A Good Morning Britain guest has sparked fury by claiming the St George’s flag is ‘racist’ and should be changed.
Controversial black studies professor Kehinde Andrews, who has previously attacked Britain and the Royal Family, claimed England’s national flag was deep-rooted in racism amid a row over a ‘patriotic outpouring’ around the country.
An online movement called ‘Operation Raise the Colours’ has led to communities across the country hanging up Union Jack and St George’s flags, including in Birmingham, London, Bradford, Newcastle and Norwich.
But a row broke out when Birmingham City Council announced it would begin removing British flags from the city’s streets for ‘safety reasons’ – despite allowing Palestine flags to fly high for several months.
Council workers in Tower Hamlets, east London, were also met with abuse as they began to tear down flags hung by patriotic campaigners who insist they are not ‘racist’ but simply ‘proud English men’.
It comes at a time when St George’s flags have frequently been displayed by protesters outside migrant hotels – including The Bell Hotel, in Epping, Essex and the Britannia International in Canary Wharf, where several demonstrations have been held.
Speaking on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday, Prof Andrews weighed into the nationwide debate, telling hosts Adil Ray and Kate Garraway that the history of the flag has always been problematic and ‘represents racism’.
Prof Andrews, professor of black studies at Birmingham City University, said: ‘It’s not that the far-Right has co-opted the flag. It’s that we don’t understand what this country is and the history of both of these symbols.
‘Both of these flags are the flags that were flown on ships that enslaved my ancestors; those are the flags that the British Army marched into places like Pakistan, India, Bengal, Africa, and colonised 25 percent of the world.
‘The reason the far-Right picks up these flags and has consistently since the 60s, 70s, since my parents’ generation have been in the country is because these flags represent the racism that they are putting out into the world.
‘This campaign of putting these flags up, this is not some benign “let’s just be patriotic”… go and search “Operation Raise the Colours” and you will find the same far-right, Little England, this nonsense-spewing about migrant hotels… this is what it’s about.’
He added: ‘People aren’t putting up these flags to celebrate Britain, they’re putting up this flag to remind us that Britain is white and we shouldn’t be here.’
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