What is black politics?
Posted on | November 5, 2009 | 1 Comment
This site is called blackpolitics.co.uk, but just what do I mean by that?
Well, this site is concerned with black politicians in the UK and their activities. This site aims to provide coverage of the activities of black British politicians, and explore the nuances of being a black politician in Britain today.
Why, you may ask, is there a need for a site like this? Well, very often, black politicians have a massive balancing act to play- they’ve got to work within the mainstream party political framework where they must ‘fit in’ if they expect career advancement. At the same time, they are scrutinized by their BME constituents who expect them to not just be an MP, but be an MP who can sympathize with their specific needs, values, and concerns. And as if that wasn’t enough, the dire lack of representation in Parliament in proportion to the population, means that they are held up as role models for BME political aspirants.
Just being a black politician, however, isn’t enough to attract public or media attention however, unless it’s a specific issue related to the BME community. So again the black politician is struggling to promote the work that they undertake. The meagre coverage of political affairs in the only black newspaper currently being published, and a general non interest by the mainstream media, means that there is a clear need for a site like this.
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November 5th, 2009 @ 8:54 PM
About time we had something like this!! Very little coverage of black politics and politicians