Not All Representation is Good Representation

Kemi Badenoch is the first black woman to lead a major political party in the UK. Go us?

The UK is making history with its first Black woman leading a major political party. This sounds like good news until you realise that she's a Tory championing the conservative right with transphobic views and gender-critical feminism. Lovely.

Badenoch’s right-leaning was solidified by white, rich racists at the University of Sussex, who she seems to have labelled as ‘stupid left white kids’¹. It’s almost as if she couldn’t critically look at their behaviour and separate it from their political identity. Racism is very clearly not a part of leftist ideology. I’m not too surprised though as she has also labelled multiculturalism, identity politics, and critical race theory as ‘left-wing nonsense’.

Kemi Badenoch making her acceptance speech

I've noticed a pattern of Africans having more conservative values than expected. It makes me question what it is about our cultures and experiences that have some Africans advocating for political parties that are detrimental to our community and others. 

I say we owe part of this behaviour to religion and colonialism. From my slightly uneducated observations of political conservatism, I've noticed that the laws being proposed, passed, and rejected tend to be focused on protecting ideals that exist within the white supremacist binary. People of colour, queer people, disabled people, and (progressive) women don't exactly fit in this binary, and the more intersections you fall on, the more dangerous your plea for rights, support, and visibility is to those who protect the binary. 

Religion, specifically Christianity, has a penchant for being interpreted in ways that mirror white supremacist ideals. Christianity is the major religion across many African countries and paired with the white supremacist ideals left behind in our cultures by colonialism, African Conservatism makes a little more sense. Of course, this is more speculation and I aim to uncover some truth in this piece.

My focus is mainly on Black Africans rather than others in the Black diaspora as this is where most of my cultural references lie, but these same sentiments may apply to Black Caribbeans. However, I’ve seen some research that suggests Black Caribbeans have also kept the influence of African religions and merged it with Christianity, making them more non-traditional Christians.

The Conservative Party

The Conservatives are a political party with the guiding principles of private property and enterprise, a strong military, and the preservation of traditional cultural values and institutions. I can already see evidence for some of my observations; the goal is to protect traditions. But in a country built from the heavy lifting of slave trades, racism, and the purity of cis heterosexual whiteness, protection means the endangerment of the rest of us. While the party may not be religiously affiliated, some of the ideals it aims to protect appeal to some Christian’s beliefs.

The Restrictiveness of Christianity

Despite the perceived progressiveness of the West, I would argue that the 'traditional cultural values' being protected echo the repressed and restrictive nature that had colonialists baulking² at the vibrancy and variety of African and Asian cultures. 

Before the British, Southeast Asian women didn't typically wear tops with their sarees, or they had some breast support. Exposed ‘scandalous’ skin, to this day, is normal in some African tribes where women go topless with a lower body wrap. Evidence of queerness being accepted and normal can be found in various cultures in Africa, Asia, Native America, and other places. Communities were strong and often more connected to nature. 

@kiwipriGive us our jewels back 💎 #indianhistory #browntiktok #saree #colonization

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Then the introduction of whiteness and Christianity meant stripping these cultures of their vibrancy and labelling them barbaric, repressing their nature and connections in the name of 'properness'.

Christianity is restrictive. You must deny yourself, take up your cross daily and follow Jesus³. Your human emotions are sinful and flawed; anger, jealousy, pleasure, 'selfish ambition', and more, as stated in Galatians⁴. You are born sinful, and nothing about who you are is a good thing until you accept Jesus in your life. 

There's a certain kind of self-hate that is easily accessible through Christianity through its main principles and it can often show up in how some Africans engage with our culture. We saw examples of this when Rema depicted aspects of his Benin city culture in his music and visuals. Many Africans took one look and shouted demon while others saw this proclamation for what it was, a chorus of internalised racism under the guise of staying faithful to god. I doubt that symbols of African spirituality and culture would be seen as demonic if colonialism didn’t set that precedent.

@ssamantha.x22We actually need to stop listening to this man its not okay i was literally scared . #22 #fyp #trending #viral #rema #demon #concert #VideoAleatorio

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There's also a restriction on the way love is expressed. There are six verses in the bible referencing homosexuality⁵. For the sake of this point, let's accept them as true - as this is how many homophobic Christians operate. The main belief is anyone who loves and identifies outside of the cis heterosexual binary, is an abomination. The idea that there is only one way to love romantically is ridiculous. No bible verses explicitly against rape, parental abuse, slavery, but six against loving the same sex. Lol, okay.

In my honest opinion, Christianity seems to have a lot of rules on what it means to be a ‘good’ person and how one should behave to reach ‘salvation’. While some of these rules follow what most, regardless of religion, would say is morally correct, many are simply restrictions that demonise the multifaceted nature of humanity.

I say all this to say that African Christians can often end up as tools of white supremacy through their religion, and any suggestions to look further into their beliefs with a critical lens will fall upon deaf ears because it's so deeply rooted. 

I see instances of this with my parents. According to them, biblically, a woman serves her husband. Attempts to suggest that a man should serve his wife and cook for her are considered wrong. This ignores that in 2024, women work as much as men and are likely to arrive home at the same time as their husbands. It is unreasonable to expect that a woman also takes up the second job of domestic labour, on her own, in the name of being a ‘biblical woman’. The circumstances are simply different and the historical context of the Bible is ignored to pedal, frankly, misogynistic ideas. This also ignores the fact that not everyone is heterosexual, but they don’t need to know that about me yet (lol).

African Conservatism

In coming to the UK, Africans are faced with the growing progressiveness of the West regarding religion and sexuality. Britain, while majorly Christian, is no longer completely governed by the church and queer people exist more openly than they do back home. So when parties like the conservatives seem to operate in ways that align with their beliefs, Africans can be more inclined to vote in that way as their religion comes first, completely ignoring how this choice affects them in other ways. I hate to cite Reddit as a source, but someone made a good point about some people being single-issue voters, and it seems like some African Christians fall into this category⁶.

If more elders were open to deconstructing their faith and the white supremacist ideals that have infiltrated their culture, they might see another perspective on their political affiliation. I also believe that by deconstructing Christianity, young Black Christians who lean right could see how activism should be part of their faith. Looking at what Jesus was supposed to represent and how he behaved in the Bible, he advocated for those others shunned and helped those in need. 

Not all good representation 

It's easy to see a black woman in a space like the one Kemi Badenoch is in and feel like despite her beliefs it's a win for black people in the UK. However, not all representation is good representation. We don't need or want to see black people represented in places where they are puppets of white supremacy. I don't want to see black people represented in political transphobia, racism, ableism, misogyny, etc. It's not a win if it means engaging with the protection of 'traditional British values' that harm people. 

I'm good on that.

1. https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/kemi-badenoch-conservative-party-leader-origin-political-views-anti-woke-b1192078.html

2. I actually prefer the American English spelling of ‘balking’. Am I the only one who sometimes prefers U.S. spellings for some words?

3. Luke 9:23 and it’s written multiple times in other places

4. Galatians 5:19-21

5. I’ve seen some websites state there are more than six but it looks like they are taking verses that mention men and women together and deciding that means it’s against same-sex relationships. - https://www.biblestudytools.com/topical-verses/bible-verses-about-homosexuality/

6. https://www.reddit.com/r/Nigeria/comments/wxbnr4/why_do_a_lot_of_nigerians_in_western_politics/