Britain And Race

The royal marriage has prompted a few people to note that Britain seems to handle racial issues better than America.  That seems a bit blinkered.

Yes, people of African descent - especially African Americans - will feel less threatened in Britain by police authority than they will in the US.  Especially if they are in London or another cosmopolitan center.  However, Britain does not feel threatened by African Americans.  They feel threatened by Muslims.  And they voted to leave the EU primarily over the issue of migrants - especially Muslim migrants - being allowed into "their country."  I can certainly remember racist jokes from British teammates when I played rugby targeted at Pakistanis.

Racism is not a uniquely American phenomenon.  America's expression of racism is uniquely American, because of America's history.  The combination of chattel slavery and Jim Crow wedded with white supremacist democracy created something that is different from the legacy of racism in, say, the Caribbean. 

Racism is mostly (entirely?) about fear.  It's in-group/out-group thinking based on physical characteristics related to skin color.  Or rather, it's a system of power based on bigotry.  The British aren't especially threatened by people of African descent, unless those people happen to be Muslim.  In that case, British fears of Islam kick in, and you get UKIP and other manifestations of racial and religious bias. 

Of course Britain has its racists.  Every country does.  But Britain does not have centuries of being afraid of an oppressed racial minority in its midst.  They have class issues.  What is so impressive about the current royal pairing is the presence of a true commoner - AN AMERICAN! - in the inner reaches of the very institution that represents advantages based on birth.

Britain is very much having the same moment that the US is having when it comes to xenophobia and racial panic.  Theirs has a different flavor, because their history is different.  But they, too, are experiencing a sharp rural/urban cultural divide. London voted to stay in the EU.  The British countryside did not.  Britain has its own red state/blue state issue, but the issue is largely related to Islam, not "race" as Americans understand it.