‘I spoke out about institutional racism in politics on Question Time, then 100 racist trolls attacked me online’ I’m still glad I had my say and would encourage young black women like me to speak out and challenge politicians

Ann-Marie Debrah, 20, studies History at King’s College London. After she remarked that British politics is institutionally racist on Thursday’s episode of Question Time, she received more than 100 racist threats online. She spoke to Jasmine Andersson about racism in politics and dealing with racist trolls online.

For years, I’ve grown up watching Question Time. I was spurred on to apply and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do.

My family and I are politically-minded and we’ve always had discussions about what politics means over the dinner table.

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Coming from ethnic minority background, we feel the need to educate ourselves; not just on British domestic politics, but international issues.

My family and I are Ghanaian, so we have a lot of interest in the politics of Ghana and how colonialism is seen and discussed in the UK.

I didn’t expect to be picked to be in the audience on Thursday’s episode of Question Time, but when I was given the opportunity, I jumped at the chance.

I wanted to share my opinions outside of the comfort of my living room and didn’t want to miss this golden opportunity.

I’m a history student, and it’s shaped my political ideas. The way I feel politics is fashioned is that political ideas are always formed by the past.

I have spoken to my mum and my neighbours about how people in the 80s and 90s still used the n-word, and how a Conservative campaign in the 1960s said if people voted for Labour, a person of colour would live next door to them, like it was some kind of threat.

‘Both parties have an issue with racism’

But I’m not a Labour or Conservative party member, and I think that both parties have an issue with racism.

While Labour fought against decolonisation, Conservative politicians like Boris Johnson have used racist rhetoric throughout their political careers.

I believe in civilised debate, and reaching out to both sides to form a view.

While Labour struggles to deal with antisemitism in the party, Baroness Warsi has said the Conservative party has “tell-tale signs of institutional racism” over Islamphobia.

And after Labour MP Barry Gardiner and Conservative MP Nadhim Zahawi debated whether Labour was an inherently racist party I couldn’t just sit there. As a black woman interacting in a political debate I wanted to challenge a Tory MP on the amalgamation of violent racist rhetoric from Tory MPs and the far-right.

I said a Tory MP shouldn’t sit on stage denying that the party has a legacy of racism

I spoke about how Boris Johnson had called black people “pickaninnies” and said they had “watermelon smiles.” I spoke about how the former Foreign Secretary had said people of colour have low IQs. I said a Tory MP shouldn’t sit on stage denying that the party has a legacy of racism.

This audience member says ‘the right have a legacy of racism’. #bbcqt pic.twitter.com/tJLZ9brb2o — BBC Question Time (@bbcquestiontime) February 28, 2019

I knew as a black female engaging in political debate, my intellect would be challenged due to my skin tone. That’s why I kept my university lanyard on.

‘They called me a black scrounger’

Question Time is known everywhere, so I was attacked everywhere. I must have had over 100 violent messages in total – I’d say sixty were on Twitter, 20 were on Instagram and ten were through Twitter DMs. The rest were just left on Question Time’s Facebook page after they posted a video of me expressing my views.

I had to release a statement on my social media and Twitter page, but it didn’t seem to help.

https://twitter.com/annn1018/status/1101837387230076929

The comments people posted were very stereotypically racist.

People left comments using the same language Boris Johnson did. They called me a pickaninny, said I have a chip on my shoulder, calling me a stupid black bitch, and a black scrounger.

One said I should be owned by a master, like I should be a slave.

I was just a woman engaging in a debate, and I was fiercely opposing what they wanted me to be.

‘Twitter is a war zone sometimes’

Twitter is a war zone sometimes. I used to be very wary, and watch other people on there, wanting to comment but never quite committing because of the wave of violence I could receive.

Although I have a thick skin, my family could see it was troubling me. My parents tried to contact someone from the BBC to see if my video could get taken down.

Although I could delete the comments on Instagram pretty easily, I had trouble getting a lot of the comments taken off Twitter.

For the most part, they said the accounts didn’t go against their policies. If someone is calling you a pickaninny, you think it would be a clear call for action.

By Saturday, the comments had died down – but I am still glad I had my say.

‘Don’t be afraid to speak out’

If you’re a person of colour living in a democratic society, please don’t be afraid to have your say. You are a citizen in this country just as much as anyone else is. You have to abide by citizenship, you pay taxes and pay money to this country – you can say whatever the hell you want within reason.

For people of colour living in western society, it can be a shadow-like experience. You can’t access the realms of western society like others do. It’s a cautious living. We should be allowed to grow and prosper, we should be allowed to challenge politics.

If racism is challenged – and it should be challenged – there’s a form of respectable racism that’s been allowed to happen. It makes it very unequal and very unfair. We need to look at what’s happening with Baroness Warsi.

We need to challenge racism on both sides of the political spectrum

I know many Jewish friends who are on the left who are afraid and don’t think it’s their home any more. We need to challenge racism on both sides of the political spectrum.

But I think politicians on the right accept racism as part and parcel of society, but it isn’t okay.

It’s led to the murder of an MP. We’re not making this up. Muslims mowed down outside of a mosque is a product of racism on the far-right.

If you’re a person of colour, regardless of your politics, you do not deserve that form of abuse.

We live in a democratic society where we should all have our say.