I read yesterday on Bluesky that Suella Braverman had defected to Reform. The post, accompanied by a photograph of Suella resting her head on Farage’s chest, wide smiles on both faces, did not incite anger or disdain. Instead, it triggered something deeper, heavier – a particularly nauseating pain of betrayal. I found myself asking, as a brown woman, why this felt so much more hurtful: a gut punch spiked with the bitterness of treason and the emptiness of abandonment.
I know that one should not hold anyone to a higher moral standard because of their ethnicity or their gender. And I agree that representation is neither a monolith nor should it impose virtue, and that everyone – irrespective of their origins or backgrounds – has the right to choose the ideology that best aligns with their beliefs.
And yet…
Parties like Reform thrive on hate-filled narratives targeting minorities, migrants, and any other category of people deemed a convenient scapegoat for their own failed policies of austerity. While, in theory, I should separate identity from political loyalty, in actual fact, it is impossible for me to be neutral and ignore it. I cannot help viewing current events through my own lens, those of a brown woman living in a world where the struggle to belong, to be accepted, is constant.
I did not feel like I ever had the luxury of not being ‘political’ and activism felt necessary for survival. I have never existed in a space where my rights and my belonging could not be questioned at any moment – often by those who could never conceive of ever being questioned themselves.
The ruling class
The traditional ruling class, entrenched in the denial of its history of slavery and colonialism, has long been incapable – or unwilling – to recognise how this dark past continues to shape injustices in the present. In this context, political representation by those who looked like me once felt like a hope – a connection rooted in shared experience promising greater inclusion and empathy.
Perhaps this is why this moment feels personal.
Embracing an ideology of division hurts
The symbolism of a brown woman embracing an ideology of discrimination and exclusion normalises this discourse. It sends a message – whether intended or not – that the racism or misogyny, which many endure daily, is acceptable. It becomes a powerful tool of gaslighting. It reminds me of the many times I was silenced about the abuse I faced, told to not make it about race or gender. Of how sometimes it feels like my existence is a balancing act between two worlds: like walking on eggshells, expected to endure systemic discrimination, yet rarely allowed to name it.
Suella Braverman has the right to make her own choices, and neither her gender nor the colour of her skin obliges her to an ideology. Yet Suella and her loved ones must have had some experience of difficulties and mistreatment because of their identity in their lives. What hurts is that she knows exactly what this choice represents – and the impact of pulling the ladder up behind her for so many who share her background.
What hurts is that, knowing this, she chose it anyway.
More on politics:
CLICK HERE TO DONATE TO OUR CROWDFUNDER
HELP US BECOME STRONGER SO THAT WE CAN CONTINUE TO DELIVER POWERFUL CITIZEN JOURNALISM!
