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A teenage schoolgirl was arrested by police for racism after refusing to sit with a group of Asian students because some of them did not speak English.
Codie Stott’s family claim she was forced to spend three-and-a-half hours in a police cell after she was reported by her teachers.
The 14-year-old – who was released without charge – said it had been a simple matter of commonsense and accused the school and police of an over-the-top reaction.
“She said I had to sit there with five Asian pupils,” said Codie yesterday.
“Only one could speak English, so she had to tell that one what to do so she could explain in their language. Then she sat me with them and said ‘Discuss’.”
According to Codie, the five – four boys and a girl – then began talking in a language she didn’t understand, thought to be Urdu, so she went to speak to the teacher.
“I said ‘I’m not being funny, but can I change groups because I can’t understand them?’ But she started shouting and screaming, saying ‘It’s racist, you’re going to get done by the police‘.”
Codie said she went outside to calm down where another teacher found her and, after speaking to her class teacher, put her in isolation for the rest of the day.
A complaint was made to a police officer based full-time at the school, and more than a week after the incident on September 26 she was taken to Swinton police station and placed under arrest.
“They told me to take my laces out of my shoes and remove my jewellery, and I had my fingerprints and photograph taken,” said Codie. “It was awful.”
After questioning on suspicion of committing a section five racial public order offence, her mother Nicola says she was placed in a bare cell for three-and-a-half hours then released without charge.
She only returned to lessons this week and has been put in a different science class.
Yesterday Miss Stott, 37, a cleaner, said: “Codie was not being racist.” “The reaction from the school and police is totally over the top and I am furious my daughter had to go through this trauma when all she was saying was common sense. “
“She’d have been better off not saying anything and getting into trouble for not being able to do the work.”
Last night Robert Whelan, deputy director of the Civitas think-tank, said: “It’s obviously common sense that pupils who don’t speak English cause problems for other pupils and for teachers.”
“I’m sure this sort of thing happens all the time, but it’s a sad reflection on the school if they can’t deal with it without involving the police.”
“A lot of these arrests don’t result in prosecutions – they aim is to frighten us into self-censorship until we watch everything we say.”
Tell your children not to ask the teacher for advice, they could be arrested for talking common sense, something some schools and teachers dont know much about.
Its a dangerous world out there in the societies playground
The caveat that I would add is that the Standard belongs to the same group of papers as the Daily Mail. I don’t think they’ve given us the whole story and apparently the school is yet to investigate what exactly happened:
“The school is now investigating exactly what happened before deciding what action – if any – to take against Codie.
Headteacher Dr Antony Edkins said: “An allegation of a serious nature was made concerning a racially motivated remark by one student towards a group of Asian students new to the school and new to the country.”
“We aim to ensure a caring and tolerant attitude towards people and pupils of all ethnic backgrounds and will not stand for racism in any form.”
I’d rather wait for all the facts to come out before jumping to any conclusions. I doubt the police would arrest someone just because they said they couldn’t understand what some foreign students were saying.
It reminds me of the Cantona kick on the Crystal Palace fan. Cantona claimed the man had made a racist remark. The fan claimed that all he said was “Off you go! It’s an early bath for you Mr Cantona”. Eventually it was established that the fan actually said “Why don’t you f#ck off back to France you f#cking French motherf#ucker!”
I presume the teacher was talking English, so this Codie would understand what was being taught, why would she want to bother with what is being said between pupils, irrespective of what language is being used.
While the police bit was a bit OTT, its fairly obvious she was out to cause trouble, a racist in the making, probably hears her mother and father mouthing off about “Muslim b***ards” so tried a bit of her own.
I can see where the young girl is coming from though, think about it for a second…how would you feel in her position with the other students talking in a different language whilst you are trying to discuss a topic?
I think its a bit rude to be honest. In your own country surely you would expect to be able to speak your own language with no worries of having an interpreter getting your point across for you.
@tiler wrote:
While the police bit was a bit OTT, its fairly obvious she was out to cause trouble, a racist in the making, probably hears her mother and father mouthing off about “Muslim b***ards” so tried a bit of her own.
I think i would of done the same thing had i been in the young girls shoes. To make that assumption is a tad harsh of you there Tiler… [-X
When you join a class, you do so to learn, not hold a general discussion with all and sundry, a case of sour grapes I think. after all one did speak English and offered to “discuss”, maybe it was beneath her to talk to these “foreigners”.
I wouldn’t say it was beneath her, just a bit frustrating don’t you think?
I love posters who jump to conclusions even though its clear they don’t know the situation. :roll:
@tiler wrote:
When you join a class, you do so to learn, not hold a general discussion with all and sundry, a case of sour grapes I think. after all one did speak English and offered to “discuss”, maybe it was beneath her to talk to these “foreigners”.
If they are in this country – then they should bloody well speak English
No wonder the education system is going to the dogs – haveing to pander to all the bloody minorities – ffs
We are all going to hell in a handcartDear old Drivel
Always guaranteed to be the first with racist rubbish, just like all the ex-pats in Spain in their ghettos.@tiler wrote:
Dear old Drivel
Always guaranteed to be the first with racist rubbish, just like all the ex-pats in Spain in their ghettos.Totally right there Tiler, that is racist rubbish indeed!
What we should all do to make things so much easier for our foreign friends coming to our shores and wanting to live here, is to learn every single language so that they don’t have to bother learning our language.
Problem solved!
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