I found Nels Abbey’s article (Dear white Britain: we hate to say we told you so about Boris Johnson – but we told you so, 19 June) not only brilliant and jaw-dropping, but also chilling in that we have failed in our attempts to stop people like Boris Johnson in succeeding in their campaign against immigrants in general and black immigrants in particular. This is the second time that I have written to the Guardian in more than 50 years. The first time was in 1968, when the paper paid me for an article that was published anonymously. The story then was about the racial abuse I was experiencing as a young parent living in Lewisham. Sadly, nothing has changed since then, except that racism has grown more sophisticated. It was also around that time that Enoch Powell delivered his “rivers of blood” speech. I wish I could feel comfortable that this is the demise of Johnson’s political career, but I fear that he will be back again in his resolve to feed the hungry racist public with negative information, which they apparently want to hear. This year I am celebrating 67 years as an immigrant to Britain from Jamaica. Sadly there is nothing to make me feel that there is a brighter future on the horizon for my children and grandchildren. I will end my letter with Abbey’s brilliant opening to his article: “If yu cyaan ’ear, yu mus’ feel.” Shirley Fox Greenwich, London
• I am both white and British, but I can assure Nels Abbey that I have spoken against and voted against the unspeakable Boris Johnson at every opportunity since he first slithered on to the stage of British politics. Most of my friends and acquaintances of whatever ethnicity have done the same. Opposition to his brand of quasi-Trumpian racist populism is by no means limited to people of colour, and some, though perhaps few, BAME voters have backed his “policies” at the ballot box, despite the clearest of warnings from his personal history that it was reckless to do so. His departure from parliament is no less a cause for celebration than the indictment of the former US president and the definitive end of Silvio Berlusconi’s career. This month has been a good one for western politics in general. Let us not spoil it by inaccurately attributing this progress to specific racial groups. Let us instead breathe a momentary sigh of relief, and prepare, together, to face up to the next wave of horror politics from Suella Braverman et al … who are still around. David Holmes Sheerness, Kent • Nels Abbey’s assertion that black Britain alone “screamed out” against Boris Johnson is wrong. Many white people like me shouted out against Johnson from the outset, because we were appalled by his racism. Neither were we fooled by him appointing rightwing black and minority ethnic individuals to some key political offices, because this didn’t stop racist tropes, nor challenge racist and misogynist policies of institutions such as the Metropolitan police. Johnson’s sole sincerity was always his own self-interest. Nonetheless, he appealed to a broad spectrum of people of different races, ethnicities and earning brackets. Louisa Waugh Oban, Argyll and Bute • As a 78-year-old white male, and a lifetime Guardian reader, I have read hundreds of excellent articles. But this one finally helped me realise just how abysmally tolerant I, and I suspect many others of my generation too, have been of this man’s appalling record. So thank you, Nels Abbey, for your well written and perceptive contribution. I console myself that there was never a chance I would ever vote Conservative, even though I occasionally sympathised with Theresa May. Leslie Williams Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham • The letter from Shirley Fox above was amended on 7 July 2023 to correct the year that she was previously published in the Guardian; to clarify that that was an article published anonymously, not a letter; to add a picture of the article; and to remove the suggestion that the newspaper was at that time called the Manchester Guardian – it had been renamed as the Guardian in 1959, although the company was called The Manchester Guardian and Evening News Ltd.