Round-up

1. Members of the Black Police Association were shocked to be accused of racism by an MP they had asked to speak at their conference – and realised they had mistakenly invited the wrong man. The National Black Police Association (NBPA) had wanted David Davis, the former shadow home secretary, to address their gathering in York. However, a mix-up led to David Davies, the Conservative MP for Monmouth, receiving the call.

And in a sharply critical speech, Mr Davies told the Association exactly what he thought of their organisation and its values. He said: "To me, it's a shame membership of the NBPA is open only to those of black, Asian or Middle Eastern origin. "It could be argued that this is explictly racist, in that it bars white people, and implcitly racist in suggesting they care less about racism." After angering the audience, the MP was offered an escort out of the building.

Speaking after the conference, Mr Davies said: "They may have wanted David Davis but that's not my problem. If I'm asked to give a speech that's what I'm going to do. They did look a bit surprised."

2. Check out this story in which those who oppose a basketball court being built near their homes are accused of racism. The funny thing is that there is no evidence that race played any part in the opposition. The only ones to bring up race at all are the ones who seem to have associated basketball with black people and then assumed that others will oppose basketball because of those black people.

Who Is Andrew Sachs?

Andrew Sachs: A man who in the 1970s portrayed a crude, racist stereotype of a Spanish man on a TV sitcom, who was bullied, tormented and ridiculed by his English employer (slave-master), for comic effect, to the laughter of millions.

Suddenly that Andrew Sachs guy sounds awful...

Just an example concocted by me of how we can alter and manipulate the facts to portray anyone in a bad light. In fact, Sachs has been the most reasonable man in this whole affair. See his interview here, in which he specifically says that he wants no further part in this nonsense, and is quite content with both Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross issuing apologies and leaving it there.

In Defence Of Russell Brand And Jonathan Ross

They might as well be racists...

If you've been living in Britain for the past week you will be aware of the controversy surrounding Russel Brand and Jonathan Ross, and their "obscene" phone calls to Fawlty Towers actor Andrew Sachs. The papers have been full of indignation over this incident, and although this is not a racial issue, I wanted to discuss it because, as on so many race-related occasions, the media and the reaction of the general public have been driving me spare. As such, I thought I would take the opposite view - and defend Brand and Ross from the vitriol being poured their way.

First of all, let's make it clear that this SHOULD NOT be about whether Brand and Ross are actually funny, or talented, or not. This SHOULD NOT be about whether they deserve to be paid millions of pounds a year for their antics. Disliking a person's sense of humour or wages is NOT sufficient grounds to call for someone to be sacked from their job. Try telling your boss that your supervisor should be sacked because he tells bad jokes and gets paid too much, and see how far you get. And then try telling that boss the same things when you don't even WORK for the company.

So what conceivably COULD all the fuss be about?

The first question is whether the messages the duo left on Sachs' answerphone constitute "abuse". A lot of misinformation has been going around regarding the true context of the incident. First, it should be pointed out that this was NOT a "prank call". Nor was it random bullying. Sachs was scheduled to do a telephone interview on the show. But when they phoned him, he did not answer, and they were diverted to his answerphone instead. Brand started by simply leaving a message asking why Sachs was not answering his phone, at which point Ross suddenly shouted, "He fucked your grandaughter!" - which they had been discussing earlier. Brand and Ross made a couple of attempts to call back and rectify the situation, trying to shrug it off with more humourous asides, and it gradually spun out of control. Did they go over the top? Very much so. But was it "abuse" in any sense of the term? No, they did not abuse anyone. Annoyed, maybe, but not abused.

The next question centres around the claim that Brand had sex with Andrew Sachs' grand-daughter. From what I can tell, this is true. The previous week, Brand had David Baddiel on the show, and they talked about a party both of them had been at, which Georgina was also present at. And Georgina herself has pretty much issued a statement to the affect that the claims were true. While stating that she felt "betrayed" by Brand's comments, she also said that "what happened between me and Russell should stay private" - not exactly a ringing denial. So it seems, at the moment, that Brand and Ross can't be charged with libel or defamation, either. True statements can't be censored from the radio.

It must be remembered also that Georgina is a member of a group called the Satanic Sluts. I dare say that Andrew Sachs is, or should be, more concerned or offended by that than whether she slept with Russell Brand.

So the next question is: could they be done for sending harrassing phone calls? Again, I say no. The calls were a joke that spun out of control; they were not calculated that way, and nor were they at all malicious. Britain is a free country - and that includes precisely the freedom to annoy people, or even offend them. If it doesn't, it's not a free country. It would be one thing if Sachs himself had insisted on pressing charges for receiving harrassing phone calls. But he has not done so. So how "annoyed" or "harrassed" can we really say he was?

The bottom line here is that there is simply no reasonable objection anyone can raise to this incident except personal prejudice. People think Ross and Brand should be sacked because the joke "offended" them. Well, I'm sorry, but that's not how things work. People aren't put out of work because YOU don't like their jokes. It is also worrying that so much misinformation about this is floating around. The vast majority of the people who have complained about this incident have not even listened to the recording of the show in full. It is telling that following the broadcast there were only TWO complaints from listeners about the show. It was only AFTER the event gained nationwide publicity that thousands more people suddenly added their voices to the chorus - again, many of them without having even listened to the recording.

People are ganging up on Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross because they have a personal axe to grind. They don't like the men themselves. I don't believe that should EVER be justification for calling for someone to lose their job. As for me, I call for all charges to be dropped against both of them. Suspending their TV shows, as the BBC have just done, is absurd, and so is sacking them. Brand and Ross can make personal apologies to Andrew Sachs IF THEY WISH. If they do not wish to, however, that should be the end of the matter.

Let's tuck this farce away and get on with our lives. They're too short to waste on such petty hysteria.

Round-up

1. A white South African rightly criticises the South African Times for picking up a story about about discrimination against blacks in job ads without ever mentioning the other side of the coin - discrimination against whites, also known as "positive discrimination". The author of the letter says: "I have been looking for a job for four months and I’ve seen countless ads exclusively for black candidates only. Is this not racism?...Jobs should be given to those who are best at fulfilling them — colour should not be a factor."

2. The German FA has banned a footballer for five matches for making a racial slur towards a Nigerian player.

Positive Discrimination...In Favour of Whites?

I see that Trevor Phillips has suggested that Britain should adopt a policy of positive discrimination in favour of disadvantaged whites or face a backlash of "right-wing extremism". The idea is that that white Britons will start to get so annoyed with immigrants "stealing their jobs" that there will be race riots.

Nonsense. The British people are better than that. I oppose all forms of racial discrimination in the workplace, and while this one favours whites (who are often put at a disadvantage by positive discrimination), it is no better.

Sin When You're Winning Fight Against [Football] Racism

In the Times today, Simon Barnes agrees with what I wrote here: that is, that it would be wrong to deal with racist abuse of football players by the crowds when there are so many other levels of abuse that are just as, if not more, virulent.

"You are of illegitimate birth, you are homosexual, you are an onanist, your wife indulges in eccentric and promiscuous sexual practices, your own tastes are severely compromised, you're a traitor, you are Judas, you are obsessed with money, you are incompetent, you sexually abuse children, you're black - What! Hang on a minute, you can't say that! That's absolutely dreadful! What sort of people do you think we are? We don't tolerate that sort of thing round here, thank you very much. Now be quiet, I think the boys at the back are going to sing the paedophile song again in a minute.

"Racism is bad, but its apparent conquest gives football (and perhaps society beyond football) the altogether inappropriate belief that every ill has been overcome. By concentrating on the single evil of racism, many other evils are accepted."

What Race Is Islam Again?

More on this story: Australian Council says "racism" played no part in rejection of planned Islamic school

Round-up

1. A 15-year-old girl who claims she was the victim of racism at West Bend East High School is accused by police of fabricating the story. The girl, who is black, has said she was pushed down stairs and called racial slurs and had eggs thrown at her. But Police Chief Ken Meuler (MOY'-ler) said the story has not been backed up by surveillance video from inside the school or in interviews with students and faculty members.

If it turns out that she really did fabricate the story, I would not be at all surprised. Some members of minority groups have gotten so desperate for something to whinge and complain about now that they are resorting to outright lies to discredit Old Whitey. We gonna get it BAD fo' dat slavery thang.

By the way, Muslims are at it, as well.

2. An Auburn University professor is using a racist note as a teaching opportunity. Chippewa Thomas is an assistant professor in the college of education. She said she found a note written last week at the bottom of a flier she had hung that read “There’s no room for hate on campus.”

This is racism? Am I missing something?

3. Uefa, European football's governing body, has told Claus Bo Larsen that it will offer him its full support if the Danish referee decides to halt Liverpool's Champions League tie against Atlético Madrid at the Vicente Calderón Stadium this evening, should the match be marred by racist abuse.

I do not agree with this. No one stopped the match when, shortly after the 1998 World Cup, David Beckham was greeted at every game he played with a chorus of boos and vile chants against his family, as well as people burning effigies of him at games. No one stops the match when the crowd call the referee a wanker. I do not support or advocate racist chanting, but I do not believe that combating it should take precedence over the other forms of bile and invective directed against players by the crowds.

Two Brave Men, Part VI

The sixth and final part of Robert Spencer's interview with Geert Wilders:

Factually Challenged

I just read and chuckled at this review at Amazon.com of Andrew Bostom's excellent and important book "The Legacy of Islamic Antisemitism". The author of the review, "M. Gam", thunders:

- In the muslim books, the Quran and Sunna, jews and christians were referred to as the people of the book like the muslims. It is a must for muslims to believe in the old and new testament the way they came to the prophets: Moses and Jesus
- Jews and Christians were always free to practice their religion where muslims ruled, and were even treated evenly in the eyes of the law. Testimonies in the books can prove it. The history of Jerusalem can prove it.
- Jews and christians were given high positions in the muslim political and social systems. This applies to the present.
- In the history, I don't recall any slaughter of the jews by muslims, but I recall the ones by Romans, and the one by Europeans
- Last one: How could Muslims be anti-semitic if a big percentage of the muslims are Arabs and the Arabs are semitic as they descend from Sam. This point alone proves that the writer did not gather true facts.

This nonsense is effectively debunked in the comments to the review, but it is amazing to note that pretty much every statement here is proven false IN THE BOOK ITSELF. I can only surmise that Mr. Gam didn't even read it, or that he wants those who haven't read it to be kept away from the truth. The statement that "Jews and christians were given high positions in the muslim political and social systems" is acknowledged in the book, but Bostom goes on to show how on all those occasions, Muslims protested violently about this violation of the sharia and in many cases slaughtered whole Jewish communities in retaliation. As for the idea that, "In the history, I don't recall any slaughter of the jews by muslims", once again Bostom destroys this falsehood with much primary documentary evidence in the book.

The best one of all is the last one: "How could Muslims be anti-semitic if a big percentage of the muslims are Arabs and the Arabs are semitic as they descend from Sam." If Gam had actually read the book, he would know that Bostom deals with this exact question ON THE VERY FIRST PAGE!

The dishonestly of Muslim apologists here is clear for all to see. And it's not the first time it's happened to Bostom, either. Take a look at the following debate on Fox News after the release of Bostom's previous book, "The Legacy of Jihad". In it, Bostom's opponent, Ahmed Younis, states triumphantly: "The term 'holy war', al-harb al-muqaddasah, does not appear in the Qur'an at any point." Just one problem, Ahmed: Bostom notes this on PAGE TWO of the book, and the rest of it is aimed at refuting this simplistic assertion. But I'm sure Younis, like so many Muslim spokesmen, knew exactly what he was doing when he made this deliberately misleading statement.

PC Liberal Anti-Republican Insanity of the Day

A twelve year old girl who wore a Sarah Palin T-shirt to school was called a racist by her classmates.

Yes, seriously. There's so many things wrong with this, it's scary.

Minority On Minority Racism

Here's the kind of thing the media covers less than other incidents of "racism" because the perpetrators were not white.

Black supervisors in the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department were acting out of racism when they called a group of Latino deputies the "Mexican Mafia" and disciplined a member, jurors found Thursday.

Angel Jaimes, a 19-year veteran of the department, was harassed because of his Mexican origin by his supervisors, who, according to testimony, said the station "was run by Mexicans and they were going to change that," the panel concluded.

But jurors also said they did not find the supervisors' conduct to be "outrageous."

Real Racism Alert

I post a lot of stories here at Race Relations which are actually not racist, but are presented as such by the media. So just to balance things up a wee bit, here is a story in which a black person complains of racism AND IT ACTUALLY APPEARS TO BE SO. Shocka!

Two Brave Men, Part V

Here is the penultimate part of Robert Spencer's interview with the courageous Dutch anti-jihad MP Geert Wilders.

The "Lie" of Obama's Muslim Past?

Here's an article condemning certain people for the "lie" of saying that Obama is a Muslim.

The problem is that hardly anyone is actually saying Obama is a Muslim. What they have said - and there is much evidence to support it - is that he has a Muslim background, and that he has been curiously hesitant to bring this up in public debate. Here is a good article by Andrew Bostom about Obama's past as a Muslim.

Some Obama/Racism News

I have deliberately stayed away from covering the numerous dismally boring stories about how the Obama campaign is facing "challenges" from right-wing "racism", but I thought I'd comment on this.

Here's an article about a Palin rally in which a man waved a monkey doll with a sticker of Obama's face on it, and a woman told John McCain that she couldn't trust Obama because he's "an Arab" - at which point McCain promptly and correctly took the microphone away from her.

It's a shame that such racist buffoons have to be there to damage the reputation of the Republican Party, and all those who oppose Obama as President for purely political reasons. Having said that, it is notable that the mainstream media lapped it all up eagerly, but funnily enough has largely ignored most of Obama's questionable leanings and dodgy alliances. That's for two reasons:

1. The media is institutionally liberal
2. Racism is "worse" than anything else.......that is, WHITE racism is worse than anything else. Rev. Wright was brushed under the carpet pretty quick by the MSM, wasn't he?

Two Brave Men, Part IV

Here is part 4 of Robert Spencer's interview with Geert Wilders:

Sorry, did she say something?

An anti-racism campaigner even I would get behind...

As Italy struggles to contain a "rising tide of xenophobia and racism", the largest and most despised minority in the country has acquired a glamorous standard-bearer. Like 1.2 million other residents of Italy, Ramona Badescu is an immigrant from Romania. The willowy actress and singer from Bucharest moved to Italy after the fall of the communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989 and is the closest thing Italy possesses to a Romanian household name.

Now Rome's mayor, Gianni Alemanno, has made her his counsellor for the Romanian community's integration. "I hope to become a bridge between the Romanians and the mayor," she said. "Romanians here have many problems connected to work: more Romanians die at work sites than any other nationality." Her first policy idea is to set up a free phone service in both languages to help Romanian migrants find information, residence permits and other practical information.

You know what? Under normal circumstances I may have taken Ms. Badescu to task for daring to suggest that there is SERIOUSLY a problem of racism in Italy, without proof. But then, this is no normal anti-racism campaigner, as the picture shows. Ahem.

I'd gladly debate with her any day.

Round-up

1. This piece at the Guardian says: "Do people really want to join an organisation that has racist tendencies and policies and repressive practices limiting progress and ambition? The London-based Black Police Association (BPA) clearly thinks not."

Oh, give over. Kent chief constable Mike Fuller is black, as are other high-ranking police officials.

2. Half-Brazilian, half-Italian defender Fabiano Santacroce has received his first call up to the Italian national football team from coach Marcello Lippi for the upcoming World Cup qualifying matches. The 22-year-old Napoli stopper, who has dark skin due to his Brazilian heritage, wanted to emphasize that he doesn't see his call up as a victory over racism, which is still an issue in certain parts of Italy.

"I have never felt like a victim of racism," he said. "But if someone did insult me I would just laugh, what else am I supposed to do? I suffered a little from racism as a kid when I played with the junior ranks, as there were some stupid people around, but I mostly ignored it."

Santacroce is a very sensible, level-headed man.

Two Brave Men, Part III

Here is the third part of Robert Spencer's interview with Geert Wilders:

Two Brave Men, Part II

Here is the second part of the Robert Spencer interview with Geert Wilders. In this part, they talk about a phenomenon I have experienced all too many times: as soon as you express opposition to Islamisation of your culture, you are labeled as a racist and a bigot. Ain't it always the way?

Waste of Everybody's Time

An inquiry into allegations of racism in the Metropolitan Police has been ordered by Boris Johnson. Mr Johnson's decision comes after the Met's Black Police Association (Met BPA) announced it would launch an advertising campaign "actively discouraging" young black and Asian people from joining the force. It said that the suspensions of Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur - Britain's most senior Muslim officer - and Commander Ali Dizaei were proof that ethnic minorities are treated unfairly.

Oh for pete's sake...There IS no racism in the force. Ghaffur and Dizaei were suspended because they were whiners and troublemakers. This investigation is a complete waste of everyone's time.

Two Brave Men

Here is the first of a series of videos, all of which I will be posting here at Race Relations as soon as they become available, in which Jihad Watch's brilliant Robert Spencer interviews the courageous Dutch politician Geert Wilders, director of Fitna, about the implications of his film and the steady push by the Islamic community to stifle and ban all criticism of Islam.

More to come in the coming days.

Round-up

1. This is just too strange to comment on, so I'm going to simply post the first few paragraphs of this story without comment:

Vague allegations of racism in and around Dallas City Hall have turned into very pointed personal attacks questioning the racial intent of individuals.

The controversy swirls around one four-letter word used by a planning commissioner during the debate over whether to rename Ross Avenue for Cesar Chavez. Last week, city planning commissioner Neil Emmons said, "I, speaking only for myself, believe there are dark racist forces in this building."

On Wednesday, a Dallas resident who addressed the council said something similar: "I am here to ask this city council to help us dissipate this dark cloud of racism."

The use of the word "dark" twice in one week was too much for Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway. "You can just call it racism, but I would appreciate it if you would take the 'dark' portion out," Caraway said during Wednesday morning's council session. "And Mr. Emmons from last week should have had his mouth washed out with soap as far as I'm personally concerned."

Yes...

2. An interesting piece about black-on-white racism:

A monsoonal storm descends on Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, as I make way home through the district of Bole. It is a cold wet season evening. Addis sits at 2300 metres above sea level, and the chill of the damp air finds its way into my bones. Pushing ahead, the ground receives my attention in order to avoid the deepening puddles. But my focus is suddenly shattered by a voice calling out to me. Looking to my left – I see that the voice belongs to a young, male taxi driver. When we make eye contact he repeats himself.

‘Babylon!’ he says, with a mocking facial expression; an accusing finger jabs in my direction.

His statement may seem a little strange to the reader. Why would an Ethiopian taxi driver be shouting the name of an ancient Mesopotamian city to a rain soaked foreigner? The answer lies in the fact that the taxi driver wasn’t using Babylon in its literal sense; he was using it in its metaphorical sense. Babylon is also a Rastafarian term, metaphorically linking the biblical imprisonment of the Jews in ancient Babylon with the more recent experience of African slavery in the New World. In its Rastafarian sense, Babylon refers to oppressive political establishments and the police, as well as European oppression of Africans. The term arrived in Ethiopia through the Jamaican reggae music which is popular in that East African nation. Many Jamaican Rastafarians also live in Ethiopia, given the fact that it is their Holy Land – Zion.

The taxi driver’s taunts still astound me. I’m cut off by at least a generation from the colonial era, and countless more from that of New World slavery. But in the eyes of that taxi driver my white skin still represented an evil history draped in chains and shackles.

Could the taxi driver’s labelling of me be considered an act of racism? The politically correct viewpoint here would be that it wasn’t - that a history of subjugation excuses the taxi driver from being racist. I must disagree. That taxi driver’s taunts hurt me and made me self-conscious of my skin colour. What could I do about what my ancestors may have done to the African people? Such are the joys of so-called ‘reverse racism’.

The Hypocrisy of the Right?

At this Trinidadian website, Tim Wise accuses the Right of hypocrisy for suggesting that, among other things, blacks and ethnic minorities are too quick to blame outside factors such as racism for their depressing lot rather than taking responsibility for their own lives. But, says the author, those same conservatives then turn around and blame everything on the "foreigners" - if they didn't get a job, it must be because of positive discrimination in favour of blacks, and so on. So, the claim goes, the Right are hypocrites, because they don't take responsibility for their own lives but instead blame their problems on the people they earlier criticised.

I can't speak for all conservatives or all cases. No doubt there have been many times when Wise's observation is quite correct. But it seems to me that there is a general difference between the two scenarios here. Often, there is direct evidence that positive discrimination is occurring, preventing white people from getting jobs, etc. For example, see here. White men were specifically banned from signing up to the fire-fighting service.

And conversely, it is often the case that ethnic minorities claim "racism" is the cause of their troubles when there is in fact no evidence that this was the case. For example, see here. An Indian man was forced to quit his job after claiming to suffer "racial discrimination" at the hands of his co-workers. While he was clearly bullied by his peers, there was absolutely no evidence that racial motivations played any part in it.

My point here is that the Right may not be hypocritical as often as Tim Wise claims: positive discrimination can often be proven - racism often cannot.

It is also telling of the agenda of this site that it links to a blog called "U.S. Crusade News", and also contains many heavily biased, deceitful articles on Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the War on Terror.