The primary purpose of Morrissey's statement is an opportunity to state his views about the decline of the NME as a magazine he used to regard as one of the best. He has a long history with the NME going back to his childhood and apparently it's vitally important to him to go at length about how the magazine has gone down the tubes.
I've never thought Morrissey is a racist and it's unfair for him to be labeled one. Being labeled a racist is one of the most terrible things a person can be branded with (if you agree with me that being a racist is one of the stupidest things in the world). One of the reasons it's so unjust to label someone a racist without a sound basis is because once the media label you as such it tends to follow you around forever even if it is absolutely untrue.
But over the years Morrissey has had a lot of strong feelings boiling up inside him about immigration and foreign influence in Britain, and this does relate to race. His statement doesn't make anything clearer about such things.
Does Morrissey feel there are too many foreigners being let into England? Does he feel there's too much foreign influence on English culture? What immigration policies does Morrissey support? What are the flaws of current immigration policies, in Morrissey's opinion? Morrissey is clear that he despises much of American "cultural imperialism" (Estonia should be locked in the past for tourists no matter how much cunsumers there vote with their pocketbooks for the new changes taking place). How does he feel about Islamic "cultural imperialism"(honor killings in London, for example)? Does Morrissey feel immigrants from vastly different cultures should integrate more than they currently are? Or, by integrating more are they becoming too British and forgeting about their heritage? What does Morrissey feel about immigrants with violently anti-British views stemming from their religious extremism being given haven in Britain?
There's no obligation for Morrissey to make his views on these matters more clear, or for him to have an opinion on any of them at all. But he has said things that put some of these issues on the table for discussion and his statement today doesn't have anything to say about them.
That said, it is frustrating to many of us to see the hyper-PC attempt to make people afraid of speaking their minds about immigration-related issues out of fear they'll be labeled a racist. Immigration-related issues have big impacts on cities and countries and people should not be made afraid to discuss such matters if their feelings step one centimeter away from the politically correct dogma.
While I don't see racism in Morrissey's heart, or any reason to suspect he doesn't judge individuals as individuals , and while I don't think Morrissey needs to "prove" anything to the NME, it is odd that Morrissey seems to believe that liking foreign movies, liking some authors who have dark skin, liking this or that artist from the Middle East, or stating that he'd like to perform a concert in Iran, proves the falsity of the NME editor's speculation that Morrissey is okay with people of certain races, ethnicities, or cultural backrounds but wouldn't want to live next door to them. There are many racists who like specific athletes, singers, writers, etc., of the race they dislike.
Again, I don't think Morrissey has to prove he's not a racist, and I recognize how difficult it is to prove you're not one when a magazine decides to engage in a campaign to accuse you of it. People should be careful before labeling others a "racist," and such a label is often thrown about loosely as a weapon against anyone who says anything at all you dislike, or just for being someone you'd like to demonize for other reasons.
But what does Morrissey's statement actually "prove" beyond that he is not an overt racist?
Furthermore, what does contacting "Love Music Hate Racism" after a controversy is brewing and promising to provide space in your advertisements and booths at your gigs prove? If he had done it last year, it would prove a lot. Doing it this week just proves he wants to suck up to an anti-racist group after a magazine accused him of being racist. In his favor, he has endorsed this group before, and it's not really the equivalent of Don Imus running to appear on the Al Sharpton Show. But the larger steps he's doing to show his support are all after the controversy erupted.
Most of what I'm writing here is not intended as an attack on Morrissey, but just to offer something other than the fawning over the statement that many of his most worshipful fans are engaging in. The statement's agenda is primarily focused on Morrissey telling the NME that he thinks they have been wrecked and making sure his current views on the music press and the music industry (two topics that are most important to him) are part of Morrissey's record, not on making his views on immigration clearer. He also engages in some personal attacks on Tim Jonze that are amusing but don't amount to much. It's not actually a crime to not know one of Morrissey's favorite Bowie songs, though no doubt Morrissey thinks it is.
boy, you don't want to have Moz as an enemy 
).
