Racist Murder

Imagine a gang of young white racists driving the streets, looking for a Muslim, seeking to "chop them up and take their eyes out and stab them". They assault and abduct a terrified fifteen-year old Asian boy who was walking along the street with a friend. He is frightened and crying, saying 'I'm only fifteen. What did I do ?'


They take him to waste ground, strip him, and repeatedly stab him, severing three vital arteries. He is held down, utterly defenceless. While still alive he is doused in petrol and set ablaze. He is able to crawl a few yards before dying.


Fifteen years old.


It would hardly bear thinking about.


There would - quite rightly, in my opinion - be outrage. Television news, the Today programme, Radio 5, the national press - all would condemn this vile attack. The victim would, like Stephen Lawrence, be a household name.


But that wouldn't be all. Trevor Phillips would lambast the undeclared Brit racism which nurtures such monsters. The Refugee Council would condemn the tabloid coverage of asylum and immigration which demonises all people of colour. The Muslim Council of Britain would point out that when Blair and Bush kill innocent Muslims, and Blunkett takes them from the streets without trial, it becomes easier for disturbed Brits to justify their evil, Islamophobic acts. There would be calls for action against political parties and newspapers which incite hatred of immigrants or Muslims. Bans and censorship would be proposed.


And of course the Guardian, Indie, BBC and the equality/diversity complex would provide an endless feedback loop, producing one long howl of outrage at the ghastly crime, its disgusting perpetrators and the sick culture which produced them.


None of this has actually happened, though. Well, something did happen, but the victim was only a Native Brit.


So don't look for : blanket coverage on the Today programme, Radio 5 and TV news, op-eds in all newpapers, memorial stones, community centres or new colleges, Commissions of Enquiry, official reports, consultations with the Home Secretary, police confessions of incompetence, resignations, High Court Judges asking why the suspects escaped justice, compensation for the victims parents or changes to police and court procedures.