I hope that one day I will not have to face such danger just for being a vocal Black woman in government (Picture: Joe Maher/Getty Images)
Seeing the Labour victories rolling in from up and down the country last Friday felt like cause for celebration.
But then, my office manager interrupted the good mood to inform me that yet another death threat had been made against me on X.
‘What a day it will be when you’re 6ft under,’ read the chilling tweet.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time I’ve been threatened and, unfortunately, I also know it won’t be the last.
Abusive, racist and violent threats towards me and other people in frontline politics have been steadily increasing for some time now.
In 2022, a BBC investigation discovered that more than 3,000 offensive tweets are sent to UK Members of Parliament daily.
And just last year, the Jo Cox Foundation – which is named after the MP murdered in 2016 – found that the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has received more than 300,000 pieces of openly racist or racially-oriented abuse since he was first elected.
I, too, was being constantly abused but didn’t feel that I could respond, because engaging with an abusive, racist, misogynistic person is a lose-lose scenario.
And while I still don’t respond to tweets (even though I have a few choice words I could use), I did eventually grow tired of sitting idly by.
I currently have four active police investigations in my name – with one of those close to an arrest being made.
And, I decided, I would start exposing the keyboard warriors myself.
It started with sharing just one tweet, but over time it has gradually grown into my weekly #ButlerBlocks posts where I show a selection of some of the vilest racist abuse you will ever see that I receive across my various platforms.
Most people are shocked and sympathetic, but some try to shame me for exposing racists. I say to them: if you are more offended about that than you are about the perpetrators themselves, then there is something wrong with you!
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I do this not just to expose the abusers, but to raise awareness of the amount of hate I, and so many others, receive on social media.
I hope that one day I will not have to face such danger just for being a vocal Black woman in government but little action is taken by said social media companies to tackle it.
I wonder, however, can we expect the Zuckerbergs and Musks of the world to fight this when those that hold political power often exacerbate the problem?
There is no doubt in my mind that, during this recent election period, many felt emboldened to tweet abuse because they saw similar rhetoric coming from political figures.
A notable example: not long ago, Lee Anderson, while he was a sitting MP, said that ‘Islamists’ had ‘got control’ of Sadiq Khan and London. This was a disgusting thing to say, which Sadiq rightly called out as Islamophobic and racist. I was shocked that a Member of Parliament could say such a thing.
Former deputy chair of the Conservative Party, Lee Anderson (Picture: Matthew Horwood/Getty Images)
Is it any surprise, therefore, that after Sadiq was elected for his historic third term, trolls talked about finding his house and killing him? Or that, two days after receiving my death threat, I had to report another comment wishing for his death on Facebook?
As elected politicians – or those aspiring to be elected – we hold huge responsibilities for our country and should therefore behave accordingly.
Adding racist or abusive rhetoric into the political discussion should be taken as an attempt to subvert our democracy for political gain and be seen as highly dangerous.
We must all embrace robust but positive political campaigns that are full of hope and commitment towards the betterment of society.
When political figures take a responsible approach to their messaging, I believe it goes a long way to cutting off the oxygen to the hateful, discriminatory and divisive rhetoric that doesn’t belong in any aspect of life.
In short, hate and abuse must stop.
It is simply unacceptable, and the long-lasting consequences of emboldening abusive people affects us all and our democracy – and that’s the very thing we should all be fighting to preserve.
Do you have a story you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk.
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