“I have heard the hon. Gentleman speak on this and every other occasion, and as the years roll by I recognise that language such as he uses is one of the main reasons for our political difficulties in the Colonial Empire. I recently had the opportunity of talking to some Burmese gentlemen, and one of the things they said was that they never realised until they came here and met ordinary people, what the British people were like. They thought they were all haughty and arrogant.
“The hon. Gentleman and his Friends think they are all “wogs.” Indeed, the right hon. Member for Woodford (Mr. Churchill) thinks that the “wogs” start at Calais. If one views people like the hon. Gentleman from the angle of a private soldier, one realises that to them there are black “wogs” and white “wogs.” The attitude of hon. Members opposite to the black chap is not much different from the attitude of some of them towards the private soldier, and that is why the Forces have a great sympathy with the native peoples.“
It was July 29, 1949, when George Wigg, Member of Parliament for Dudley, Worcestershire, gave this speech in the House of Commons. I’m not sure Winston Churchill ever actually said that the wogs start at Calais, but the man Time’s Henry Luce named as the greatest man of the first half of the 20th century was hardly known for his tolerance.
That’s why folks visiting the Parish Church of Saint Martin Bladon near Blenheim Palace might be detecting some earth tremors from the grave where Churchill is buried.
Churchill died in 1965, at a time when no one other than white males had ever served as prime minister.
He might not have been all that shocked or dismayed by Maggie Thatcher, and I don’t know how he would have reacted by Liz Truss.
But the new guy?
Rishi Sunak?
He’s the new prime minister, the first prime minister of color, the first of the Hindu religion and the first to be wealthier than the royal family.
Sunak is an investment banker who is married to a tech heiress and is worth roughly $830 million. He’s also just 42 years old, one of the youngest prime ministers ever. There is a large Indian population in England, and Sunak’s ascension to his new position is very popular among them.
One man called it “Britain’s Obama moment.”
I would never say people in the United Kingdom are more racist than we are in our country. For all the excitement in 2008 when we elected Barack Obama president, never forget all the racist reactions that came from the far right.
It wasn’t just the South.
One of the most famous reactions came from the mayor of a small city in the Los Angeles area.
Let’s be hopeful that our British friends do better than we did.
Not sure they could do worse.