Every Once in a While....

This insightful commentary comes from Ampula's British correspondent Bene. You can find more from Bene writer at: http://crianca_da_noite.blogspot.com

-Ampula

The thing that strikes me most as I hear reports on the British television news is the claim the media has on understanding racism in other countries. When Rosa Parks died, a reporter commented that while this great symbol of the civil rights movement who had helped change race relations in the United States was being laid to rest, America was still grappling with race issues as marked by the events of the Katrina crisis just recently.

Similarly, the media was quick to call attention to issues of institutional racism in France following the “riots” caused by disenfranchised poor immigrants from the Maghreb. These observations may have purported to display intelligent British analysis on race issues elsewhere, but also helped present the idea that in comparison, this country was doing much better vis-à-vis its other counterparts in the first world when it came to matters of race and its management. But every once in a while these illusions are laid to rest and often brutally so. I

n July 2005, Anthony Walker, aged 18, died in Liverpool. The men suspected of the crime of killing Walker were brought to trial and after initial claims of their innocence, one of them confessed to having pursued the young man and driving an axe through his head. The news stated these facts. In fact, one might even say they reported these events neutrally. There was then no analysis of the facts. The facts as we knew them were that Walker was black and that his assailants were white. We also know that the victim was with his cousin and his white girlfriend at a bus stop when he had heard racist abuse called out at him and that rather than retaliate, the three walked away but then were set upon and forced to run. Acknowledging the racist circumstances under which the events occurred, MP Edward O’Hara (who oversees the area) was quick to add that the event was “entirely untypical of the community in which it happened.” Oh, but he was not done. He also said, “this act was random, exceptional and representative of absolutely nothing.” Blackbritain.co.uk, from where I quote O’Hara’s eloquence would beg to differ, listing numbers of several “acts” in the area.
Meanwhile, in the matter of Walker’s case, the court has heard that the young man was hunted down for “no reason other than the colour of his skin.” The British media, it seems, is yet to say much else. Their silence speaks volumes.