Race Review: All the news from the week that you need to know

This last week has seen England win their first match at the World Cup, a new Beyoncé (and her assistant) album Everything is Love, the death of XXXTentacion and Samira’s transition into the asexual sassy agony aunt of Love Island its come with unstoppable waves of side of social commentary.

Not many could resist firing up the hot take canon making their opinions known on Beyoncé’s marriage, whether you should celebrate or canonise a well-known abusive homophobe in death, and whether Samira’s presence in the villa is actually just triggering at this point. Alan Sugar also chimed in to compare the Senegal team to ‘looky looky’ men on a Marbella beach, a comment that is not only racist but also degrading to entrepreneurial working class males struggling to make a living – something he always claims he used to be.

Meanwhile, we learned that racist incidents have risen by more than 60 per cent in two years, and a high-end London nightclub was accused of charging black women double that of their white counterparts to enter. The one year anniversary of the Grenfell blaze shed light, once again, on the catalogue of mishaps that failed the residents on the night – firefighters were quick to shrug off any connection between the response given and the race of the people who called that building home. However, there is still outrage at those who remain unhoused, unheard, and for those around the country living in similar blocks with dangerous cladding painfully uncertain.

Here’s what went down in the last week:

DRAMA ON PARK LANE BECOMES LATEST CLUB WITH RACIST DOOR POLICY EXPOSED

A tweet last week went viral when Drama on Park Lane allegedly charged black women double the entrance fee of white women. Nadine Marsh-Edwards wrote that her daughter and other black girls had been charged £20 for entry, while white girls were paying only £10, saying it was indicative of ‘London life right now’.

A few local councillors in the club’s area spoke out about their intolerance for the issue, promising to begin investigating it.

My daughter went to a club in the west end last night. Black girls got charged £20 entrance fee- white girls £10… London life right now.

— Nadine ME (@nadme2) June 10, 2018

Speaking to gal-dem, a spokesperson for Drama, Park Lane said: “We have continued our investigation, including a comprehensive review of CCTV footage, door receipts, and team member interviews.

“We have so far found no evidence to support the very serious allegations. We have tried to contact both the guest and her mother on multiple occasions, and would welcome the opportunity to speak directly about their experience. We are also cooperating with enquiries from Westminster Council.

“We reaffirm our position that we do not tolerate any form of discrimination against any individual or group.”

Issues like racist door policies are widespread and often hard to prove but the allegations have happened in their hundreds. Some have called for a boycott of the club in retaliation.

BECAUSE OF FOOTBALL, UK MPS SUDDENLY CARE ABOUT RUSSIA’S RACISM AND HOMOPHOBIA

Despite the fact that Russian activists have tirelessly campaigned against racism in Russia and worrying homophobia displayed by recent “gay concentration camp” allegations, with a World Cup on MPs have a renewed appetite to talk about the “heightened risk” for BAME and LGBTQ+ people in the area.

There is concern over possible racist and homophobic intimidation as well as an anti-British sentiment from far-right Russian football hooligans. Boris Johnson put the onus for the safety of British fans firmly on the shoulders of Russian government, saying “I think it is up to the Russians to give us an undertaking that they will be safe.”

Up to 10,000 football fans will be flying to Moscow from the UK and MPs discussed the lack of ‘specific provisions’ to protect BAME and LGBTQ fans, who already face an additional risk of persecution in a country that has taken ‘little action to combat homophobia’, the report read.

With the relationship with Russia being particularly frosty following the attempted poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia in Salisbury in March, MPs expressed they are prepared to act decisively to warn fans against travel if the security situation deteriorates.

ICYMI

A Sikh soldier became the first ever to wear a turban instead of a bearskin for trooping the colour ceremony to mark the Queen’s official birthday.
K-Pop star BamBam from band GOT7 has been accused of racism and cultural appropriation by followers after uploading a photo of him imitating dress from Black Panther with the caption ‘Wakanda Forever’.
The University of Warwick banned three students and fined others, who joked about rape and racism on a Facebook group chat.
Grenfell firefighters denied claims by a lawyer that their response to the blaze was affected by racism.
Black Actor Darris Love wrongfully arrested at gunpoint and held for seven hours after being racially profiled and mistaken for a burglar. He is now planning a civil rights lawsuit.
MPs are calling for more education in schools about organ and blood donation to help tackle the ‘silent crisis’ of a lack of ethnic minority donors in England.