This week former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Trevor Philips said it was about time we stopped being so silent about issues concerning race. But aren’t we already saying enough?

Not a day goes by without some investigation, feature or report on specific race issues. The very ones that Mr Phillips said we aren’t talking enough about.

You could easily say we were quite open about discussing race-related issues. In fact we talk it about all the time.

But later this week, Mr Phillips will look at a number of issues that we don’t talk about in case we get called racist in a Channel Four programme.

But the evidence of this is to the contrary. For some time now it has been open season on ‘racist language’ both in the mainstream press and amongst some politicians.

To suggest that we don’t speak about race openly is both preposterous and dangerous. Mr Phillips suggests we can’t talk about certain things as they might cause offence? I think we passed that mark many years ago.

How about a little more honesty as to what this whole debate allures too. It is essentially asking us to start taking the ‘I’m not racist but...’ brigade a little more seriously.

You know the ones who leave comments on the right-wing newspaper websites. The ones who talk about how they ‘love some of us’ but not the rest. The ones who constantly talk about freedom of speech but only on the subjects and issues that affect minorities.

Over the years we have come to respect Trevor Phillips views on race-related matters.

I do agree that certain issues may well have led to crimes being committed as people were not willing to offend a community or culture. The Child Grooming scandal and the heinous crimes committed is an obvious example.

But it also a clear example that there is a need for more diversity within such authorities to stop this from happening again.

Let us be clear, if organisations had taken diversity seriously over the past twenty years rather than pay lip service it may have led to a culture where no community could have been permitted to take advantage of ‘political correctness’.

This is the truth that many organisations have yet to admit to themselves.

If you are told over and over again that you are personally to blame for the ills of a nation then sooner or later you well end up believing it.