FORMER CONSERVATIVE MP Rory Stewart has been criticised for referring to black men as “minor gangsters”.
The politician, who is running to be the next mayor of London, met the three men as he campaigned to be prime minister in east London during the summer. He filmed and posted on his Twitter account in June.
The brief video clip showing Stewart meet the men, who were walking through Brick Lane, has resurfaced and attracted new criticism after recent comments he made about it.
“One thing about social media is that it allows people to see politicians listening … I can go to Brick Lane and three sort of minor gangsters can come up to me and spend a minute telling me I’m an idiot. And I can film it on my phone and put it up. And people love watching people being rude to politicians,” The Guardian reported Stewart said of the interaction during a speech at an event on Wednesday.
His unfounded labelling of the men, members of Irish hip hop group Hare Squead, as gangsters has angered many and seen politicians urge him to apologise for his “shameful” comments.
Labour MP Marsha De Cordova said: “This baseless negative stereotyping of Londoners based on nothing other than the way they look is completely unacceptable and flies in the face of London’s values.
“Rory Stewart should immediately withdraw these comments and apologise.”
Shadow home secretary and MP for Hackney Central and Stoke Newington Diane Abbott said: “This is racism. And it is completely shameful. Especially when it comes from someone running to be the mayor of our diverse and multicultural capital city.”
Others highlighted how Stewart’s words fed into age-old stereotypes about black men.
David Lammy said: “Just because a black man is wearing a hoodie does not make him a ‘minor gangster’. [Rory Stewart] let’s challenge stereotypes, not compound them.”
“Black men basically start on a base-level of ‘minor-gangsters’ until proven otherwise,” academic and commentator Dr Adam Elliot-Cooper wrote on Twitter.
The Voice contacted Stewart’s office for comment but was directed to his tweets on the matter in which he said he was “really sorry for causing offence”.
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Ooh-er! Is this the Rory Stewart most of the press have been purring over for the past few months? It doesn’t even need Mr. Lammy et al to kick his backside, though I’m sure the usual tabloids will be eager to notice said MP doing so, with their usual sneers. Up here in Norwich, I feel sorry for such dimwits deciding to think they’re ‘making friends’ with such clichéd nonsense.
a person reveals who and what they are on what they say.if its not in you it cannot come out of you.Dr.martin Luther king,s words of wisdom which he says,he looks for the day when his children will not be judged by the colour of their skin,but by the content of their character.we are all Gods creation and one thing is for sure,He does not make mistakes.