British historian David Starkey received condemnation for racist rhetoric after making a speech at the National Conservatism conference in London.
British historian David Starkey has caused controversy with his racist rhetoric at the National Conservatism conference in London on May 17, reports the Euronews. During his speech, he claimed that activist groups, including Black Lives Matter, wanted to „do exactly what was done to German culture because of Nazism and the Holocaust”, claiming that left-wing activists are „jealous” of the Holocaust and that groups like Black Lives Matter were attempting to destroy „white culture.”
„Movements like critical race theory and Black Lives Matter are not what they pretend to be. They are attempts at destroying the entire legitimacy of the Western political and cultural tradition. The idea that they are there to defend Black lives is a preposterous notion. They do not care about Black lives; they only care about the symbolic destruction of white culture.”
The 78-year-old historian added, „The determination is to replace the Holocaust with slavery. In other words, this is why Jews are under such attack from the left; there’s jealousy, fundamentally. There is jealousy of the moral primacy of the Holocaust and a determination to replace it with slavery”.
He received immediate criticism, and the Twitter account for National Conservatism swiftly deleted a tweet quoting the historian. However, a screenshot was already made by users and reposted.
.@NatConTalk why have you deleted this post? Is it because you realised one of your speakers crossed a line? Using the Holocaust in your confected culture wars is abhorrent. Conservative MPs should have nothing to do with this. pic.twitter.com/7DUVqOHkvr
— Bella Wallersteiner 🇺🇦 (@BellaWallerstei) May 17, 2023
Daniel Sugarman, the public affairs director at the Board of Deputies of British Jews, also tweeted about Starkey’s inflammatory comments, labelling it as „pathetic attempts to drive a wedge between communities” that „will not work”.
This is not the first time the historian has come under fire for his opinions. He has made controversial statements on slavery and the Black Lives Matter movement on several occasions and also faced accusations of racism for claiming that the British prime minister was „not fully grounded in our culture”, which he later refuted by saying that he had meant Rishi Sunak was a „typical international liberal” with no interest in British „values.”
The conference has drawn criticism for staging numerous speakers who have been divisive figures in British politics and cultural life.
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