As an individual from a minority background in the UK – I am a Commonwealth citizen of Chinese heritage – I found Nesrine Malik’s article powerfully insightful (Yes, Sunak at No 10 is a ‘win’ – in exposing the emptiness of elite diversity rhetoric, 31 October). It would indeed be a huge folly to consider Rishi Sunak becoming prime minister as some sort of victory for diversity and minority representation in UK politics, for he is only in a position of power due to his similarity with the old, stale and pale Tory party membership and their political ideology.
Sunak, along with fellow Tories such as Suella Braverman and Priti Patel, should serve as a salutary warning to those who blindly clamour for greater racial diversity as an end in itself, particularly on the political left, where Labour is often decried for lacking female or ethnic minority representation in its top echelons. Being of a minority race does not guarantee political progressivity, competency or even decency, and we must keep our focus on the structural inequalities within British politics and society.
Andy Wong
Bath
• I am under no illusions that Rishi Sunak is the saviour of Britain’s ethnic minorities – far from it – for reasons that have been too well rehearsed to need repeating. I do, however, feel that it is unhelpful not to accept something positive just because it is not wholly positive. That is a good way to ensure that there is no progress at all. I was surprised – and happy – to find in my change a 50p coin emblazoned with the phrase “Diversity built Britain”. Would Nesrine Malik have preferred it if Sunak had been barred from standing for the leadership because of his Asian background?
Raj Parkash
London
• I agree with everything Nesrine Malik has written. As a black Briton, I have never felt that our representation in the public or in “important” positions in society has been reflective of our true battles. We are still fighting to be heard and not simply “included”. Stereotyping and discrimination still affects us. We have to fight for change at the ground level.
Ashley Edwards
Barking, London
• As a Welsh person who will never really forget the damage that Margaret Thatcher’s government did to Wales, and so no Tory fan, I can still see that Rishi Sunak’s appointment as prime minister is good for the diversity of Great Britain. I usually applaud Nesrine Malik’s work, but this time was left wondering why she won’t allow him to be blue just because he is brown? For me, her article amounts to placing standards of colour on people of colour, and that is as damaging to diversity as Sunak’s policies are likely to be.
Melanie Sharma-Barrow
Auckland, New Zealand
• Thanks to Nesrine Malik for putting into words an opinion that I suspected but suppressed. I could not find a way of expressing a feeling that Rishi Sunak’s arrival at No 10 was somehow not a triumph for racial equality. His choice of home secretary is also a mystery to me, but presumably she falls into the same category of the lucky few who have made it to the top and can be rewarded.
As a white person who is fortunate enough not to be scrabbling around at the bottom of the pile, I have an uncomfortable feeling that I may be part of the discriminatory system. Still, just having the Guardian to prod one’s conscience must be a help.
Barbara Foster
Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire
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