Yasmin don’t pander to bigots

I am deeply sorry that my good friend Yasmin Alibhai-Brown has sought to pander to the Far Right by racialising the predatory acts of a group of Asian men.

She admitted  in an opinion piece for the Independent this week that she had been goaded into writing the vexed article relating to the crimes by a  gang of men, by  the very bigots who despise her and all others with darker skin. Conceding to her mockers, she lamented, ‘Yes, guys’, ‘you’ve won, have another larger’.

She is right, they have won, and in winning they will point and twist her comments to state that,   Alibhai-Brown says, ‘Muslims are sexual deviants ’. Furthermore they will argue this is   ‘another good reason to hate Muslims’. As if they couldn’t find enough spurious reasons already.

Truth is the only response that was needed to rebuff the goading and hateful comments that had filled her inbox was, ‘Essentially this is not about race or religion, but about criminals, odious criminals’. She might have even ended her response by asking her detractors, ‘how come paedophillia is only racialised when it involves Asians?

Racism works in many pernicious ways. One of the most damaging is to make a whole community feel guilty for the actions of a few individuals. How often have African and Caribbean communities prayed, ‘I dearly hope that criminal, mugger, or murderer isn’t Black.

As BME communities we all fall into this trap of somehow feeling responsible for someone else’s actions. We shouldn’t.

Could we ever imagine other columnists such as David Aranovich or Jeremy Clarkson feeling guilt ridden, and lamenting that it is their profile; their age and racial group that predominantly commit paedophilia? I don’t think so.

We could, however, easily imagine that they both would be in uproar if the public or the police ever suspected them because they fitted this crude profile.

They would rightly say, ‘how dare you. My age, religion, or race has no significant bearing on the perverted actions of a few’.

And yes Yasmin there may be a story to be told about sexual oppression within certain religious groups, and particularly faith leaders who abuse their position, but this was not the peg for that story. 

Our racists detractors will jump on anything they feel will further their hate filled agenda. Let’s not give any assistance to their hateful endeavors.

Simon Woolley