Above, Temple Newsam (Temple Newsam Road, Leeds) – for relevance, read on.
The following quote is part of a statement made by Sundar Pichai, Google and Alphabet CEO on 17th June 2020 that appears under today’s Google image: “……one where systemic racism permeates every aspect of life, from interactions with law enforcement, to access to housing and capital, to health care, education and the workplace……”
The full text can be found here: https://about.google/intl/ALL_uk/commitments/racialequity/
NB: As can be seen, this part of the path “ALL_UK” denotes that Mr Pichai is referring to the UK and not the USA.
The above excerpt from the text clear indicates that in Google’s court the defendant (the UK “white” establishment) has already been found guilty!
Therefore one can conclude from this the following:
#1: If you are white, you are guilty.
#2: If you are or have in the past been a white police officer you are even more guilty.
#3: If you happen to be or have in the past been a member of an organisation such as UKIP you are many times even more guilty.
NB: If ALL THREE apply to you, then God help you!
That Mr Pichai’s statement is codswallop can be proven by the recent fury – at being unable to arrest and prosecute – a bold pilot to had the temerity to fly a light aircraft towing a banner declaring that “White Lives Matter” and other examples of authoritarianism such as police questioning persons who have placed golliwogs in their windows that can be viewed by passers by!
Of course, publishing this post on the internet proves it’s publisher to be an absolutely irredeemable racist!
So, what has Temple Newsam house got to do with it?
This:
It happens to be a characteristic of many of us that we don’t visit some tourist/visitor attractions as often as we might. This was certainly the case with me between 1955 and 2014 when I lived in Leeds. I had visited Temple Newsam from time to time but it was never a regular destination. When I did visit there it was invariably to walk around the grounds and parkland and not to take a tour around the house. I had been around the house as a teenage lad and I went into – with the permission of the owner Leeds City Council to take photographs of clients inside the house – but it was not until 2007 when I went around for a second time purely for pleasure.
BG readers will of course recall the commemorations that took place in April 2007 to mark the bi centenary of the abolition (by UK statute 19th April 1807) of slavery.
It was a sunny day in May 2007 when following an excellent meal of fish and chips at the Skyliner restaurant (https://www.theskyliner.co.uk/), I decided to go for a walk in the aforementioned grounds and parkland. Having parked the car in the car park, I made the spur of the moment decision to take a tour around the house as it had been quite some time since I had been inside.
Walking around I came across an exhibition denoting slavery. I felt that this was strange as the Ingrams who owned the house between 1622 and 1904 were not a family with business/financial interests in slaving. I decided to ask the young (white) man (an employee of Leeds City Council and not a volunteer) who was half asleep lounging on a chair next to the exhibition about this;
“Hello? Excuse me?” I said.
The young man woke up from his day dreaming with the question, “Yeh?”
“The exhibition, about slavery here. Why is it here?”
“To commemorate the bicentenary of the abolition.” he replied.
“I know. But why is it here?” I replied.
“What du yu mean?” he answered questioningly.
“The Ingrams. They weren’t slave owners.” I answered.
“They were white.” he replied, indicating that he clearly wanted to return to his day dreaming!
Of course, this is all going to come to a head in the not too far distant future when political activists describing themselves as “black” being to demand that “black” people should begin to receive compensation out of public funds to compensate them for the historic injustices suffered by their ancestors.
Naturally there will be many working class white political activists demanding compensation for historic injustices suffered by their ancestors. Such as the descendants of Cornish tin miners and English, Scottish and Welsh coal miners!