Kew Gardens Ambassador: ‘UK Gardening Culture Has Racism Baked Into Its DNA’.
James Wong, a mainstream media columnist and ambassador for the iconic Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, has alleged that “UK gardening culture has racism baked into its DNA” in a bizarre rant on social media.
Wong, a columnist for the increasingly leftist New Scientist magazine, was responding to another social media user, University of Greenwich academic Ed Wall, who had commented on a Wong article in the Guardian titled ‘Other arts are political, why not gardening?’ saying: “Gardens are denied their political agency because they too often reveal uncomfortable politics of individual ownership, spatial inequity, & unsustainable practices. There needs to be more honest conversations about gardens in the UK!”
Wall’s spiel was poorly received by several ordinary social media users — “How much agency do you suppose we give the inanimate, non-sentient plants. Who is their spokesperson? Perhaps they ought set up a pressure group?” asked one, facetiously — but Wong agreed enthusiastically.
“Absolutely U.K. gardening culture has racism baked into its DNA,” Wong replied.
“It’s so integral that when you point out it’s [sic] existence, people assume you are against gardening, not racism,” he claimed.
“Epitomised, for example, by the fetishisation (and wild misuse) of words like ‘heritage’ and ‘native’.” Breitbart.
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