according to some journalists and the Labour leader Ed Miliband.
Well, for all I know, he may be, and I suppose his comments on ‘Newsnight’ could certainly be considered as “inflammatory”, but was he right ?, when he said …
“The whites have become black. A particular sort of violent destructive, nihilistic gangster culture has become the fashion and black and white boys and girls operate in this language together”.
Perhaps he could have been more careful with his choice of words, but the language he referred to “Dat is true innit” as anyone who has watched TV interviews “wid da yoof” recently will know. “Yoo know dem what ai’nt got no foot in dem bellies” as one young “dude” moron put it to London Mayor, Boris Johnson on his recent photo opportunity tour of riot hit Brixton.
Now it wasn’t too long ago that black people living in Birmingham sounded like ‘Brummies’, and those living in London sounded like ‘Cockneys’ etc., and I expect that many still do. So it now seems strange to me that, in recent times, young black people, who have never been anywhere near the West Indies, know nothing of it’s culture, have never heard of men like C.L.R. James, Marcus Garvey or even Bob Marley, should adopt a form of speech based on Jamaican patois, ‘spiced up’ with US ’gangsta speak’.
Today I learned a new word, which goes some way to explaining Starkey’s recent remarks …
It’s definition … “Slang - A white youth who adopts black youth culture by adopting its speech, wearing its clothes, and listening to its music“.
The word ? …
… “Wigger” !
