Letter to Chief Minister Le Fondré regarding the sexism and racism of Deputy Lindsay Ash
12/3/21
Dear Senator Le Fondré,
I write to you today, despairingly, about the continued poor understanding in certain sections of Jersey society of what constitutes racism and sexism, with particular regard to the shameful and damaging behaviour of one of your own ministers this week. You will not need to me to tell you that I am referring of course to Deputy Ash, and his ongoing disregard of the legitimate perspectives of women (regarding sexism) and Black people (regarding anti-Black racism).
As you know, this debacle began on the 8th March when Mr. Ash saw fit to tweet the following, alongside a picture of Ms. Oprah Winfrey:
This Harry and Meghan interview seems to have caused a bit of a furore, what baffles me is why Ian Wright dressed up as Mrs. Doubtfire to do it.
The intention of this letter is firstly to inform you of certain facts about which you may not be aware; second, to help you understand the significance of those facts; and third, to request that you — in your position of leadership and example — give this matter the serious and sustained attention it deserves.
First, let’s deal with the tweet. For Mr. Ash, the tweet constitutes his idea of ‘observational humour’, based on the notion that Ms. Winfrey and Mr. Ian Wright, in Mr. Ash’s own words, “look alike”. From this we can tell that this was no passive observation, it has an intentional element which is what makes it ‘funny’. That intentional element is predicated upon the fact that the two people are of different genders, as illustrated by Mr. Ash’s choice of reference to Mrs. Doubtfire (a comic film about a man dressing up as a woman). If Mr. Ash’s ‘observation’ were related to two people of the same gender it would fail to function as a ‘joke’ in the same way. The ‘joke’ is thus claiming that Ms. Winfrey looks like a man, and it is that ‘observation’ that passes for ‘humour’ in Mr. Ash’s mind. There really is no other way to interpret the point of the ‘joke’. In short, this form of ‘humour’ constitutes mockery, which Mr. Ash has publicly accepted was at least “rude”.
It should be obvious to any reasonable, decent person that any man mocking a woman for apparently looking like a man is unequivocally engaging in sexism. Of course, Mr. Ash denies this, but it is not up to Mr. Ash to define what is and what isn’t sexism against women. It is up to women. Such mockery assumes particular standards of what constitutes a sufficient appearance of femininity, as defined by the man doing the mocking, and the failure to achieve this standard is what is being mocked. This is what makes the ‘joke’ so ‘funny’. Clearly, this is profoundly sexist, and perpetuates harmful stereotypes whether or not this was the central purpose of Mr. Ash’s tweet.
As you know, Ms. Winfrey is African American. You are probably also aware that a common form of racism against Black people is to claim, ‘they all look alike’. This is a dehumanising move which has become a trope, sadly. Another trope is to claim that certain Black women look like men, that they are not feminine enough to conform to (white, European) standards of beauty and femininity. This trope is particularly harmful as it combines anti-Black racism with misogyny, also known as misogynoir. Black women, particularly dark-skinned, athletic and/or assertive, confident Black women, are depicted as overly muscular and strong, and ‘intimidating’, i.e. too masculine, and not sufficiently demure. This trope resonates back to colonial-era notions of Black people as ‘savages’. It is therefore not difficult to see why mocking a Black woman for apparently looking like a man also perpetuates not one but two harmful anti-Black stereotypes, and was thus inherently racist, again, whether or not this was the central purpose of Mr. Ash’s tweet. The context of the ‘Harry and Meghan interview’, with Meghan Markle’s experience of racism and the impact of this on her mental health, underscores the racial sensitivity of the moment.
And here we come to a key issue: Mr. Ash’s intentions, as well as the implications of this (along with his subsequent behaviour), for you as Chief Minister. It seems possible, perhaps even likely, that Mr. Ash’s central motive was to be ‘funny’, rather than deliberately cause social harm. Yet as shown, intentionally or not, his tweet was inherently racist and sexist, so is this an acceptable excuse for a government minister and elected representative of the public? Either he was aware of the implications of his tweet and he was intentionally being outright sexist and racist, or he was ‘unaware’ and his prejudice is exposed as a fundamental lack of respect and empathy, not to mention basic social awareness.
Unfortunately, Mr Ash insistently saying ‘but Oprah and Ian Wright DO look the same’ in the light of all the above is simply confirming his ingrained prejudice — indeed studies show that deep-seated pre-formed conceptions and mental frameworks have a crucial influence on perception. Mr. Ash’s racism and sexism is ‘unaware’ because it is a constitutive part of his psyche. Picture the process he went through in order to post that tweet: he saw the ‘joke’ elsewhere (it was, tragically, a popular ‘joke’ online that day), found it funny, downloaded an image from the interview, composed a version of the ‘joke’ in his own words, uploaded the image to go with it, and hit ‘send tweet’.
Is it unreasonable to expect that an elected public representative and — worse! — an assistant minister in Jersey’s government should at some point in that chain of events take pause to consider the perspective and experience of others, of women, of black women? And on International Women’s Day no less! Empathy is surely the absolute minimum, the bedrock upon which public representation relies. If you cannot at least attempt to understand and empathise with the experience of others how can you hope to act on their behalf, in their interests? Clearly, the tweet was very wrong and appallingly unprofessional, given Mr. Ash’s public office (irrespective of the fact it was his private account).
Tweeting this ill-judged, unfunny, sexist and racist ‘joke’ was one thing, but completely failing to admit his error reveals the extent of Mr. Ash’s prejudice and lack of teachable humility. As you know, at your request Mr. Ash has deleted the tweet and given a half-hearted ‘apology to all those offended’, whilst stubbornly ignoring the many women and Black people (and others) that have attempted to explain why the tweet was sexist and racist. Despite all the evidence and a wide range of people criticising the ‘joke’, he still insists it was not sexist and racist and is simply blaming ‘woke Left cancel culture’ for the outcry. On 9th March Mr. Ash spoke to Ashlea Tracey on BBC Radio Jersey, and claimed:
If Oprah Winfrey was to ring me or text me and say she found it offensive I would accept that, and so I would if Ian Wright said it. I would very much doubt Ian Wright would find it offensive. I would think he would find it amusing.
Mr. Ash was gravely mistaken about Mr. Wright’s opinion on this ‘joke’. On 10th March Mr. Ash was presented with a recording (also from 9th March) of Mr. Wright explicitly addressing the ‘joke’ and explaining in no uncertain terms exactly why it was indeed racist and sexist, and absolutely not funny. To date, Mr. Ash has declined to acknowledge this, and so has failed to stand by his word of accepting Mr. Wright’s view. This is an excerpt from Mr. Wright’s comments:
You are so missing the point here, so missing the point, for me to find that funny, ‘cos I know what Black women go through on a daily basis… My heart has got tears running down… that’s how my heart feels this morning… If they can come for Oprah like that, then what are everyday Black women going through? … those dark-skinned, Black women who have to deal with that kind of abuse?
The full context of the podcast (on Ringer FC if you wish to hear it) is even more damning than I can convey here, but as you can see Mr. Wright has extremely strong feelings about this matter, which shows very clearly why this ‘casual’ sexism and racism is anything but casual. Which brings me to the serious implications for Jersey, and for you as Chief Minister.
As mentioned, Oprah is an African American woman. Just think of Jersey’s cultural, historical, and economic connections with the USA and Africa. Economic connections alone must be worth £100 billion or more, and the Assistant Minister for Treasury and Home Affairs is tweeting ‘jokes’ like this, and then being unrepentant about it? Mr. Ash’s actions this week, including his continued intransigence, have been extremely damaging to the reputation of Jersey. What will women of colour be feeling and thinking as they walk into a government meeting with Mr. Ash now? Do you think that will be beneficial for our island? At least half a dozen negative stories about this have appeared in national and international news. He is a liability. What will the next controversy be?
Finally, we come to your actions. Mr Ash claims that both the Commissioner of Standards and yourself as Chief Minister have concluded he “broke no rules”, and thus no further action is required. What happened to ‘zero tolerance’ of racism and sexism? Failure to deal with this matter properly is a textbook example of how interpersonal sexism and racism becomes systemic. Indeed, the number of people (the vast majority of whom seem to be white men of a certain age it must be said), who ‘don’t see a problem’ with Mr. Ash’s actions speaks to the extent of the deeply entrenched prejudice amongst certain sections of our island. This emphasises the urgent need for effective, proportionate action that can deal with both Mr. Ash’s behaviour, and serve as an example to help educate the public.
Anything less than a proactive proper response makes you a part of the systemic problem. At minimum, he should be required to publicly acknowledge the tweet was indeed racist and sexist whether or not he consciously intended it to be understood that way. Failure to do so should lead to some kind of censure. Finding a way to actually help Mr. Ash truly understand this matter and develop some empathy, not to mention some respect and professionalism, is a further challenge. Perhaps we can do no more than try, and hope and pray he will eventually listen and learn. Given Mr. Ash’s evident prejudice, his lack of respect, empathy, or humility, and his refusal to listen to women and Black people, his ongoing position as public representative in the role of assistant minister is also highly questionable. But you are a better judge of what could or should happen there than I am. Beyond this, there is clearly an ongoing need to continue to fight racism and sexism in Jersey, a struggle that begins in our own hearts and minds.
I apologise for the length of this letter (at least it was shorter than my last one!), but as you can tell I care about Jersey, I do feel very strongly about this issue, and I am very concerned about the ongoing problems of prejudice in our island. Thank you for your time in considering this matter. I hope you will give it the attention and serious consideration that it merits.
Bein à vous,
Kit Ashton
