The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House- Audre Lorde

Found this essay online thought of sharing it. The phrase 'The Master's Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master's House' has become rather common however reading this essay contextualises the intersectional racist and sexist masters Lorde is speaking about. The call to dismantle is not an abstract one but one that is based on action.

Lorde, Audre. “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.” 1984.

Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches. Ed. Berkeley, CA: Crossing Press. 110-

114. 2007. Print. http://collectiveliberation.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Lorde_The_Masters_Tools.pdf

Queer black representation in films

I felt rather privileged to be invited to speak as a panellist at a film festival organised by Rainbow Noir this weekend. I was amazed by the independent films I watched, some heart warming some pointing out a frightening reality experienced by QTIPOC around the world.

At the heart of this festival lay two basic ideas one to showcase Black LGBT history through cinema and the second to provide a wider representation of the LBGT community. Representation is perhaps the most important issue here. October in the UK is celebrated as Black History Month. Which while essential is not very well publicised and often is met with accusations of racism. These accusations could not be further from the truth. History is often told in an ethnocentric manner, forgetting an essential part of the process. The history of black people is often forgotten or told crudely, lacking in nuance. However even within the events organised as part of Black History Month some histories are not told.

At a conference I was earlier this month a participant spoke about how the only Black History they learnt was about slavery. Black identity is not a monolith it covers several intersectional identities, each of which have their own intellectual standpoint. In an era when LGBTQ identity is either (re)criminalised or punished by death history of the community takes on a political meaning. A  classic example is India where both pro and anti LGBTQ rights groups argue by using history as an example. Claiming and locating homosexuality either in the west or in an ancient past does little to remedy the situation at hand. Homosexuality is often spoken about as a western idea and a consequence of westernisation threatening to erode the moral fabric of ‘traditional’ society. Despite these claims LGBTQ history does exist, it does not always follow a linear path or conform to the present day narrative, it is still a history that needs telling.    

Films are perhaps the best medium to capture and transmit this history. A popular means of communication of ideas films are often used as propaganda and the mouthpiece of the nation. The three biggest cinema industries (Indian, Chinese and Hollywood) are characterised by their heteronormative content. Given the nationalistic element it comes as no surprise that most films communicate a heteronormative, patriarchal reality. LGBTQ characters if present tend not to be main characters adding very little to the plot. Then of course there is the problem of stereotyping where the LGBTQ character lacks nuances and is solely a part of the scenery. The Vito Russo Test seeks to address the issue of LGBTQ representation in films its criteria being. While it does not guarantee the film is a good representation a lot of mainstream films fail to pass this test.

Representation is  a problematic area of mass media. at its heart lies the idea that mere inclusion is not enough for representation to matter it needs to be nuanced, it needs to challenge and dismantle stereotypes. The problem with an incorrect representation is that it informs a large majority about a minority. Playing into existing fantasies about a minority  a poor representation does  not build an understanding of minorities as people. Mainstream cinema tends to be formulaic and ahistorical even when it attempts to portray history it presents an anachronistic version of history.  Black people and particularly black LGBTQ people are excluded from this cinematic history.

Watching the numerous films I did on Saturday one could see a nuanced narrative of the community, safe, precarious, dangerous, celebratory, happy and sad. These were not mainstream films, while not perfect they captured the nuanced life of the community. Thinking back of the LGBTQ films I have watched it was almost always the non-mainstream films that have done any justice to the subjects they seek to represent. This is particularly true of Indian cinema, mainstream cinema uses homosexuality as a running gag through films, gay best friends, fashion designers or butch women bodyguards are the only visibility the community receives. In contrast Indian art cinema which is not commercially viable manages to create complex characters for whom there is sympathy not scorn. Memories of March by Rituparno Ghosh is one such film that tackles homophobia, coming out of the closet and acceptance without resorting to stereotypes. While the film is by no means perfect it is mature in its depiction of the LGBTQ community in India.

As stated earlier mere presence is not always indicative of representation, knowledge of the subject (in this case the LGBTQ community) is essential. Mere visibility does not always help tackle a complex subject, as Foucault points out visibility is a trap. While it is assumed that films have little or no effect on our formation of stereotypes the idea is not true. Films represent our daily lives, our fantasies. It is no surprise then that the common Hollywood trope where the black man dies first is also a reality on the streets of America.  When the only image one sees of transgender characters is comical, promiscuous and confused is it any surprise then that those are the exact slurs used against transgender people in real life.  In my research on Bollywood films and their audience the blur between cinematic reality and mundane reality crossed paths. While whistling at raunchy musical numbers on screen the men who watched these films also extended this behaviour to women around them. Cinema is not divorced from reality neither is it a discrete entity which is contained in a cinema hall. To represent accurately is not pedanticism but a necessity.

                                                          Trailer Memories in March 

The Politics of Respectability- Free Comic #FCBD

Here is a comic produced by Jem Perks. Jem is a freelance illustrator whose interest lies in sci fi, fantasy and comic books styles. More of his work can be found on his website. 

Jem very kindly volunteered to illustrate my work

Using a previous blog post as a basis for the idea we present to you 'The politics of respectability'. We hope to raise awareness about how discrimination is hurtful to people and is a divisive force. We live in a climate of hate and fear, minority groups are often used as scapegoats and pitted against each other this comic hopes to challenge our stereotypes.

As it is  free comic book day #FCBD  we would like you to read and share this comic widely and do leave us suggestions and comments. Thank you :) 

Everyday Racism #2

So here goes here is another one....

Hey but it is 2015 racism isn't a thing anymore. ...... Oh I keep forgetting racism has a sell by date what is vogue now sexism, homophobia?

I have often heard people say that. Racism won't go away because another year has gone by. If modernity were only a gear healer. The ugliness of society never goes away it simply morphs into something else. Yes racism today is not the same as was 10, 20 or even 100 years ago however it still exists. Discrimination against people of colour is different because the conditions we live in are different. 

While the world may have got tolerant about certain things it still clings on to prejudices but enacts them in different ways. Black men are still shot at by policemen, black academics are still an exception, even the media is full of stereotypes. In 2015 racism might not look like it did but it still operates in a way that is convenient to ignore as it is beneficial to certain groups in society. Our cheap electronics, clothes and food are a product of slavery. In 2015 slavery looks like affordable clothing and food we don't see it because we are immersed in a system that works for us. 

Denying racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia in 2015 is an act of deliberate insensitivity. 

Everyday Racism #1

Responses to racism 

Racism was much worse back in the day you don't know how lucky you are ........ Ok white master thank you for pointing out our place, is that a whip I detect in your hands? 

Unpacking the context of that statement is important. So yes we can't compare he pasts but does that mean we are to be stuck in the past? Water supply was terrible in the past as was internet connectivity should we then be happy that black people are working as slaves ........ oh wait we are still doing their bidding  

When your oppressor decides what constitutes oppression you are never free. White people deciding what is racism is indicative of white privilege and white fragility. They probably said that to people in the 60's at least you aren't working in plantations anymore be grateful we only segregate you. Or earlier - hey at least you are working in plantations not stolen from your countries and tortured on ships. 

Being racist is beneficial to society - white society to be precise. Immersed in a social, economic and political system they benefit from prevents them from seeing privilege or their own exclusion. I have had plenty of people say but being stopped at airports is fine or black men invite trouble because of how they dress. White men in grey suits should frighten us to death similarly they caused the banking crisis, started wars.

I am sorry but black people don't need to feel grateful that white people aren't lynching them anymore, neither do we need to congratulate them on behaving decently towards us. 

Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of imperialism Kwame Nkrumah 1965

The quote above is taken from Nkrumah's work and you can the full text by clicking on the link below
Neo-Colonialism, the Last Stage of imperialismKwame Nkrumah 1965

White women’s burdens

I keep coming away from feminist events feeling more and more empty and disconnected with myself. Most times I am spoken at or about as if I was not in the room. I am almost never an individual but a part of a collective characterised by tradition and culture. I can only be the exotic helpless other who is tortured by tradition. I wont deny tradition, culture and religion are used against women in the global south but culture is everywhere. Even in the first world with all its liberalism is rife with culture and all the maladies that accompany it. This week my facebook page has been inundated with stories of the Delhi rapist blaming his victim for playing a part in her own rape. It is shocking news, even disgusting how someone is so oblivious of their crime. For the victims family hearing those words would have been a cruel reminder what their daughter went through.

I don’t deny the nature of the crime or its impact, it’s the manner in which this narrative has played out in the media unjust. Indian men are positioned as more vile and disgusting than men anywhere else. In the west smug stories of how culture, religion bring about violence are used to demonstrate how progressive the western world is to have thrown off those shackles and moved onto a rational society. Women are used in this debate to prove the achievements of the western world. Conny Roggeband and Mieke Verloo have written a brilliant paper on the subject of how western and migrant women are positioned in national debates in the Netherlands. The idea that migrant women of colour women suffer violence is based in reality however the same is true of white women. With the 3% conviction rate in the UK the notion of the liberal, west starts to fall apart.

Culture is everywhere and rape culture is everywhere. Everyday I see buses plastered with posters of 50 Shades of Grey indicative of rape culture in British society. Why is there such a denial that culture exists in the west? I have heard many socialists talk about how they have no culture in the west. I suspect this is racism hiding behind orientalism, exotic dress and food are thought to be the only hallmarks of culture. Sociologists have a term for this – ethnocentrism. The naïve assumption that ones way of behaving and acting were the norm and everyone else is inferior positions the non-western subject as subnormal. In India it is normal to define foreign cultures as inferior. We often use the argument that we have female goddesses which translates into respect for women. This could not be further from the truth, the existence of female deities does nothing for mortal women, neither does the law. Indian women are not liberated because of their goddesses. Western women are not liberated by their atheistic secular society. Gender violence is a part of the left socialist’s great shame. Recently a friend posted an article about the denial of violence in the left movement you can read all about it here. War On Women – It’s A Left Wing Problem Too! The debate around rights has far too long concentrated on saying hey look we are better than that 3^rd world nation at least we are not…… The rights the western world fought are part of an on going struggle complacency will not keep them alive and ensure they are  enforced. In a era when right wing forces threaten to destroy these rights it is foolish to laud over past victories that have not been fully realised 

I accept India is not perfect I wont deny the documentary needs to be screened and it should lead to discussions however those discussions should not turn into a moral finger pointing match. When I was in India I saw this debate of the save Indian male as legitimate for obvious reasons in the UK I see it as unfair for the simple reason it tells women in the west this big lie that they are free and liberated. We women of colour are trapped by our culture white women are trapped in their liberal world.

References

Roggeband, C., & Verloo, M. (2007). Dutch women are liberated, migrant women are a problem: The evolution of policy frames on gender and migration in the Netherlands, 1995–2005. Social Policy & Administration, 41(3), 271-288.

https://smashinggenderchange.wordpress.com/2015/03/05/war-on-women-its-a-left-wing-problem-too/

The insecurities of men

‘Here take some hand cream’ I said to a male friend who sat next to me working. His hands were chapped badly and they looked painful. He looked at me with great disdain and said ‘I can’t use that I am not a woman’. To be honest I did expect that reaction. A lot of heterosexual cisgender men have a deep fear of loosing their masculinity. This is expressed in pathology, anger, violence and policing. Anger and violence is directed towards people who don’t conform to their masculine ideals, women, LGBT people, disabled people and even other men. Sometimes this fear leads to pathology, take for example Dhat Syndrome a condition that is characterised by a male patient feeling physical symptoms due to loss of semen.

Masculinity is not an unchanging state it is time and culture bound. What constitutes masculinity has undergone significant shifts in my lifetime and will keep changing. It is not the traits that matter it, some of them are decided upon in an arbitrary manner sometimes they are carefully chosen. Take for example the wearing of lace is now taboo for men, look at paintings from three centuries ago men wore lace. Lace is neither male or female but we have come attribute its use on clothing as exclusively female. Men who give into feminine styles of dressing are taunted for their choices, thought of as gay or even worse becoming women. I was chatting to a transgender friend about this today of how men think putting on anything belonging to female will make them female. As someone who is in the process of transitioning she knows there is more to gender than putting on clothing. Julia Serano argues there is a deep psychic gender identity within us the outward transition only confirming what was known to an individual all along. When cisgender men react with disgust and fear of putting on female clothes and makeup they reduce a transgender persons identity to an issue of fashion. That disgust is also degrading to cisgender women who are taught they are not worthy of respect. To quote Madonna

Girls can wear jeans

And cut their hair short

Wear shirts and boots

'Cause it's OK to be a boy

But for a boy to look like a girl is degrading

‘Cause you think that being a girl is degrading’- What It Feels Like For A Girl

Male insecurity is a massive problem as it transcends into patriarchal hegemony. Gender and sexuality are constructed to pander around these insecurities. Patriarchal powers reside in each one of us irrespective of gender and sexuality. Patriarchy is enacted in how we react to gender transgressions, through conformity. A particular quote by Gloria Gloria E. Anzaldúa springs to mind. 

Culture forms out beliefs. We perceive the version of reality that it communicates. Dominant paradigms, predefined concepts that exist as unquestionable, unchallengeable, are transmitted to us through the culture. Culture is made by those in power- man. Males make the rules and laws; women transmit them. How many times have I heard mothers and mothers-in-law tell their sons to beat their wives for not obeying them, for being hocicomas (big mouths), for being callajeras (going to visit and gossip with neighbours, for expecting their husbands to help with the rearing of children and the housework, for wanting to be something other than housewives?   

Anzaldúa’s example is familiar to all, sums up how power and fear collude and feed off each other.  Notice how she explains how patriarchy operates through both men and women. It is easy to see power operating in an obvious example such as that however as Foucault would argue power is most dangerous when it is not operated by a single individual but by the errant subjects on themselves. Women who want to look thin for their men are part of that politic whereby the power is wielded by an invisible authority figure. So while patriarchy is not all men it is still powerful enough to police our behaviour. It is the little voice that tells us how to think and how to behave.

Think of all the times you have seen examples you have encountered of manliness chances are it is based on insecurity, a false bravado and nationalism. Look at its victims it they are women, LGBT people, disabled people and anyone else who does conform.  

The politic of angry black women, mislabelling our response to racism

Why do you black women shout so much? I am asked frequently. Loud and sassy that is what what we are called. My voice is not heard when I am quiet when I raise my tone of voice I become a shouty black woman. I am very aware of the discrepancies with which my white counterparts are treated. If it was only my voice that was the problem, my identity is viewed with suspicion therefore what I say becomes   difficult. It seems I am prejudged. I ask all women of colour this have you noticed how you could say something that isn't related to race and yet that is what they hear all the time. Even after you have clarified what you have said was not what they heard. 

Case in point

White man- So is this the first time you have spoken the English language?

Me- No, it is one of my two mother tongues besides English is a commonly used language in India.

White man- ah I see for someone who has only started speaking this language in the last few months that you have been here you can speak it very well. 

Me- That is not what I said English is my mother tongue..........

It was pointless saying anything more I would have been called rude and aggressive if I had clarified my point. Audre Lorde speaks about this phenomena in her book Sister outsider. Black women’s femininity is measured by white women’s standards and when we fail that comparison we occupy the space of the marginalised feminine. Our voices and tone of voice makes us aggressive the content is simply dismissed. At best we embody a pathology and our femininity is used as a means of cautioning other women against our mannerisms.

A white woman asked me where I was going one afternoon so I mentioned I was attending a black feminist event. Her next question for me was what are you doing after your angry black feminist meeting? I asked her why she added anger to the term black feminist, to which she replied well you all are angry about racism all the time…….. perhaps because we keep encountering racists all the time. Perhaps our anger is a response to anger. Nobody asks the aggressor why they react with such malice why are white, heterosexual, cisgender able bodies men so angry and insecure? Why is my retaliation labelled as anger and not his? Occupying a dominant position has come to mean we pathologise the minority, of not being aware of ones own aggressions. 

If our mannerism is not calm and polite it is because the aggressions we face are not polite. Does saying something rude in a soft voice make it okay? White women are trapped in this position of occupying one space of privilege – whiteness their conformity to this position involves their internalisation of a stereotype. Being polite, gentle, soft-spoken gives them an entry into a white male environment. In order to maintain this power they must reject alternative forms of femininity. Black, queer, transgender, butch, disabled women come to occupy the space of the excluded other. These struggles within marginalised groups is not uncommon. To gain affirmation from the norm members of a group are often willing to collude with their oppressors to gain acceptance. It is understandable but it is not acceptable. 

I am more oppressed.... no I am more oppressed

The politics of oppression when intersectionality isn’t your thing.

A little while ago my friend showed me a video of two feminist groups fighting over who was more oppressed. One group was cisgender another transgender. While we did laugh at the futility of the debate we did feel sad for those stuck in this cycle of never ending persecution. I have heard people say oppressed people turn out worse then their oppressors when given their freedom. I wouldn’t want to support that argument as it only plays into the hands of oppressors.

I am seeing a trend and a very disturbing one – one group feeling more oppressed than another. Recently a male friend said to me you women complain about sexism all you feminists get it wrong men are attacked violently too. I have never denied male on male violence neither has feminism. Similarly I have been to seminars on various subjects or charity events where people have pointed out but they only look after this group and not this one….. I am seeing a very strong drive amongst historically oppressed groups to feel liberated by punching another oppressed group.

Pink news  recently carried an article about stopping aid to certain African countries that are still homophobic. I was deeply troubled by comments at the end of the article and more so by the high handedness that came with this decision.  Comments ranged from name calling to subtle sophisticated racism. This gesture  to stop aid seem like a threat and not an act of reaching to end homophobia. What hides behind the triumph of LGBT rights is racism, the ‘lets show em’ attitude which says to me this aid was never unconditional or genuine.  This aid is meant for the poorest people on the African continent who lets face it have it bad and are exploited like poor people across the world are.  Governments of those nations have made anti lgbt laws that oppress another group of people, throw in some well meaning white people and you have an incoherent group of people shouting for rights each one trying to outdo the other.

I don’t think cutting of aid will help change homophobic attitudes, if anything it will pander to the worst fears people have about the LGBT community in these nations. A similar incident happened in India last year (just after we recriminalised homosexuality). An Indian diplomat got into trouble in USA the story was in the news for days, the first reaction of the government and opposition was – lets seek out LGBT Americans and target them for their racism.

While the liberal west has become a tolerant place for LGBT people the rest of the world has not. However when race and sexuality collide they produce an ugly divide. That an individual can inhabit two spaces does not occur to anyone. Targeting another oppressed group does not make for liberation of another community or provide any liberation for that matter. There are individuals and groups on the African continent fighting for LGBT rights despite the way the issue is presented. Should poor people starve because certain liberal ideas have not caught up fast enough?  I have been accused of being homophobic by existing as a woman of colour, as if being white equals being accepting of LGBT people. Similarly being LGBT and white does not mean one is automatically anti racist or anti other prejudice. 

Marginalised identities and marginalising

Recently an LGBT activist had a go at me for talking about racism and feminism. Race he argued doesn't exist and we are all human. He went onto assert that race was made up by anti racist activists who kept the issue burning. Race is apparently only a reality because it is structurally embedded. This is not the first time an LGBT activist has claimed that other marginalised groups don’t have a valid reason for their discontent. I find the deliberate silencing by one marginalised group by another worrying.

I have heard the theory that race is a concept and not a biological reality that would be fine except race does exist biologically our physical differences are indicative that race exists. It has also been argued that homosexuality does not exist as it has been invented. These explanations would be fine except discrimination associated with the protected characteristics is still a reality.

These are examples from things several transgender women said to me –

You can’t call yourself black you are brown get the langue right (if you can self identify so can I)

Are you allowed to eat pork I assume you are a shade of brown so you are Muslim or some such faith that doesn’t allow you to eat pork or meat.

Hey I know transphobia exists, racism exists too in this day and age? Really who is racist anymore are you sure?

People who have been marginalised know deep down when they are being discriminated some of these experiences are violent some verbal. In all three incidents the people involved were fully aware of their marginalisation and how that played out in their daily life. What they weren’t willing to admit to was how another group of people were marginalised and had similar struggles. This is true of LGBT people of colour who experience discrimination on two fronts – race and sexuality. Does this come as any surprise then that white gay men dominate the Canal Street area in Manchester? I have seen LGBT people of colour being spoken to in derogatory ways. I have seen race, gender and sexuality clash in ugly ways in an area that is meant to be for people who have had a rough time in mainstream society. This observation is not mine alone several LGBT people of colour have noted this.

It is understandable that one marginalised group doesn’t know how to address another but to outright deny their existence  speaks of identifying with the privilege of your oppressors. In the wake of Ferguson protests it is hard to argue race does not exist 

The black guy always dies first.

My flatmate is a fencer and  loves the sport. One of his fencing friends gave him a lovely umbrella for Christmas with the handle shaped like the hilt of a sword covered in a cloth cover. It’s a lovely present I said to him this morning you should take it with you when it rains it is a big umbrella ‘I can’t carry that thing around I am back and the cops will stop me’ came his reply. That is such a painful realisation knowing you have to look a certain way so that you aren’t stopped by the authorities. Being a black man isn’t easy as bell hooks said society expects black men to be more righteous than everyone else and holds their failures up as an example of their inferiority.

My flatmate is a black man and yes he likes fencing as much as his white friends do but none of them will be stopped by a policeperson, their youth and sense of irony will never make dangerous or suspicious to the authorities. This is not the first time this has happened though, a few months ago we caught a bus one night and my flatmate got in first and found a seat for both of us the white woman opposite him cringed and tensed up till I came and sat down next to him she looked at both of us didn’t seem pleased but was pacified with my presence.

People say racism is dead do they realise there is more to racism than shouting out rude names? It is in the silences, the quiet exclusion, and the institionalised misrepresentation. Racism of the 1960’s was very different and was very obvious but a quieter racism exists now. I have seen a black academic being shouted down at an anti racist conference by people who claimed they spoke for him. My flatmate and I have a running joke between us whenever we watch a film I ask him was it one of those films where the black guy dies first. It is a terrible joke but it is based in a painful truth. We have only seen black men as disposable commodities who get in the way of white society. It doesn’t help that fiction on screen is similar to events off screen. Black men no matter how young or old are a much-vilified group.

Racism embodies our deepest fears. Knowing your teenage son can be shot at for being suspicious, knowing your education, good manners will not protect you in such a situation is a very deep seated and realistic fear. Don’t tell us we are paranoid don’t tell us we are being hysterical don’t tell us we are looking at things too deeply. Isn’t the Ferguson case and countless cases before and after it indicative institutionalised racism. I am not saying every white person is a racist or goes out of their way to attack people of colour the system is a lot deeper, its working very insidious. Just like sexism, homophobia, and other inequalities are deeply ingrained our society so is racism its in the law, it remains in society even when the law changes. It is in the everyday life of people. Knowing you have to constantly negotiate your place in society to be accepted to be respectable in the eyes of dominant groups is an inequality.

The fact that my flatmate’s first thought was I will be stopped by the cops is indicative enough of a system that has ingrained a very real fear in him. It doesn’t matter how much my flatmate likes his umbrella or how many assurances he gets deep down he knows the minute he walks out of that door he will be stopped. It wont matter that he lives an honest decent life and wouldn’t hurt a fly in the eyes of the world he will always be a dangerous black man. 

Black people fear racism white people are scared of looking racist

I was listening to a presentation on world hunger tonight and all the images of hungry people were people of colour. The white people in the pictures were helpers. One young white woman asked an uncomfortable question 'I was at Gorton a very poor region in Manchester and some of the people didn't think we should give aid to Africa as we don't have enough ourselves.' Everyone shifted uneasily in the room. This was a room of 26 people 20 of whom were white middle class university educated people in their early 20’s, the rest of us were non-white. Only one woman of African origin sat there feeling uncomfortable. As usual the presenter gave a vague answer about being human, helping, about love. 

I wasn't disappointed by the answer I almost expected it. It is more important not to look racist than be racist or let it fester. While people like my friend are at the receiving end of these comments and in lots of cases violence white liberalism prefers to take the moral high ground. It is easy to say to the person of colour we don't think of you as less human - this is patronising, our position and our protests come from experience. We have experienced discrimination; sometimes it is a slight twitch, an uncomfortable silence or even a patronising comment spoken slowly. When all you see of yourself is as a hungry person all the powerful see of us is our hunger and helplessness it forms a deep association in our mind. Images are powerful and subconsciously affect how we perceive the world around us. For those in non dominant positions those images are the only representations they see of themselves and if they are negative representations they create an

I live in a poor neighbourhood full of poor white people who are constantly vilified and called lazy none of which is true. I can see why they hate me, I am the new toy in the hands of the liberal, and I know I will be discarded similarly. It hurts me that something as simple as this is never explained but left to fester.

I don’t hate or fear the people of Gorton they have very real concerns which I feel must be answered rationally without  resorting to mere sentimentalism.