09 August, 2006
Good old Guardian balance
I came across this story after deciphering a broken and incompetent link from the government-sponsored race-hate site Blink. I make no comment on the substance of the story, which is about the alleged racist handling by police of an assault on a Black woman in North London; I have an open mind on the accuracy of the Guardian's piece, though the palpable liberal outrage in reporter Laura Smith's writing does give me pause.
(Given the remarkable size of the victim's family, I do also find myself idly wondering again whether, like female lemmings, Somali women are actually born pregnant. I saw a Somali woman waiting at a bus stop the other day. Something was wrong, something out of place, something incomplete. I couldn't quite pin it down. Then it struck me: no push chair.)
What is worthy of comment about the Guardian story, however, is the list of other racist "incidents" which Smith appends to the end of her piece. Five recent cases are described, all of them attacks on South Asian men. In the first four cases, the assailants are clearly and explicitly described as White men. But in the final example, the ethnicity of the assailant is omitted. Could it be that it is unknown? Perhaps this BBC news item might shed some light. As well as a description of the firebomber, there is even an e-fit of the suspect. But then we all know how unreliable e-fits are, and Smith is clearly exercising journalistic prudence in her reticence about the suspect's race.
(Given the remarkable size of the victim's family, I do also find myself idly wondering again whether, like female lemmings, Somali women are actually born pregnant. I saw a Somali woman waiting at a bus stop the other day. Something was wrong, something out of place, something incomplete. I couldn't quite pin it down. Then it struck me: no push chair.)
What is worthy of comment about the Guardian story, however, is the list of other racist "incidents" which Smith appends to the end of her piece. Five recent cases are described, all of them attacks on South Asian men. In the first four cases, the assailants are clearly and explicitly described as White men. But in the final example, the ethnicity of the assailant is omitted. Could it be that it is unknown? Perhaps this BBC news item might shed some light. As well as a description of the firebomber, there is even an e-fit of the suspect. But then we all know how unreliable e-fits are, and Smith is clearly exercising journalistic prudence in her reticence about the suspect's race.
# posted by Edwin Greenwood @ 11:49 
