The most unsettling truth about racism in Britain is that much of it was never defeated; it was merely pushed beneath the surface. Can we really blame the bigots for being bigots? The answer, uncomfortable as it may be, is both yes and no. Yes, because every individual bears responsibility for the views they hold and the harm they inflict. But no, because prejudice does not emerge in a vacuum; it is nurtured by culture, politics, environment and, too often, by those who profit from division.
For years, racism and xenophobia have lingered in the quiet corners of British life, unspoken in public yet alive in private conversations, coded remarks and instinctive assumptions. What we are seeing now is not the birth of something new, but the re-emergence of something old, long hidden beneath a veneer of civility. In many rural parts of England, where communities can be more insular and less exposed to diversity, these attitudes often go unchallenged and, in some cases, normalised.
There remains a strain of casual hostility that is spoken with shocking openness. Slurs that should have been buried decades ago still surface in everyday conversation, often among those who now feel emboldened by a political climate that has given grievance and blame a public platform. Figures such as Nigel Farage have, for many, legitimised resentments that were once kept behind closed doors.
The pattern is as familiar as it is depressing. When crime occurs, suspicion is too often directed reflexively towards anyone perceived as “other”, particularly people of colour or migrant communities. Meanwhile, the crisis in the National Health Service is simplistically blamed on immigrants, despite years of political neglect and chronic underfunding. The hypocrisy is glaring when some of the loudest voices making these accusations are themselves content to work for cash, sidestep tax and National Insurance and yet fiercely defend public services as an unquestioned birthright.
What is perhaps most troubling is that this mindset is not limited to one social class. Some express it openly; others hide behind polite middle-class respectability, careful to observe “PC” niceties in public while privately harbouring the same prejudices.
So yes, blame must lie with the bigots. But blame must also extend to the conditions, rhetoric and political opportunism that allow bigotry to thrive. Until Britain confronts both, the prejudice beneath the surface will continue to find its voice.
