Since the UK voted in favour of leaving the European Union last week there has been a marked rise in the number of race related incidents.

Now, it would be quite easy to blame elements of the media who for many years have stoked up tensions by publishing articles that look to demonise a minority of people.

We have had pages and pages written on migrants and even more on how Muslims are in some way a major threat to the British way of life…whatever that may be.

There has been an effort made by politicians for the past decade to use race-related issues to garner popular support. By doing so one is able to make what might be deemed racist almost acceptable to the wider public.

The reality is that there are sections of British people that are genuinely racist in their beliefs. The reason particular newspapers continue to print these articles is because they have an audience who want to engage with these views.

These are views they are able to relate to in some way.

You only have to look at how people latch on to particular articles both on this website and on others in the hope that it justifies their personal beliefs.

It happens across social media too and many people have become far too accustomed to seeing openly racist content being shared across their timelines.

It is far too easy to blame the Brexit campaign and the newspapers for these views.

It is highly patronising to think that the media and politicians had managed to hoodwink 17 million people into thinking Brexit was a good idea.

It is also very wrong to think that 17 million people are all the same and their views are in some way equate to being racist. If we do then we are no better than those who blame a whole religion for the murders inflicted in their name.

We can make ourselves feel a little better by thinking that people voted to leave the EU because they didn’t really understand the issues.

People knew what it entailed and what it ended-up representing and were more than happy to vote leave.

The sad fact is there is a populace, whatever percentage that might be, who simply do not think they can co-exist with people of other races and cultures. Being British means being white.

As we have seen in the past few days ‘Leave’ in itself has become a word more synonymous with the idea of all people who are not white ‘leaving’ the UK.

We want to believe that this can be a society devoid of such views. It is an ideal we want to aspire to but the truth is, we can’t. Well, not now anyway.

On the very same premise there are elements in all other religions who are similarly racist. We have on these pages over the years highlighted countless incidents where people have used religion as a means of justifying separation from the wider public.

Some people are intent on spouting their own form of prejudice because they think they are right. And no amount of conjecture and diplomacy is going to change that.

Go ahead and blame the media and politicians for the state we find ourselves in.

But in ‘real Britain’ racism exists and all the media and politicians are doing is making it acceptable.