Racism & Classism: Ugliness of the Mind.
Why do some awful news stories cause us to see red? I’m not necessarily talking about the ones about murderous regimes like Russia and Iran killing innocent civilians - the latter actually make me feel sick and depressed and despairing as much as angry.
No, the ones I’m talking about are often relatively minor in the scheme of human evil, but enraging, provoking outrage that people could be so cruel and ignorant. Stories about animal abuse cause my adrenaline to surge, and so do ones about petty bigotry.
A story that caught my eye last week was one about a black security guard called Dally Whylie being subjected to a torrent of racist and classist abuse from a drunk, privileged, white female accountant being asked to leave a bar in Halifax, West Yorkshire. Justine Morrison was alleged to have made racist comments and thrown a drink at Whylie in the bar, so she was asked to leave. There is no need to use the word ‘alleged’ about her verbal explosion outside the bar - fortuitously, a camera and audio recording caught part of her vile outburst. If it had not, it would be hard to believe in the 21st-century. This supposedly educated, middle-class woman repeatedly jeered at Mr Whylie for his job and his skin colour, telling him he was ‘only’ a doorman because he was ‘black.’
What is as upsetting as the sight of a well-dressed and groomed white woman spitting hateful invective at a working class black man is the disappointment in the photo of her victim. Mr Whylie didn’t reply back, didn’t scream that she was a hideous racist, as I would have done if I witnessed the verbal onslaught. He merely stood there, calm and a little dejected, and quietly reminded his attacker that she was being recorded. Not that it stopped her. Mr Whylie has told the press that he was shaken by the attack and that it has preyed on his mind since. It’s not surprising. We all have the right to be judged by others on what we say, and do, and it is incredibly distressing to see evidence that some individuals believe they are better than us based on our race or job.
Of course racist abuse is nothing new. I was similarly incensed when my lovely, mild-mannered consultant neurologist in Glasgow told me a man had screamed “Pa*i” after him for no reason in the street. But seeing a bigoted attack captured on camera is especially jarring.
In addition, the class element here was as infuriating and rage-rousing as the racism. Here was a working-class man who had, for 30 years, worked in a high-risk, physically dangerous and mentally stressful manual job. For hours he would stand out in the cold and rain, looking impassive as people staggered out drunk, sometimes collapsing and requiring help, sometimes vomiting, sometimes pugnacious, always offering aid whether in the form of helping lone women into a registered taxi or breaking up fights. A dear security guard friend of mine - incidentally, one of the sharpest, most clever, and hilarious people I’ve ever met, and also a national journalist and author - tells me that he has been punched several times in the course of his work, but nothing upsets him more than people spitting in his face. And bigoted verbal abuse is metaphorical spitting. It says ‘ I don’t respect you. I think I’m better than you.’
It is particularly galling when an attacker is someone privileged with a well-paid job in a warm office. No standing outside in the snow for Mrs Morrison, no punter pulling a knife on her or slashing her. No drunkard throwing a punch. No fear that the person you eject for starting a fight might be a psychopath who pulls a gun on you. No, instead a well-heated office, sociable hours, and good pay, with sickness and annual and compassionate leave thrown in - something that those in jobs like security rarely receive.
It’s a symptom of the malaise in our country that the class structure still exists. If you are lucky enough to be middle-class, with the right education and accent, you are far more likely to succeed in life than if you grew up in a working-class family. As Mrs Morrison shows, even ignorant, thick idiots can land a decently-paid job if their appearance, voice, and class fits. Here we are in 2023 and classism and nepotism are more deeply engrained in society than they were in the carefree ‘60s and ‘70s, when clever, working-class youngsters could succeed in the arts, the media, and journalism. Nowadays though, internships are often unpaid so they’re only open to the children of the moneyed. Even modelling, once the preserve of bright, beautiful working class girls like Twiggy and Kate Moss, has become colonised by the children of the wealthy. Ironically, Moss’s daughter and sister are sailing this cushy wave while Kate herself had no famous contacts, she was simply ‘discovered’ as a cheery sylph who looked like a cross between the girl next door and Helen of Troy.
Working-class people still put up with job insecurity, dismal wages that in the current economic climate with inflation at 10% and skyscraper energy prices can’t hope to cover a decent living, and job contracts that often slyly avoid legal obligations through loopholes. Many people have to sign a new contract every year, which allows the employer to not give them benefits necessary for permanent staff. Others have no job security, or have to phone in at the beginning of every week to find out if and when they’re working.
And of course, people who are on low wages often can’t afford to buy a home. They throw their money down the drain of renting, sometimes in sub-standard accommodation with damp and mould. Mould and damp increase the risk of debilitating lung diseases. Exposure to asbestos in substandard housing predisposes to cancer. Rents have rocketed recently, to cover increased maintenance costs. Jobs for those who have not had the benefit of a good education and teachers, pushing them to achieve academic qualifications are not infrequently exhausting menial jobs, repetitive and uninspiring.
Of course, one can’t idealise all working-class people. Just as a proportion of the affluent are cruel and bigoted, so are a minority of the working classes. But even without the dubious use of patronising cultural relativity, it’s easy to see that you are much more likely to be stressed or in need or depressed or angry if you are struggling to feed your children and heat your home.