“Are We Misunderstanding Racism—Or Misrepresenting Those Who Define It?”
Written by Lisa Shoko
Dianne Abbott’s recent comment that “racism cannot be experienced by white people” has drawn sharp criticism. Many have called her words divisive or dismissive of the struggles of working-class white communities. But the point Abbott is making isn’t about denying hardship—it’s about recognising how power and visibility shape our experiences in fundamentally different ways.
Her words are not controversial in theory. They are, in fact, consistent with decades of research and writing on structural racism. But to understand them, we need to move beyond surface-level definitions and explore what racism really is—and what it is not.
Racism Is Not Just Inequality
In contemporary Britain, racism is often misunderstood as any form of unfairness experienced by people of different ethnicities. This has led to the mistaken belief that racism is just about feeling unwelcome or being treated unfairly.
But racism is not just about individual acts of prejudice. It is about how whole systems—housing, healthcare, education, criminal justice—are built and function in ways that disproportionately disadvantage racialised people.
That word—racialised—is key. It refers to how society attaches meaning, assumptions, and value to visible traits like skin colour, hair texture, and facial features. When someone is racialised, they are treated as different, and often as inferior, because of how they look—not just because of their background, culture, or religion.
Ethnic Inequality Isn’t the Same as Racism
People from ethnic or religious minorities may face exclusion, stereotyping, or discrimination. These experiences matter. They are harmful. But they are not all examples of racism in the structural sense.
For instance, a person wearing a hijab or a Jewish kippah may be discriminated against. That is real, and it is wrong. But those symbols can, in many contexts, be removed. The same cannot be said for someone with Black or Brown skin. Their racial identity is visible at all times and shapes how they are seen—before they speak, act, or explain who they are.
Abbott’s point is this: racism is rooted in visibility. Black and Brown people do not have the option to “opt out” of how society racialises them. That constant visibility has historically been used to justify enslavement, colonisation, surveillance, and exclusion. And those histories live on in the structures we still navigate today.
Racism Is About Structure, Not Just Suffering
It’s true that many white people—especially in post-industrial towns—face poverty, job insecurity, and poor housing. These are urgent issues. But they are not caused by racism. They are rooted in class inequality, austerity, and economic neglect.
To say that white people don’t experience racism isn’t to say they don’t suffer. It’s to say that their whiteness is not the reason for their suffering. In fact, whiteness continues to offer protections—often invisibly. A white person stopped by the police, for example, is less likely to be searched or arrested. A white name on a job application is more likely to get a callback. These aren’t theories—they’re facts backed by repeated UK studies.
The Windrush scandal exposed how Black Britons—many of whom had lived in the UK for decades—were wrongly detained, denied healthcare, and even deported. During COVID-19, Black people were disproportionately fined under lockdown rules, even though they were more likely to be key workers. Black women in the UK are still nearly four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women.
These examples show that racism is more than interpersonal bias. It is structured disadvantage linked to appearance.
Racism Has a Hierarchy
Think of racism not as a flat experience, but as a hierarchy—one that is maintained through what scholars call the triangle of inequality, where class, gender, and race intersect. Many people experience disadvantage, but Black and Brown people often face compound disadvantages that are specific to how they are seen and treated.
A Black woman in poverty isn’t just dealing with class inequality or sexism—she’s navigating a world where her race adds another layer of risk, scrutiny, and exclusion. And she cannot hide it.
That’s what makes racism distinct. It’s not just about who’s treated unfairly—it’s about who the system is built to disadvantage from the outset.
Why This Matters Now
In an age of public backlash against “wokeness,” many find comfort in the idea that racism affects everyone equally. But this is not true—and pretending it is doesn’t build solidarity. It erases the specific experiences of those who are most targeted by the system.
Racism must be named clearly to be tackled effectively. Dianne Abbott’s statement is not inflammatory—it’s a call for precision. If we cannot distinguish between racism and other forms of inequality, we risk designing policies that miss the mark, training that avoids the core issue, and conversations that speak over those most affected.
What Needs to Happen
If we are serious about tackling injustice, we must first understand it. That means recognising:
That racism is structural, not just interpersonal
That ethnic and religious discrimination are real, but distinct from racialisation
That whiteness still carries unspoken advantages, even when life is difficult
None of this denies the pain or struggle of others. But it does demand that we understand inequality in its proper context—so that solutions are rooted in truth, not comfort.
Abbott’s words may be uncomfortable for some. But in the pursuit of justice, comfort should never come before clarity.