Well - if there was ever a time for issues of 'race' and racism to be discussed in staff rooms and by water coolers, now would be the time. These are the conversations young children are hearing - these are the conversations those that work with them are having.
Let's start with the populist. Dig around the reality fora and Misha B will pop out. Some argue that she is too 'black' to be popular - a certain amount of stereotyping, not helped by judges' comments and a feistiness not appreciated by the voting public. Even Operation Black Vote has waded in, encouraging readers to vote for her. (Past form suggests that she'd be better off not winning - it hasn't harmed JLS or One Direction, if you're into that sort of thing...) Perhaps Louis feels uncomfortable urging the 'black' vote, the same way he calls for the Irish one. And that from a man who displayed his unique sensitivity by comparing a black male singer to a 'young Lenny Henry'.
But, whatever those of us who guiltily succumb to the shallow pleasures of X-Factor think, it shows that we are not a 'post-racial' society; we still have great difficult articulating how skin colour and racial identity shapes our perception of each other and, reading the comments on the Guardian X-Factor blog (gosh, I never thought I'd ever write those words) anyone who tries to introduce a sensible discussion on racial stereotyping will be told they don't have a sense of humour.
Next up, Sepp Blatter. I'm surprised out telly didn't explode with the fizzing indignation and choice words directed at it after the 'let's just shake hands after a racist comment' debacle.
Interestingly, racism in football taught me that talking about 'race' is wrong. I once was having a great conversation with a guy on a high speed train from Newcastle, in the 90s. I was a Liverpool supporter and used to play in a local women's team (badly). I mentioned that I'd had to turn off a Man City v Newcastle match because of the abuse the Newcastle fans were giving the black player, Danny Wallace. The bloke stopped the conversation and refused to talk to me for the rest of the journey. I suppose I was saved the indignity of an awkward date, but still.
The positive side of the Sepp Blether fallout was the way that the English football community, black and white, responded. It has taken 30 years, or so, to create an environment that is abuse-free for black players AND black fans. People of all colours didn't want to lose that. It was a pity that other countries seemed less bothered.
Talking of abuse - currently doing the rounds is the video of a woman with a small child on her lap racially abusing passengers on a tram in south London. It has taken over as the Twitter video of choice after the dog chasing deer in Richmond park.
I haven't watched and won't. Like many black people, I've had the real thing. A friend once told me that she walked into the Newcastle metro (sorry, Newcastle, I'm really not picking on you) and the carriage burst into 'there ain't no black in the Union Jack'. Funnily enough, a 6-year-old kid sang the same refrain to me on a train from Brighton. His parents were most embarrassed.
Last year, I was coming home on a bus through Islington at about 5pm. I was sitting at the rear, facing the back window, deep in my book. I gradually became aware of a monologue containing some rather unpleasant words. An older white guy was directing a racist tirade at a young, Asian guy, who was sitting hunched into his headphones trying to ignore him.
It was shocking - not least because most of the passengers were black. The passengers alerted the driver, who simply stopped his bus at the next stop, turned off the engine and waited by the front door until the racist realised his journey was over.
It was one of those times, though, I really wished I had done 'something'. Should I have alerted the driver? Should I have said something supportive to the victim? I understand that some of the passengers in the tram incident did intervene.
When it happened to me in the 80s and 90s, nobody did - so I am optimistic for change!
Not sure where to start with the racism rows? Try Show Racism the Red Card.
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