Suspected anti-semite arrested for Tube Bible readings
You might consider a man reading aloud from the Bible as he stands on the Tube to be a little unwell. The man was filmed on the Northern Line leaning into a Jewish child and his father to inform them Jews are in league with the Devil. The child appeared unaffected by the loon and a man who we can assume to his father gave a wry smile, placed an arm around the boy and didn’t respond.
We don’t yet know the name of the rambling fool taking time out from shouting at pigeons in the precinct. But he has been arrested on suspicion of committing a racially aggravated public order offence.
In the video, three people not immediately involved do react. Chris Atkins films the nastiness. A man not seen on camera takes issue with the tosser and is threatened. A woman, we know to be Asma Shuweikh, also confronts him.
“I would have loved more people to come up and say something, because if everyone did, I do not think it would have escalated in the way that it did,” says Mrs Shuweikh. Too true. Too few people get involved. But in their defence the man appears to be troubled and aggressive. Is it worth the risk? But she was brave. Says Mrs Shuweikh: “Being a mother-of-two, I know what it’s like to be in that situation and I would want someone to help if I was in that situation.”
“The Muslim woman didn’t take any shit from him and really, really took him to task, very firmly and persistently,” Atkins said. “In this day and age we are told how intolerant everyone is and all religions hate each other and there you had a Muslim woman sticking up for some Jewish children.”
Why wouldn’t she? What we’re ‘told’ is clearly nonsense. Who’s doing the telling and what’s their agenda?
Any assumption that Muslim woman (she’s wearing a hijab; the Jews are wearing yamulkas; the suspects is wearing a hoodie – headgear and identity: discuss ) would not help is wrong, just is the assumption that a black man (the suspect is) represents all black men. People are accountable for their own actions. The headgear, skin tones and positioning help us to identify the people in the picture, but they don’t explain any of their actions.
Let’s not see people’s identity first and foremost and put them in a lane. See the person, not the hat.
Posted: 24th, November 2019 | In: News Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
