Stephen Lawrence

Ruby, the way some people act is a bit sickening, but most people are pretty decent, and won’t make weasel-like apologies for the Lawrence killers.

Racist killers and apologists always justify themselves by pointing to other racial killings. They try to create an atmosphere through smear and ‘jokes’ that all blacks, Asians etc are seen as benefit cheats, rapists and killers, so that somehow makes it all right to insult, hurt and kill them in return.

If white people like Kris Donald’s heartbroken mother can tackle white racism and recognise that most black people are decent human beings, then it helps black people attack the thugs and killers in their community. People who make some excuse for the killers of Lawrence and Anuj aren’t worthy of respect – but they’re bound to appear on JC boards because some of them hang out here.

The reason why Stephen Lawrence’s brutal* murder is still remembered is because the Met police messed up so badly, not because it was a racist murder. Bringing up other racist murders for comparison, is in some ways irrelevant to the notoriety of the case, even where there are parallels. But it’s also worth remembering that in 1993, a lot of people thought racism was dying out with an older generation. The youth of Stephen’s murderers and the open racism which his parents witnessed and experienced from some police officers contradicted that.

In 1993, the Metropolitan police had the most extensive experience of policing ethnic minorities, and had worked harder than most other forces to do something about racism. In 1993 most of us thought we had modern attitudes, so if the Met could mess up something as important as a murder investigation in a way which was crassly linked to the colour of the victim, then even the Daily Mail could see there was a problem.

@toybulldog wrote:

@chameleon wrote:

Stephen was stabbed. NOT kidnapped, and the Asian gang members were brought to justice alot sooner than 18 years. I’m confused as to how it reminds you of the Lawrence case. The gang members also said it was a revenge attack. There is no way I am condoning a revenge attack but what feeble excuse have Stephen’s killers given?

You have brought the flip side racist attack to our attention Toy, making yourself look pathetic. One could make the statement that it didn’t take long to bring the ethnic minority murderers to justice. Sceptical guy got you banged to rights.

You cannot be real, because if anyone has me ‘banged to rights’ (sic) they need to make it a lot clearer please.

I mention a case of a racial teenage murder, on a thread about a racial teenage murder, and you’ve gone off on one, completely ignorant of the real flipside entailed here.

As I’ve said before, part of the tragedy of Stephen’s murder is indeed that it was just one racist murder amongst too many.

However the thing that made it stand out from other racist murders was the appalling way the police conducted the investigation, the crass behaviour of some police officers and what it revealed about the culture in police forces at the time.

Most importantly for all of us, have things changed for the better?

– I sincerely hope so.

Another racist murder, whatever the complexion of the murderer or the victim, is simply and horribly another racist murder. But surely the “real flipside” of a racist murder would be a life-saving, anti-racist act? Unless you really believe that simply being of a different shade of skin puts someone on another ‘side’.

@chameleon wrote:

Same crime handled very differently. Was it because of the colour of the murderers or the colour of the victim?

Either way, while the blame for the crime lies fairly and squarely on the murderers, accountability for the handling of the case lies with the professionals who should be delivering a quality service in the first place and savvy enough not to be deflected from that by pressure to do otherwise, whether ‘PC’, racist or personal.