Surge in UK Race Hate Crimes, Micro-Racism, Sheffield, Millhouses Park, Black on Asian

By: N_Walayat

The latest police statistics reveal a huge surge in hate crime in the year to March 2017, up 29% to 80,393 which is the largest annual rise since records began that comes in the wake of last years Brexit vote and a string of terror attacks with most of the hate crimes being racially motivated. However the statistics represent the extreme end of the spectrum of reported race crimes for the vast majority lower level hate crimes tend to go unreported. Also the statistics do not cover the further spike in hate crime in the wake of the most recent terror attacks of the past 6 months.

The statistics mark a continuation of mainstream press coverage in recent weeks on the rise in hate crimes against ethnic minorities and the wider issue of persistent institutional racism. However what the mainstream reporting has failed to touch upon as it does not fit in with the narrative being presented is rise in inter-ethnic racism as a similar phenomena appears to be at work in the UK as was the case following the September 11th terrorist attack in the Untied States, in that of the rise in black on asian hate crimes that is increasingly becoming manifest in the UK in the wake of the recent ISIS inspired terror attacks of the past year both in Europe and most recently in the UK.

For as was the case following September 11th, where 'brown' people were seen to commit the acts, i.e. of asian or arabic origin, then black people (non muslims) no longer perceived themselves as being at the bottom of the pecking order, for now the brown people 'muslims' were deemed by society to be at the bottom, with Trumps election giving the racist narrative a boost. Whilst in the UK BrExit marked the trigger for this shift in social mood with each subsequent terrorist attack reinforcing the racist social mood.

And so as is the case in the United States, the terror attacks widespread mainstream press coverage is being used to embolden non muslim black people to take this as cue to become that which they have been victims of themselves. At the extreme end we are seeing this manifesting in the explosion of acid attacks across London against mainly asians / muslims that has prompted a fear response from muslims as far fewer venture out for instance into local parks and if they do then they can be seen carrying protective clothing such as motor bike helmets due to the fear of assault.

The surge in racially motivated hate crimes has become widespread which in large part do not involve overt violence or verbal abuse but manifest in unreported micro aggressions, far beyond the usual tendency for instance of overly eager security staff to follow brown faced customers around their stores, as tends to often more often then not.

For instance that which I have rarely or even never experienced is now becoming far too frequent as the following recent incidences illustrate -

With the kids on the climbing frame at Millhouses Park Sheffield, a black man with his white partner and two children walk past, the black man shouts "f***** pakis" as they walk over to the nearby water play area. That is the first time I can recall being called "f****** pakis" by a black man and did catch me completely by surprise, not knowing how to react.

Similarly whilst shopping at the Asda store in Handsworth, Sheffield, we turn into the crisps aisle and there is a black man standing there, looks at us and then starts f-ing, f-ing, f-ing as he slowly walks off.

Both of these recent experiences were unprecedented, and illustrate that racism is not just a one way street, black people can be just as racist as white people, and conversely the same could hold true for any ethnicity where the driver appears to be the prevailing social mood both as a reaction to Brexit and the string of terror attacks that has triggered the widespread trend of where many perceive themselves to have been given the green light to engage in at least low level racist behaviour.

The bottom line is that the current mainstream media debate regarding racism in Britain is lacking one crucial aspect, that of growing inter-ethnic racism driven by social mood, where in today's age it is manifesting itself in anti-muslim / asian racism, one that sees some black people behaving as the the white racists of the 70's and 80's used to behave. The skin colour may be different of the perpetrator but the end result is the same!

The prevailing anti muslim social mood mood is resulting in lower level racism i.e. micro-aggressions or micro-racism, in everyday experience this tends to manifest itself in for instance having a mobile phone literally shoved in ones face and an overt photo taken, as has occurred numerous times. So racism is manifesting itself against all muslims / asians with the recent terrorist attacks being taken as a green light i.e. to aggressively take photos with the excuse being having the green light to report anything suspicious, which translates into micro-aggressions against anyone who appears to be a muslim. Thus it is okay to aggressively shuving a camera in a persons face at no more than 2 feet distance before hurriedly walking away, leaving the victim of the micro aggression feeling uncomfortable, again this is lower level micro-racism that has occurred many times over the past year, the examples of which that most stick in ones mind are -

Again whilst at Millhouses park, with ones child on the swing, the white guy standing next to me with his own child on the next swing starts shouting down his phone and then proceeds to literally shuving his camera phone in my face at a distance of less than 2 feet, in a highly provocative manner,clearly trying to illicit a response for his phone camera.

Whilst sat waiting in a Sheffield dentist for an appointment, a white women gets up stands in front me me at no more than 2 feet distance, snaps a photo on her smartphone before hurrying out of the dental practice, leaving me bewildered.

And lastly whilst buying a vegetarian pitza at the recently opened Zizzi in Sheffield at the Light, a the waiter brings us a pitza with strips of bacon on it. This one prompted us to do the following video:

At the end of the day these are examples of micro-racism that bubble under the surface that go unreported where each on their own are minor acts of aggression but cumulatively paint a picture of a rising trend of hate towards muslims / asians that acts like a feed back loop as each act of aggression emboldens the perpetrator to go one step further next time, which I am sure is pushing many individuals towards snapping and thus serving the objective of the camera wielding perpetrators as most victims cannot develop and deploy counter measure strategies.

At the end of the day racism is literally not a black and white issue, but driven by social mood, and today the social mood is directed against muslims / asians, though tomorrow it could be your turn as the Irish well understand!

And this article does not even touch upon institutional racism, such as that virtually every ethnic person soon learns that they cannot trust the police. Which further illustrates why the police statistics will tend to greatly underestimate the actual number of hate crimes as likely most go unreported.

By N Walayat

http://www.marketoracle.co.uk

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Nadeem Walayat has over 30 years experience of trading derivatives, portfolio management and analysing the financial markets, including one of few who both anticipated and Beat the 1987 Crash. Nadeem's forward looking analysis focuses on UK inflation, economy, interest rates and housing market. He is the author of five ebook's in the The Inflation Mega-Trend and Stocks Stealth Bull Market series that can be downloaded for Free.

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