By Thomas L Blair 30 June 2016 © — #BlackLondonFutures series

The EU referendum exposed the gaping gulf between the largely Remain Black and Leave white London voting districts. Bridging the gap is the paramount duty of  metro-citizens and all political party leaders.

Significantly, they topped the charts with three quarters of the turnout in five boroughs: Lambeth, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Camden. Experts say they featured in the 28 London borough’s 2.2million votes that bucked a national trend.The divided camps and differing views are clear. Black Londoners, minorities and the foreign born were in the vanguard Remain camp.

By contrast, white lower-skilled and older voters boosted the Leave campaign. They secured Leave’s 1.5million votes in Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Sutton, Havering and Hillingdon.

Reports show that Leave campaigners – Michael Gove, now candidate for Conservative  Party leadership, Boris Johnson MP and Nigel Farage MEP – failed to take to the bully pulpit for tolerance. Thereby amplifying the worst pro-white nationalist instincts in a generation.

London’s Black African, Caribbean, Asian and foreign-born people are rightly sceptical of doom and gloom predictions. They stand against race/cultural strife, penury and “Kristallnacht-like” pogroms.

Curbing the hatred that destroys urban democracy is a paramount duty. London’s metro-citizens favour political leaders who will shape a 21st century of equality of opportunity and cultural coexistence.

For further reading: http://www.thomblair.org.uk