Playing the race card

[Bilko]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3524277.stm  
This story was on the news yesterday and has been for the past week. People like myself wouldn't be interested in the story if it weren't for one thing, the parents of the deceased claiming they are being treated differently because of their ethnic origins.
People like myself are very cynical about people claiming this. It's very easy to use this as a way of extracting sympathy out of those people whom due do not analyse the situation and take it as fact as what they are saying. The cynical bit is they say this as a way pre-empting the police final decision and use it as a way of  convincing the media if they are found guilty it will not be because of the evidence but due to the attitudes of the police towards them.
The police are going to treat them differently to a white British citizen or indeed black British citizen because they do not have arranged marriages in their culture. The police have to investigate a different set of circumstances in their culture. This is treating them differently due to their ethnic origins but not at the expense of a negatively investigation due to their origins. I do not believe the police are doing anything wrong.

[Reverend Minge]

You can bet your arse that the police are well aware that a baying anti-racist lobby are watching their every move and so will be treading on eggshells regarding any aspect of racism in this case.

Regarding the previous accusations of "institutionalised" racism amongst the police - without doubt there are some individuals on the force who are bigoted. But it pisses me off that the coppers took that accusation without a bleat in defence as the anti-racist would only come out with the hoary old chestnut that old whitey is racist but doesn't even know it.

[Blue Jam]

That reminds me of this story on News 24 last week:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3518189.stm

Two boys were involved in "an incident"- the details of which were not disclosed- at their school, and later one of them died. BBC News 24 gave the "incident" a lot of coverage, and repeatedly mentioned the fact that the boy who died was an asylum seeker, before wheeling on a race-relations expert to preach about how much more serious the "incident" would be if it was a racist attack, and that the group she represented would be looking into it.

What they mentioned much less is the fact that BOTH boys were asylum seekers- this "incident" seemed to be a playground fight after school, and may or may not have been race-related, but even with such a small amount of detail on which to base their accusations, people are already playing the race card- the article even mentions racial tension in the area. The cause of death still isn't known- the post-mortem is to be carried out today- so no-one even knows how one boy is supposed to have harmed the other, if he did at all.

This got a very long report on News 24, and I remember being surprised at how they could get so much broadcast material from such a small number of concrete facts. Come to think of it, that's probably why they brought the race-relations woman on- to flesh out the report and to add a bit of sensationalism for the ratings.

And some VerbWhores wonder why we all did so badly on the Observer's cynicism quiz...

Edited to add an update- the boy who was arrested was released without charge, and still no-one knows what this is all about: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3489714.stm

[jutl]

You can bet your arse that the police are well aware that a baying anti-racist lobby are watching their every move and so will be treading on eggshells regarding any aspect of racism in this case.

Regarding the previous accusations of "institutionalised" racism amongst the police - without doubt there are some individuals on the force who are bigoted. But it pisses me off that the coppers took that accusation without a bleat in defence as the anti-racist would only come out with the hoary old chestnut that old whitey is racist but doesn't even know it.

It may be a hoary old chestnut, but it is the core of the 'institutionally racist'  claim (which was only applied to the Met by Macpherson, not all UK police). I don't know how they'd prove they weren't, so it's not an easy accusation to discount. Still, I'm not sure I have your certainty that police racism is limited to 'some individuals' - that's just as difficult to demonstrate.

I think that this family is justified in trying to fight the sterotype that all Pakistani families would rather murder their children than let them choose their partners. Calling this 'playing the race card' is tendentious from the start, implying that they're taking the piss - do we know that? Judging by the 'drinking bleach' bit of that story, it seems possible that the girl was suicidal. Why should we judge her reasons?

[Reverend Minge]

It may be a hoary old chestnut, but it is the core of the 'institutionally racist'  claim (which was only applied to the Met by Macpherson, not all UK police). I don't know how they'd prove they weren't, so it's not an easy accusation to discount.

As you said it's not an easy accusation to discount, but it's an easy accusation to make though isn't it? And once made it sticks, which tends to make any debate on racism very difficult as it's easy to kick up dust and not look objectively at the facts.

Of course there are racist coppers out there - but you cannot deny that the flipside is that some people are happy to use the "It's because I is black" to muddy the waters when it suits them.

[hencole]

JUTL I hope your not questioning the girls powercut story? Happens all the time. Power goes off, no TV to watch, you go and gargle some mouth wash to pass the time, turns out to be bleech.

[5 Knuckle Shuffle]

JUTL I hope your not questioning the girls powercut story? Happens all the time. Power goes off, no TV to watch, you go and gargle some mouth wash to pass the time, turns out to be bleech.

Yep. I ALWAYS put my bleach in handy sized bottled containers and leave it in my medicine cabinet next to other oral hygene products. I wouldn't want anybody to pick it up from beside the toilet and mistake it for mouth wash.

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

*chuckle*

5KS, somewhat taking the words from my keyboard there.

[king mob]

What they mentioned much less is the fact that BOTH boys were asylum seekers- this "incident" seemed to be a playground fight after school, and may or may not have been race-related, but even with such a small amount of detail on which to base their accusations, people are already playing the race card- the article even mentions racial tension in the area. The cause of death still isn't known- the post-mortem is to be carried out today- so no-one even knows how one boy is supposed to have harmed the other, if he did at all.

Its an odd case to say the least  but the area is suffering some major racial tension with the area having a huge influx of asylum seekers & scum like the BNP whipping up the usual shite to stir the locals up.

The other things that has been brought into the area is a lot of disputes amung the immigrants & this may be the cause of it, its not a simple case by any stretch of the imagination.

[chand]

To be honest, as dodgy as the power-cut story sounded, I think it's dangerous that the girl's race led to her story being the platform for a load of double-page spreads and talking-head appearances about 'honour killings', at a time when race relations are strained enough already.

You know, whether or not the parents are lying about how she ended up drinking bleach, it's unlikely that they forced her. If she WAS suicidal, that doesn't necessarily imply she was beuing forced to get married just cos of her race. They're plenty of suicidal teenagers out there drinking bleach and writing journals about how trapped and depressed they feel.