I really want to bring some light to a piece written by the wonderful Cllr Sahdaish Pall on LinkedIn, it reads as below:
I want to ask a difficult question and some may not approve!
Are we angry because a woman was raped and assaulted by people outside of our community? Why is it that when a domestic homicide or rape happens within our own homes, by a partner or husband, the response from community leaders and activists looks so different compared to when it’s a person outside of our community?
Is it because deep down, we see women as ours, and believe we have ownership of them? That we can do what we want behind closed doors, but how dare someone from the outside violate them?
When political parties chant “save our daughters” and point the finger at foreigners, why do they fall silent when women are murdered by their husbands and partners, who, in the majority, are white British men?
This week, when a Sikh sister was raped, the outrage has been loud and yes, that is the right response, we should all be angry and we should all be concerned for her wellbeing.
But when Paramjit Kaur was brutally murdered earlier this year in the very same borough, the silence was deafening.
So I want to ask everyone reading this:
Are you angry about violence against women and girls because you believe all women should be protected?
Or are you only angry when the perpetrator is from outside your community?
“WE can, but YOU CAN’T” is not justice. It’s hypocrisy, and it leaves women unprotected.
There’s a lot of soul searching that needs to be done.
My Response
I’m angry and saddened by every needless death whether it’s Charlie Kirk, the young Ukrainian woman on the train in the US , Stephen Lawrence, a Hindu, Sikh, Muslim , Jew, White Brit or any innocent soul whose life is brutally taken from them .
The silence from minority communities around such crimes when it’s one of their own , doing it to one if their own is often because of the fact the fact right use it to say “ You see the ethnics bring all their ways with them. Multi culturalism has failed”. That’s is perhaps why communities stay silent. It’s probably why some community leaders kept quiet or covered up the grooming.
Anyone found guilty of trying to subvert justice by covering up should have been and should still be locked up.
The far right is creating a siege mentality- a hostile environment. It is undermining unity at a time when we need to be united against foreign threats
In the current climate unfortunately, the silence might only get louder .
