it happens on both sides of the spectrum. Mr Javid has been doing that very thing today - trying to paint Labour as a racist party the day after he voted to bury Windrush documentation, the day after the Muslim Council of Britain renewed their appeal for an inquiry into Islamophobia in the Conservative Party, and the week that the Tories have had to ditch 18 candidates mostly for racism. It's a tool that people will use.
Accusing someone of unfounded racism, to purely silence a debate, is not a tool I use. Nor anybody I know for that matter. What crap they chuck at each other on the political merry-go-round, isn't really the point. The point was, that regular as clockwork, as soon as a figure from a minority background is criticised, some people automatically/purposefully construe that as racism. Which frankly, undermines & devalues the actual fight against racism.
But Abbott does receive a barrage of racist hate on a daily basis. The court case going on with one of her abusers right now is pretty shocking. When most MPs get criticised on here it's fairly specific to policy or ability, even on here criticism of Abbott seems more vitriolic and as people know the kind of hate she receives I think for some people alarm bells ring. It's in the context of how she is regularly treated.
Listen, I'm not going to condone racist abuse of anybody. She doesn't deserve it. Period. However, she does IMO, deserve a man-sized portion of criticism & condemnation, for her own predjudiced opinions.