Race Review: All the news you might have missed this week

Illustration by Michelle W

“How ‘bout you get the fuck out?” As well as being a great lyric from Mariah Carey’s album which just dropped, it’s also a question Theresa May has been facing all week as Brexit falls to shit. Nobody seems happy with her view for a post-EU Britain, namely Jeremy Corbyn who described her proposal as “26 pages of waffle”. So far around 24 MPs have submitted letters of no-confidence in her and it takes a total of 48 to spark a leadership contest. Women of colour like us, many of whom felt (even more) unwelcome in the UK following the Brexit vote, are viewing the situation with trepidation.

On Friday, the Prime Minister appeared on BBC 5 Live where she was asked three times whether she would “take (her) tings and be on her merry way” if MPs rejected her proposed Brexit deal, and she refused to answer. She’s headed over to Brussels on Sunday to face the remaining 27 countries to show them what she’s come up with.

Meanwhile, Nicki Minaj landed in China to perform at a music festival which turned out to be fake. It appears Chun Li was scuppered by Djakarta Warehouse Project China which was an “unauthorised” rip off of an event of the same name that takes place in Bali, Indonesia. Even though she flew all the way to play, she refused to take the stage. And, Janelle Monae’s company, Wondaland Pictures, signed a production deal with Universal this week to represent “underrepresented voices” in cinema.

London nightclubs are discriminating against black people again

We’ve known about racist door policies in London for years but a fresh case emerged this weekend after 21-year-old “Priscilla” booked the club Tiger Tiger to celebrate her birthday. Speaking to Huff Post, she told them that “The manager said: ‘We don’t want you guys here. You’re 5% of our revenue and 100% of our problems’. We were then told that they’re cancelling my event.”

While a spokesperson for Tiger Tiger said that “the venue does not “tolerate any form of racial discrimination”, this follows a pattern of West End nightclubs discriminating against black people, and, in particular, dark-skinned black people who want to party. In 2015, the club DSTRKT was accused of banning dark-skinned and overweight women. In June, the Drama, Park Lane nightclub in Mayfair allegedly charged black women a higher entrance fee than white women.

As Priscilla noted, “My white friends, who were let in, were completely intoxicated, drunk, but all my friends outside were very respectful and well behaved”. White privilege in action. Meanwhile, we’ll be heading to Pxssy Palace this Friday night – a space for women and femmes of colour to party free from discrimination (and which plays better music than Tiger, DSTRKT and Drama anyway).

ICYMI

The UK’s hostile environment policy continues to harm. Father of two Hilary Ineomo-Marcus is set to be deported to Nigeria, despite having lived in this UK since he was 10. This follows the deportation of Kweku Adoboli earlier this month.
Last week, Blac Chyna came under fire after collaborating with a skin lightening brand on a new bleaching cream. On Monday, her mum took to Instagram to tell “bitches” to take a “layer of dirt” off their faces before questioning her daughter’s business practices.
After dozens of white students in Wisconsin were photographed doing what appears to be a Nazi salute, the school’s superintendent said they were protected by the first amendment. They will not be punished for their actions.

Moment Of The Week

Bolu had a great time on holiday…

I met this guy on holiday this summer-we had a such a great connection but I changed my number and we lost touch. Twitter do your thing???❤ pic.twitter.com/rBekHA6TeL

— bolu babalola (@BeeBabs) November 25, 2018