Lee Anderson: Here's exactly why I won't apologise and
bow to the woke mob
EXCLUSIVE: Lee Anderson writes for the Express on the
race row that led to him losing the Tory whip.
By LEE
ANDERSON
21:00, Tue,
Feb 27, 2024 | UPDATED: 21:39, Tue, Feb 27, 2024
Lee Anderson
Lee Anderson insists he is not a racist as a fierce
Islamophobia row engulfs the Tory party
Over the
past week, I have been accused of making racist comments by Mayor Sadiq Khan,
the media, the Labour Party and sadly some members of my Parliamentary party.
This is all
despite the fact I have not made one single racist comment.
The simple
fact is I am not a racist, but in this day and age the opposition are very
quick to use the race card for political advantage and, unfortunately, some of
my colleagues also fell into the race trap.
As I have
said on numerous occasions over the past week, 99.9 percent of our Muslim
friends in the UK are decent, hardworking and law-abiding people who just want
to get on with their lives.
The point I
was trying to make last week was that the Mayor of London has lost control of
our capital city as the extremists who hide under the Islam banner take over
our streets in their attempt to change the course of our democracy.
These
extremists are often labelled as Islamists which, on reflection, is totally
unfair on Muslims in general and we must make sure that our language reflects
this.
These
extremists are not welcomed by our Muslim friends as they cast a dark shadow on
the millions of decent Muslims in our country who have embraced our way of
life.
To be clear
when I call out these extremists, I am calling out a minute percentage of a
group of people and because of this I have been called racist and Islamophobic.
Let’s start
with the accusation of racism: I am not a racist and Islam is not a race. If
you want to practise Islam, then it does not matter what your skin colour is.
We have
African Muslims, Chinese Muslims, Indian Muslims, and British Muslims. I could
go on and on.
The simple
fact is I am not a racist but in this day and age the opposition are very quick
to use the race card for political advantage and unfortunately some of my
colleagues also fell into the race trap.
My point is
Islam is a religion not a race so I cannot legitimately be accused of racism if
I have made a remark based on a person’s religious background.
That said I
do not recall ever criticising anyone over their religion, I literally have no
interest at all in anyone’s religion and to make my point even clearer I have
no interest at all in any religion.
I do not
have any faith; I wish I had but I don’t, and I do not give a toss about what
God anyone prays to.
The next
charge on my rap sheet is that I am Islamophobic. I was challenged this week by
a man who said my comments were Islamophobic, so I asked him to define what
Islamophobic meant.
After
staring at me for 20 seconds and literally not having a clue what Islamophobia
was, he just said: "It means you're racist"
Now as I
understand it Islamophobia is a fear of Islam or its teachings. I am not in
fear of either and as I have said before I have no interest at all in a
person’s religious beliefs.
What does
concern me is the people labelled as "Islamist extremists" who blight
our streets in London on a weekly basis, and genuine Muslims distance
themselves from these groups of people.
I grew up
in the 70s and 80s when we were genuinely concerned about IRA attacks on
British soil.
People of
my age and older will remember the Birmingham Pub bombings and the other
attacks on British soil which saw innocent people murdered.
The Irish
Republican Army fought a long and bloody battle, and they were despised for
their wicked actions, but did we blame the people who lived in the Irish
Republic?
Did we
blame people like members of my family who lived in Ireland at the time and
wanted nothing to do with the hostilities and violence?
No, we did
not. My point is that it is right to call out the actions of a minority of
extremists, but it is wrong to label people of the same faith as extremists.
Sadly,
Sadiq Khan has resorted to playing the race card and accused me of stoking up
division yet sits idly by and has not yet condemned the shocking scenes we
witnessed last week on Parliament Square.
If he has
then I stand corrected. Seeing the vile slogan ‘From the river to the sea’
projected onto the Elizabeth Tower is the most shocking thing I have seen in my
workplace.
For our
police to stand by and watch the Houses of Parliament attacked by this
antisemitic slogan which calls for the annihilation of a race of people is
beyond words.
As an MP I
felt powerless sat inside Parliament and seeing the news updates on my phone.
It made me feel like the mob outside had gained control of proceedings inside,
and when the Speaker changed the normal Parliamentary process on the opposition
day debate it felt like we had capitulated, which we had.
To give
into the baying mob is not only unforgivable but it also only encourages these
extremists to return time and time again as they know there will be hardly any
consequences to their actions.
The Mayor
of London should be making sure that our streets are safe and people are not
living in fear.
He is doing
neither and has used my comments as a distraction to cover up his own failings.
I do not
believe the mayor is an Islamist, I just think he does not care about our
beautiful city and people in high places should have more sense than to make
these outrageous claims that I am racist or Islamophobic.
But then
again, they are doing it for political gain and some people are falling for it.
If I see
injustice on our streets, I will not do a quick check on what religion or race
the protesters are or the people in charge of safety, I will just call it out
straight away.
That does
not make me a racist.
People say
words matter and I agree but actions speak louder than words.
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