As I have argued for the best part of a decade now, those who describe xenophobia and/or racism as the product of “legitimate concerns” are, by rhetorical construction, legitimising both the underlying prejudices and the downstream actions that they might (and have) lead to.

Spot on thread 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻 Not just poc at risk either. Trans people, disabled, GRT communities, and women all facing increasing discrimination - both interpersonal and structural - with at times terrible consequences

God, Gillard even used those words ten years ago.

There is a reason why racism has been on what looks like inexorable decline in most surveys of the British public - it was *de-legitimised* across society via both social and legal measures. It wasn’t simply historical accident but a concerted push (very often against institutional resistance).