Saturday, November 19, 2011

Is it cos he's black?

First, let me be clear, I do hope that those who murdered Stephen Lawrence do finally face justice, though I do have some very severe qualms at the lengths that the police seem to want to go to prosecute someone for this crime. Currently the cost of bringing another trial to attempt to prosecute the current defendants has reached well over £10 million including the Lawrence Inquiry plus various other attempts to place the perpetrators at the scene of the crime.
Wikipedia.
Stephen Lawrence (13 September 1974 – 22 April 1993) was a black British teenager from Eltham, southeast London, who was stabbed to death while waiting for a bus on the evening of 22 April 1993.
After the initial investigation, five suspects were arrested but never convicted. It was suggested during the course of investigation that the murder had a racist motive and that Lawrence was killed because he was black, and that the handling of the case by the police and Crown Prosecution Service was affected by issues of race, leading to an inquiry.
In 1999, an inquiry headed by Sir William Macpherson examined the original Metropolitan police investigation and concluded that the force was "institutionally racist". The inquiry has been called 'one of the most important moments in the modern history of criminal justice in Britain'. The report of the examination's work and conclusions was published in 1999 as The Macpherson Report.
On 18 May 2011, it was announced that one of the original suspects, and another man, are to stand trial for the murder in the light of "new and substantial evidence" becoming available. A jury was selected on Monday 14 November 2011, and the trial started on the following day.
I cannot remember a more sustained campaign to find justice for a young man, though I was more than a bit surprised to learn that he had a plaque marking where he died, I know he's famous (for a given value of famous) but not in the respect that a plaque should be awarded, such is the politically correct frenzy surrounding the manner and means of his death and its supposed racist connotations. Yet I cannot help wondering if there were to be the same sort of outcry and sustained attempts to jail anyone if Lawrence were in fact a white teenager.
Guardian.
On a mild November evening in 2003, 14-year-old Charlene Downes kissed her mum goodbye and walked with a friend to visit the Carousel bar on Blackpool's North Pier. When she failed to come home by the following morning, police circulated her description.
Last year, the trial of two men accused over Charlene's murder was halted when the jury failed to reach a verdict. The subsequent retrial collapsed owing to concerns over a key prosecution witness. Both men were cleared of the charges. The case is still open. 
Rumour still has it that Charlene was fed into a mincer and fed as kebabs to unsuspecting punters. The two convicted eventually got compensation from the state for winning their trial, the police however aren't looking for anyone else.
Democracy forum.
Nineteen-year-old Gavin Hopley and his two friends were making their way home to Rochdale after a night out in Oldham when they inadvertently wandered into the Muslim-dominated 'no-go' area of Glodwick and were chased and attacked by a gang of, at least, ten Muslim men and youths.
Unfortunately, though his two friends escaped, Gavin was cornered and brutally beaten by the gang with his head stamped on repeatedly by his assailants. After the attack, a kindly elderly Muslim lady called the emergency services and covered the unconscious teenager with a blanket. He never regained consciousness and later died in hospital.
Six men were eventually jailed for violent disorder and theft following the attack in February 2002 on Gavin Hopley, but no one has been successfully prosecuted for his murder. All of them now walk the streets of Oldham, ostensibly free men, but the abolition of the double jeopardy law which prevented repeat prosecutions can put that in doubt should fresh evidence emerge.
At the time, Gavin's parents issued a public condemnation of certain members of the Muslim community in Oldham for protecting the culprits.
The killers of Gavin Hopley got off, just as those of black teenager Stephen Lawrence did. But how many people know about and remember Gavin Hopley?
Again, the police are not looking for anyone else, as far as they are concerned the case is closed.
So I'm wondering if justice in the UK is based on the colour of your skin, certainly appears to be the case in the Lawrence trial where the police after the Macpherson report on the Lawrence murder accused them of institutionalised racism, but the two I've mentioned have yet to get any justice, there are others out there too let down by a system that seems now to be designed that only if you're not white will you get justice and expenditure on your death.
I do hope that those who murdered Lawrence get justice, but I am truly saddened by the fact that there are so many white murder victims by coloured people who will not.

9 annotations:

JuliaM said...

Fully agree.

Captain Haddock said...

Seconded, QM ..

English Pensioner said...

I'm with you. Based on media reports, there seems to be clear evidence that the two accused were there, but, so far, the evidence that they did the actual killing seems vague. A spot of the victim's DNA on their clothes just proves, to me, that they were around at the time.

DerekP said...

It seems to me the senior police have been so heavily politicised that they are, in effect, no longer policemen at all.

Does the the quote below seem more like 'head on' law enforcement (my emphasis) or political rhetoric designed to sacrifice law in order to keep their favourites content?

‘We recognise that in some areas the number of Asian offenders is disproportionate to the population and far from ignoring this, have been tackling the issue head on by working with the local communities, giving presentations to community forums and visiting mosques to raise awareness.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1374443/Police-hid-abuse-60-girls-Asian-takeaway-workers-linked-Charlene-Downes-murder.html

Lee said...

'A spot of the victim's DNA on their clothes just proves, to me, that they were around at the time.'

No it doesn't.

Anonymous said...

Ask to have a look at Stephen Lawrence's CRB record. It might enlighten a few people.
I post as anonymous because I have looked.

Budvar said...

If all the evidence they have is a spot of 18+ year old DNA, all that proves is the sainted Steven Lawrence could have sneezed in their vicinity or even or even someone else the accused were in contact with at anytime prior or even post the Lawrence death.

Not to mention the media hounding of those "Believed" to have done the killing in recent years, their chances of an unbiased trial are pretty slim at best.

Even if the "Selected" jury found them guilty, I think any appeal will have to find grounds for an "Unsafe" conviction on so many grounds, so why bother with a trial now?

andy said...

The guys in question may or may not have killed St Stephen of Lawrence,in truth i dont give a fuck either way,but I`m heartily fucking sick of the way this guy is lauded to the skies while white victims of ethnic crime are ignored,belittled and forgotten as quickly as possible so as not to upset the race racket apple cart.
And the black community`s ready acceptance of this status quo,while whining about descrimination is starting to really make me hate black people,the more I have to interact with black people the more I realise that they are not "just like us".

Anonymous said...

shame the white victims of the ever incressing black crime are not given the same effort that has been put into this joke of justice No black person would ever be hunted and hounded like these 5 have been for the last 18 years same old story lawrence by a long way was not the was not what he is being shown to have been Like most i find it hard to think Britan will be worse off for his demise