22 March (Part 3) - Bexley council. A job well done
The English language can be a strange beast. If I recognise a man from North
of Hadrian’s Wall by his accent and refer to him by the first four letters of
his country’s name he might swell with pride and reach for his hip flask. If
someone refers to me by the first four letters of the Isles of my birth I might
be slightly annoyed as I don’t like the term but wouldn’t consider it to be
abusive; yet if a similar abbreviation of his country of origin is applied to a
man with his roots in Lahore there will be few circumstances in which it will not be
- abusive that is. And if that abbreviation is daubed on the wall of one’s house there can be little
doubting what it is. A pretty nasty crime.
This
website attracts quite a lot of cries for help and when it is possible and not
likely to take up all my time I do what I can.
On Wednesday afternoon a distressed reader told me of the racist slogans and pictures that
had appeared on her wall. I immediately emailed her a copy of Bexley’s Hate Crime Leaflet
and the council phone number to call. By early evening she had done so.
At lunchtime next day I took myself over to her address which is in a nice part of the
borough to see if Bexley council had responded as everyone would hope. As you
can see from the photographs, they had lost no time at all in doing what they
could to relieve and comfort the occupier. The new paint was still wet. The police showed up
too. All within hours of her report. A pretty good result I’m sure you will agree.
For the record the perpetrators of this crime were doubly ignorant. Their victim is not Pakistani.
Note: Click for complete leaflet.