We need anti-racism activists like Tariq Nasheed in the UK – but the Home Office would rather let Trump in

The US citizen has played a significant role in awakening political consciousness for many young black people and people of colour. Denying him the chance to spread his wisdom here is completely misguided

We live in worrying times. The political centre ground has shifted to the right, and with it, we are seeing more and more overt racist and right-wing policies filter from the top down in many forms.

Many of us are used to witnessing it at a street level, but less so from parliament. Expect whatever follows from Boris Johnson's government to be even more reactionary and right wing than it already has. After all, if early indications are anything to go by, he wasted no time pledging to increase police stop and search tactics, a policy which disproportionately impacts black communities.

With this tide, what would normally be unacceptable and produce outrage, passes for the norm. The Home Office is a case in point. Over the last couple of years, we've seen blatant racism and racist treatment, targeting predominantly black Caribbean communities, known as the Windrush generation, which escalated under Theresa May’s tenure as home secretary.

We’ve witnessed unbridled racism towards immigrant communities, with the notorious “go home” vans. And we've recently seen a ramping up of deportations and foul treatment towards the displaced Chagossian community. The poor treatment of these people within immigration holding centres is notorious and well-documented.

And now, those same Draconian policies from the government and home office, have extended towards the African-American community in the US, which is of course inextricably linked with the African community here in the UK.

Tariq Nasheed, the film-maker behind the hugely popular Hidden Colors series, has been banned from entering the UK. For those who don’t know, Hidden Colors charts the history of Africans in America and around the world, and de-constructs white supremacy and structural racism, explaining the origins and the impact and methodology. They are the only films of their kind, certainly over the last decade or more in my view, and revolutionary in terms of understanding the times we live in.

While Nasheed has come under fire and criticism from some sections of the black community, specifically from black women and the LGBT+ community who argue there are better candidates for advocating similar messages, there is still, nonetheless, an undoubtedly big market in the UK for Hidden Colors and the unapologetic calling out and denouncement of white supremacy in all its forms, which we need more than ever now.

Indeed, many view the new prime minister as aiding white supremacy with his rhetoric, much like Donald Trump in the US, such as his choice to mock how some Muslim women dress, and references to black people as being piccaninies and as having watermelon smiles.

The official explanation given to Nasheed who was due to travel to the UK to promote the release of Hidden Colors 5 and deliver a lecture, was that his presence was “not conducive to the public good”.

But I think Priti Patel, the home secretary, who presumably signed off on the decision, must explain why.

How can it be, that Nasheed, an anti-racist activist, cannot visit the UK, when just last year the Conservative government welcomed actual white supremacist, Steve Bannon, Trump’s former advisor, into the country?

The tax-payer was also forced to foot the bill of the state-funded visit for Trump, whose rhetoric is so insidious, that he has contributed to a climate in the US which has produced mass shootings targeting immigrant communities and people of colour.

In addition, the UK government refused to explicitly condemn Trump’s foul racism, even when he was called out for re-tweeting right wing extremist UK groups.

Perhaps then, we shouldn't be surprised that Nasheed has been refused entry to the UK.

There is a toxic atmosphere of racism here in the UK, reflected by government policy, across the political spectrum, and corroborated by the Home Office and the police’s own statistics. Undoubtedly, it explains the banning of Nasheed from the UK.

When I spoke to Nasheed he told me “I have been calling the UK Home Office all week and they are deliberately being vague and evasive about telling me the specific reason for the ban. The ban is definitely because of the release of my New film Hidden Colors 5”

Hidden Colors has played a significant role in awakening the political consciousness for many young black people and people of color. I believe it is the Roots of my generation. And the newest addition to the franchise is selling out theatres around the world as well as trending high on Amazon.

To understand the impact of these films, how they have contextualized much of African history, explaining how racism functions, is to understand how Nasheed could be seen as a problem in the government’s eyes. It is simply too much of a threat to have someone who can speak truth to power, reach the masses, and consequently, for those people to potentially mobilise around a shared history and challenge racism.

Far from not being “conducive to the public good”, the truth is that Nasheed and Hidden Colours is not conducive to a thriving climate of lies and racism, and that’s perhaps why he’s really been banned.