Why is Jack Straw surprised suddenly making a statement that he believes some Pakistani men in Britain see white girls as “easy meat” for sexual abuse?
Did he not come across the problem while he was the Home Secretary or was he too busy dealing with other issues that he never had time for such an important issue which he now thinks is important to talk about it?
In fact, was he not the person during the General Election Campaign as a candidate for Blackburn competing for votes and meeting with all the community leaders and trying to be ‘politically correct’, by not even mentioning alarming issues which can be seen in the wider British society as a problem?
Even a newcomer to this subject will know that Pakistani’s are not the only people who commit sexual offences; as prisons are full of white and other sex offenders from different backgrounds. The best response to recent convictions of these men is given by Barnardo’s chief executive, Martin Narey, “The case was more about vulnerable children of all races who were at risk from abuse. Street grooming was probably happening in most towns and cities and was not confined to the Pakistani community.”
So what was the point of making such a stereotypical comment and asking the Pakistani community to be more open about it?
Clearly, we need to expose and discuss more openly the underpinning values of the Asian criminal rings in many of the British cities, so the damage done by these gangs should not spread to the wider communities. But the questions must be asked why these men, who are mostly born and brought up in Britain feel themselves to be so different and perhaps superior that they try to target girls who are very young, vulnerable and white?
Is there no question to be asked especially to Mr. Straw why Blackburn is an area which has the third highest proportion of Muslims (ca.25%) and in England & Wales; the highest in the United Kingdom outside London?
And still the question should be asked why are these communities exposed to right-wing abuse, prejudice and racism? Have the integration and multicultural policies failed to work in that area, so why did these young men from the Pakistani community violated young white girls?
Well, as probably Mr. Straw knows the reasons himself only too well. We should start to expose the hypocritical policies of the politicians. One cannot agree at a different time and leave all the values to be decided by the so called community leaders and at a convenient time criticise those values? One day it hits back; the outcome and the result of these policies should be thought out carefully.
It is sad to believe that Jack Straw tries to tackle the issues which BNP might pick up to win over voters.
By saying “That such Pakistani men thought these females were easy meat who deserved no respect or consideration”, Jack Straw has not only stereotyped one community and fed the right-wing with his comments but also disrespected females of all ages and backgrounds by using the word “meat”.
But this is surely another subject for a different blog.
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Semra Eren-Nijhar 