National ‘papers censor perceived racist Hammer Attack Sentencing story

Originally Posted by zinglebarb

Just because its a BNP article does not mean it didnt happen does it? The Daily Mail articel clearly states 5 members of an Asian gang beat a white schoolboy. Now I sit here and I am afraid I have to wonder if 5 members of a white gang beat up an Asian boy what chances would the white blokes have to pass it off as none racially motivated?

It was meant to be a one on one fight but the coward bought his gang. Now imo any race problem would not make this a worse crime than it is throw the key away I say

As I have said before assault is assault gbh is gbh and using racial problems to alter the severity of such cases is utter crap

You are quite right zing it's a terrible crime but I think it's just as disgusting that the BNP used it as propaganda.

Only those who follow the BNP will fall foul of it

[Sirius]

Originally Posted by foreverwar

Thats the ones

[basa]

Originally Posted by Derek S

The main perpetrator got 8 years. The rest got varying sentences.

Without knowing the background to the case I can't see anything that would make it racially motivated, unless you take every case where it's an attack on someone of another rce as being racially motivated you need some proof. There are hundreds of reasons why a group of people decided to attack a person.

There are plenty of cases where serious assaults don't make the national papers. I know of at least 5 cases in the last year in the area where I work that have resulted in serious permanent injury and could very easiy of been murder that haven't been reported anywhere except the local rag.

I think the whole point of trevortt's initial post was that it appears most of the main stream press did not report this story, racist or not, (I feel, as has been said, if it were 5 whites beating up on an Asian or black it would be in most papers and local TV news).

IMO this is censorship, in the same way that when attacks on whites by asian or blacks are reported, very rarely is the ethnicity of the perp reported. When whites attack ethnics it is nearly always reported as such and made out by the authorities to be a racial attack.

Been there, suffered that.

Originally Posted by basa

I think the whole point of trevortt's initial post was that it appears most of the main stream press did not report this story, racist or not, (I feel, as has been said, if it were 5 whites beating up on an Asian or black it would be in most papers and local TV news).

IMO this is censorship, in the same way that when attacks on whites by asian or blacks are reported, very rarely is the ethnicity of the perp reported. When whites attack ethnics it is nearly always reported as such and made out by the authorities to be a racial attack.

Been there, suffered that.

I googled "hammer attack swindon" and came up with these
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/w...re/6302421.stm

http://www.metro.co.uk/news/article....34&in_a_source=

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages/...n_page_id=1770

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...ticle27980.ece

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/ja...kcrime.schools

All from early 2007 - looks like a fair representation of the mainstream media there -
Mail on Sunday
BBC
Metro
Sun
Guardian

And if you type in "Henry Webster" and "hammer" you get a lot more.

[Russ]

To be fair, those stories report on it going to court, indeed very few seem to have picked up on the outcome.

[basa]

Originally Posted by Russ B

To be fair, those stories report on it going to court, indeed very few seem to have picked up on the outcome.

Also the BBC report was not your usual "White Racists Attack Asian Man" headline main page report and the Metro is not exactly 'mainstream'.

As Russ says they only report it once it gets to court and where is the outcome?

My belief is if this was a 'white on coloured' attack it would go the course.

I *feel* this country is hell bent on making the white (dare I say that) British people second class citizens by labelling them 'racists'.

Most of the complaints from people who feel like me is not 'racism', it is a plea for fair and equal treatment, both under the law and by social authorities.

It *seems* to be OK for Asian and coloured people (no not just immigrants) to twist our laws, abuse the whites, jump queues (housing or jobs), enjoy our social services ad nauseum, whilst the majority hard working white population are more and more dissaffected and disheartened.

I make no apology for using the terms white, Asian or coloured, because that is what we all are, but I'll bet someone tries to make out it is racist to refer to someone in that way.

Oh well that's probably me off the Cable Forum mods Christmas list again !! Good job I'm atheist.

Originally Posted by Russ B

To be fair, those stories report on it going to court, indeed very few seem to have picked up on the outcome.

erm, how about these at the end of February 2008, when the judge lifted reporting restrictions.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/w...re/7268763.stm

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/feb/28/ukcrime2

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...icle857543.ece

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle3708820.ece

[Derek]

Originally Posted by basa

Also the BBC report was not your usual "White Racists Attack Asian Man" headline main page report and the Metro is not exactly 'mainstream'.

Errr over a million copies of the Metro are given out across the UK each morning. The only figures I can find put it's readership at 2.2 million a day.

Hardly some lunatic fringe rag. If you want that try the Express

[Tezcatlipoca]

Originally Posted by basa

I *feel* this country is hell bent on making the white (dare I say that) British people second class citizens by labelling them 'racists'.

Really? I don't feel second class.

Originally Posted by basa

It *seems* to be OK for Asian and coloured people (no not just immigrants) to twist our laws, abuse the whites, jump queues (housing or jobs), enjoy our social services ad nauseum, whilst the majority hard working white population are more and more dissaffected and disheartened.

Is it? Do you have anything to back that up? Anything at all?

Inequality?The only time I experienced inequality was when I was a teenager and wimmin were expected to be housewives and mothers or nurses not doctors or anything remotely technical and highly paid.The white male was doing very well indeed but at the expense of a great swathe of people.Not only were us women discriminated against but so were people of differing colour,the blind,the deaf,the 'handicapped',differing religions and a variety of ethnic minorities .

Amazing, a bit of balancing things out using the law and suddenly it's all gone too far says a small number of beleaguered whites.Well hello I don't actually see that whites have got is quite so bad as it was in the bad old days.

[Xaccers]

So to summerise, Trevor's done his usual trick of regurgitating an inaccurate BNP article.
After a few seconds searching, foreverwar has shown that the incident was reported across the main media, there was a reporting ban which was then lifted and the outcome of the court case was reported too, thus showing the inaccuracies of the BNP article.
The court heard that the white lad had barged into a gang of asians in a school corridor, and had agreed to fight, 1 on 1, outside.
As normally happens when a gang of youths willing to fight over simply being bumped into, rather than it being 1 on 1 they set upon him.
So is it automatically racist because people of two ethnic backgrounds have a fight? In which case, was his planned attack on the one he agreed to fight also racist? Or is it only racist because there were more of them?

Either way, Trevor has given us another excellent example of BNP propaganda, and that he's ready to swallow it. Well done Trevor, thank you for showing just how wrong the BNP really are.

Putting Trevor to one side (though trevor never damn well stays there) there is a point here that has been raised. If this had been 5 white lads onto a single asian or other ethnic group by god you couldn't miss this story in the media but otherway round and it has been obviously very easy to miss. I do think there is a greater use of racial motivation when it is whites involved in an attack on other races then when they attack whites and that has to be addressed if only so groups like the BNP can no longer make use of it for their own ends (which as we all know has sod all to do with the lad in this case).

[Xaccers]

Originally Posted by RizzyKing

Putting Trevor to one side (though trevor never damn well stays there) there is a point here that has been raised. If this had been 5 white lads onto a single asian or other ethnic group by god you couldn't miss this story in the media but otherway round and it has been obviously very easy to miss. I do think there is a greater use of racial motivation when it is whites involved in an attack on other races then when they attack whites and that has to be addressed if only so groups like the BNP can no longer make use of it for their own ends (which as we all know has sod all to do with the lad in this case).

But there was media coverage of this, enough for a judicial restriction on further reporting, and once lifted, plenty of reporting continued.

It isn't the level of reporting it is the nature of that reporting and how it would have been a lot different had this been 5 white lads doing the attacking that is the problem. Just as some on this forum are quick to call others racist for quite mild views we have a media which despite being classed as right wing seems to be happy to call attacks racist when it is white on ethnic but same attack when it is ethnic on white is not primarily racist motivated. It is the old thing of whites are and can be racist but other ethnic groups can only be the victims of racism and never the racially motivated ones themselves.