David Starkey Essay

Amidst the aftermath of the 2011 riots in the United Kingdom, politicians pointed their fingers nervously to different factors that could have sparked the riots. David Starkey, a famous British historian, went on BBC’s Newsnight in August 2011 and put the blame squarely on the lap of the black community. In this interview, which will be analyzed here, David Starkey depicts black people synonymously with violence and destruction through biased language, sweeping generalizations and allusion.
First of all, David Starkey speaks about black culture in a very disapproving manner through his use of epithet. He uses many terms synonymously with black culture. Early in the interview he lists several abstract nouns, saying the riots were caused by “a

particular sort of violent, destructive, nihilistic gangster culture” which speaks the language of “patois” and listens to “rap music.” When asked to further expand on his understanding of rap music, and whether rap music is to be blamed for the riots, David Starkey responds by saying that “it certainly glorifies violence.” By constantly referring to ‘black culture’ as “violent, destructive and nihilistic,” he is inadvertently depicting black people as the root of the problems that caused the London riots of 2011.

Secondly he his very selective in the evidence that he uses to support his arguments.

He refers to TV host David Lammy as an “archetypical, successful black man” who speaks with a white accent, thereby equating white English with success and sophistication. Once again ‘white’ is equated to ‘good’ and ‘black’ is equated to ‘bad’. Even though another guest, Owen James, tells Starkey that he is making a false analogy, Starkey continues with his selective arguments. During the interview, Starkey turns to another guest, Dreda Say Mitchell, who is black, and says “you don’t talk like them either.” She is offended and reminds David that rap music and the Patois language are very rich in culture and that he should not speak about a ‘them and us’ paradigm. Doing so, she argues, leads to a divided country that riots and loots even more. Again Starkey does not listen and continues to list examples of white people acting ‘black’ disgracefully, referring to the Olympic flag bearer for the UK, whom he quotes using slang as she was caught looting on TV. He refuses to see Dreda Say Mitchell’s point because he has come with such selective arguments to prove his own point, that black ‘culture’ is the root of the problem. Unfortunately, every time he refers to ‘black culture’ he is offending and black viewers as

well.

Finally, David Starkey commits himself even more to this extreme position through multiple allusions to Enoch Powell’s ‘Rivers of Blood’ speech from 1964.

It helps to have a contextual understanding of this speech, in order to understand the position of David Starkey. Enoch Powell warned that England would fall like the Roman Empire through an enemy that attacked from within, saying that London, like the river Tiber (which runs through Rome), would foam with blood. Powell was an MP who spoke out against immigration policies in the UK, predicting that immigrants would destroy British culture and tear down society from within. David Starkey quotes Powell early in the interview and continues to refer to it. Starkey believes Powell’s prediction has come true; London is collapsing like the Roman Empire. Starkey points out though that Powell was wrong in his prediction that the “black man would have the whip over the white man.” Instead, as Starkey so famously states, “the whites have become blacks”. Again, Starkey has equated black people with the problems that caused the riots in the summer of 2011. This time he does it by alluding to the Rivers of Blood speech, which is just as contentious today as it was

then.

While the riot was racially charged indeed (a white police officer shot a black man and refused to answer the family’s request for clarification), ‘black culture’ in general cannot be blamed. By doing so, David Starkey inadvertently blames black people, causing a greater polarization of communities and potential for violence. In this interview on Newsnight, Starkey’s use of labels, generalization and allusion all depict black people as the root of the problem that caused the riots in 2011. As a result David Starkey has most likely ended his career as a well-respected author and speaker. Understandably, many reactions to this interview have accused David Starkey of being a racist.