Middlesbrough mayor criticised over white privilege comments

Middlesbrough mayor Andy Preston said deprivation is "colour blind"

A mayor has been criticised for social media posts suggesting white privilege is not an issue in his region.

Middlesbrough's Andy Preston said both white and non-white people in the town faced "awful situations" and that poverty was the biggest problem.

His comments came in the wake of anti-racism protests after the death of George Floyd in the USA.

Responding to his post, some Facebook users said Mr Preston was "tone deaf" and "offensive".

The term white privilege refers to the concept that people have basic rights and benefits because they are white.

In his initial post, Mr Preston acknowledged "there is racism here and all kinds of discrimination is wrong".

He went on to write: "Don't listen to careless talk in the media about white privilege - look at the awful situations so many white and non-white families face in Middlesbrough and other places. Deprivation here appears to be colour blind."

He later added: "How can it be true when so many white-skinned people do so badly in our society? How can it be true when poor white boys do worse at school than poor black boys or poor Asian boys? How can it be true when some of the least diverse/most white boroughs are the poorest?"

Speaking to the BBC, Mr Preston urged people to be "careful" with language when discussing racism as "words like privilege can be misconstrued".

He added poverty "will be the single biggest driver in Middlesbrough of your performance at school and whether you earn a decent wage".

Olalekan Odedeyi, of the Save the Woman help group, said the mayor had been "careless to dismiss those who take the issue seriously".

She welcomed any effort to tackle the way deprivation "damages life chances" but added it "should not and cannot be at the expense of dealing with the serious matter of how institutionalised racial discrimination is still a significant impediment to equality, prosperity and health for citizens of Middlesbrough".