In November 2011, the Fine Gael mayor of Naas, Darren Scully sparked controversy when he
announced on national radio that he would no longer represent “Black Africans”, due to
their “aggressiveness and bad manners” and their tendency to “play the race card”.
Ultimately, the controversy caused by Scully’s blatant and unambiguous racism forced his
resignation as mayor. ---- However, as Crises… co-author Gavan Titley pointed out, the
mistake, from Scully’s point of view, was not in being racist per se, but rather that he
“played the wrong race card”(1). While overt racism is still experienced by people of
colour both on the streets and within institutions, in public discourse the language and
tactics of racism have become more subtle (to some extent, in response to significant
victories by anti-racist, anti-apartheid and post-colonial movements worldwide, and the
...