You might need to sit down for this shocking revelation: someone who is visibly not white is more likely to face racism than someone who can pass as white. That is what Diane Abbott said on BBC Radio 4. And for that, the Labour Party suspended her again.

Abbott, the UK’s first Black woman MP and now the Mother of the House, stated that racism based on skin colour is different from the prejudice faced by Jewish and Traveller communities. She described how visibility shapes racist abuse. “You can spot that person of colour from hundreds of yards away,” she said. Her point was not to deny antisemitism but to explain how anti-Black racism is immediate, constant, and often unavoidable.

Within hours, headlines framed her as divisive. Labour pulled the whip. Pundits cried hierarchy. But while they attacked her words, they ignored the truth behind them. Abbott wasn’t comparing pain. She was describing experience.

Peston’s Confusion Proves Abbott’s Point

During a news segment on ITV, political editor Robert Peston discussed Abbott’s remarks and echoed her point, perhaps without realising it. He noted that she was highlighting how lived experiences of racism can differ between communities, such as between someone visibly Black and someone like him, who is Jewish.

In doing so, Peston inadvertently confirmed her point. One viral comment on social media captured it plainly: “I didn’t even know he was Jewish.” While anecdotal, that response reflects exactly the issue Abbott raised: visibility shapes how racism is experienced. When your identity isn’t visible, your experience of racism unfolds differently. It may still be harmful, but it does not follow you into every room, every street, every job interview.

Even David Baddiel, a Jewish writer and vocal critic of antisemitism, has acknowledged this. “One assumption about Jewish privilege is that we can pass as non-Jews,” he said. His black-biracial niece put it even more clearly: “I can’t hide the fact that I’m Black. My dad can hide that he’s Jewish.” Neither denies antisemitism. They simply recognise what Labour refuses to admit, that visibility matters.

Racism Against Black Women Gets A Pass

On 13 March 2024, Diane Abbott stood up in the House of Commons 46 times during Prime Minister’s Questions. The chamber was gripped by outrage over comments made by Tory donor Frank Hester comments that targeted Abbott directly. Speaker Lindsay Hoyle did not call on her once. MPs debated her existence while she sat in silence. That silence was not accidental. It was systemic.

Hester, whose company received hundreds of millions in government contracts, had said of Abbott: “It’s like trying not to be racist but you see Diane Abbott on the TV and you’re just like… you just want to hate all Black women because she’s there. And I don’t hate all Black women at all, but I think she should be shot.” The comments were reportedly made in 2019, but only surfaced publicly in March 2024.

Rather than returning his £10 million donation, the Conservative Party defended it. The police opened an investigation. The public expressed outrage. But nothing happened. Hester has not been charged. He remains untouched by political consequences. Meanwhile, the woman he targeted was not allowed to speak on her own behalf inside Parliament.

Labour failed her too. As others fundraised off the scandal, Abbott remained isolated. The same party that now suspends her for naming racism did little to protect her when she was the target of violent abuse. Labour offered no statement of solidarity, made no demand for accountability, and failed to mount any meaningful defence.

This is the real message. A white man can say a Black woman should be shot and still bankroll elections. The Black woman who survives it? She gets punished for speaking the truth.

Diane Abbott Deserves Better Than This

Diane Abbott has spent over four decades in Parliament. She has faced constant abuse and death threats, both online and off. She has also championed anti-racism and stood alongside Jewish constituents in her community. But none of that mattered. What mattered, apparently, was that she said something true—and said it while being a Black women.

This isn’t about tone. It isn’t about party discipline. It’s about who gets to talk about racism and who gets silenced. If Labour wants to lead a diverse country, it must accept that not all forms of racism look the same. And it must stop punishing the people who try to explain that.

Abbott’s suspension sends a clear message: telling the truth about race will cost you. Telling lies and threatening Black women? That’s fine, as long as the donation clears.

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