Michael Caines - Hope In The Face Of Racism
Today Michael Caines expressed his quiet but firm thoughts on the racism which is as prevalent now as it has been for 400 years and more.
A link to the original tweet is here. I have pulled it together with the two subsequent tweets to show the thread.
(Edit: Michael has since gathered the whole thing together as one useful graphic of the entire text.)
Michael’s was one of millions with the hashtag BlackLivesMatter but a particularly poignant tweet, given my love of hospitality. I really admire the man who I first encountered via television beating another chef in a heat of the first series of ‘The Great British Menu’. He has done so much in the intervening fourteen years and is now living a very real dream as Chef Owner of Lympstone Manor.
The restraint with which Michael presents his view perhaps makes it all the more effective. There is no call for violence in reaction to the evil of racism. The disturbing information about Lympstone Manor’s founding on the profits of the slave trade is an enormous small fact. It will be one more awakening for people who are at least beginning to question and find out how racism invades places and people.
The freedoms and equality which Michael refers to still have a blurred existence. They can rarely be enjoyed by any except those who have profoundly strong personal qualities. And those qualities will continue to be ignored while racism exists. Michael has certainly been recognised. He is a Deputy Lieutenant. As an even more direct appointment of the Sovereign, his MBE is a sign of merit being acknowledged. The merit of retaining those words ‘British Empire’ in that award is deeply questionable.
Money gained from the slave trade centuries ago can be discovered as a taint on so much of our present world. Lympstone Manor has associations with a dark past. But it is not a monument to be torn down. It is surely now a symbol of so many more positive human efforts. It is certainly testimony to the triumph of at least one person of colour.
I have never been to any of Michael Caines’ restaurants but would have no reservations - well, except the obvious one! - in enjoying the hospitality he and his team provide.
Finally I must state the obvious. I am writing here with my white privilege. My time will be best spent in actively questioning my thoughts and actions, reading and learning so much more and gaining powerful information which challenges my privilege and equips me to be less complacent. And to use that increased awareness to challenge others.
I urge what I can only assume is a predominantly white audience reading this to do the same.
I don’t always know when to shut up but even I can recognise this is the right time to leave and hand you over to the admirably reasoned voice of Michael Caines with a few more of his own words:
“After love there is only cuisine!” #noreasonjustpassion #experiencetheexceptional
Thank you, Michael.
#BlackLivesMatter