LibDem Councillor Brown In Racial Abuse Storm: Video
SHIRLEY Brown, a Liberal Democrat councillor, tells the members at a Bristol City Council budget meeting that Conservative member Jay Jethwa is a “coconut”.
Shy? No. Brown and hairy on the outside and sickly white within. She is accusing Jethwa of betraying her blackness. And of being hairy, which is unforgivable. and,then, Jethwa isn’t black.
Mrs Brown made the comment in response to a proposal to end funding for the Legacy Commission which funds ethnic minority projects.
Says Mrs Brown:
“In our culture we have a word for you, a word which many in the city would understand, and that’s coconut. At the end of the day I look at you as that.”
So. Because you are black you should always support anything black no matter if you agree with it or not? Here’s Brown:
Confronted with her snide remark, Brown apologises. But that is not the end of it. Police get involved. Brown is then found guilty of racial harassment. She is given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay £620 in costs.
Jethwa weeps:
“I was completely shocked and I was numb and had to rewind the footage to see if it was only me she had directed the comment to. I was very, very upset and distressed. The word is doubly insulting as it insults both me and the white population.”
And coconuts… Here’s the heated debate:
The problem, I think, is this. At the moment, in our political culture, it is commonplace to talk of ethnic and cultural groups as if they were homogeneous blocs. If that’s your starting point, then it follows that there can be such a thing as a ‘race traitor’. You may want to resist such a politics. I certainly would. But I question whether the criminal conviction of a councillor does much to advance that cause.
I would equate “coconut” with being black and aspirational. It is a backhanded compliment really. If I were black, I would like those whom I have left behind in the ghetto, in Labour and the LibDems to call me coconut, if they are disposed to be envious and insulting.
Nuts.
Posted: 30th, June 2010 | In: Politicians Comments (4) | TrackBack | Permalink
