Brown guilty of racial harassment
Discussion
No, not Winky 
Story here
Coconut insult councillor guilty of racial harassment
A black councillor who called an Asian colleague a “coconut” during a council debate has been found guilty of racially aggravated harassment.
By Richard Savill
Published: 7:59AM BST 29 Jun 2010
Shirley Brown, 48, a Liberal Democrat, used the term to describe a Conservative opponent, Jay Jethwa, who backed spending cuts for ethnic minority projects at a Bristol City Council meeting last year.
The jibe is used to accuse someone of betraying their heritage by pandering to 'white' opinion, as a coconut is white in the middle but brown on the outside, Bristol magistrates heard.
Mrs Jethwa, 42, said she did not hear the term used during the meeting but was alerted by a fellow councillor, and she later watched it on the council's webcast.
The alleged victim, who moved to England from India 24 years ago, wept in the witness box as she recalled the “deeply upsetting” moment she saw the footage.
She said: “I heard her say there was a word in her community for people like me and that word is coconut.
“I was completely shocked and I was numb. I had to rewind the footage to see if it was only me she had directed the comment to.
She added: “I was very, very upset and distressed. The word is doubly insulting as it insults both me and the white population.
“She added that 'the water was either worth drinking or throwing away'. I consider this racist and saw her comments to mean that my comments were worth throwing out.”
Mrs Brown, who denied racially aggravated harassment, used the term after Mrs Jethwa proposed to cut funding to the city's Legacy Commission, which was set up in 2007 to educate people on the abolition of the slave trade two centuries ago.
Mrs Jethwa told the meeting on Feb 24 last year that spending pounds 750,000 of tax payers’ money “righting the wrongs of slavery” did not make sense.
The Conservative Party later lodged a formal complaint to the council.
A member of the public then complained to Avon and Somerset police who began a criminal investigation.
In July last year, Mrs Brown was suspended for a month by the council's Standards Committee for using ''offensive and abusive language'.
But this was overturned on appeal by the Adjudication Panel for England Tribunal Service and Mrs Brown was allowed to continue in her post.
Ian Jackson, prosecuting, told the court the debate became “somewhat heated” when discussions turned to the funding of the legacy commission.
He said: “Jay Jethwa is a councillor of Asian origin and is the Conservative spokesman for the Conservative party for the commission.
“Shirley Brown was speaking in opposition to the funding cuts when she was heard to say: 'In our culture we have a word for you, which, as many in this city would understand, is a coconut. And at the end of the day I just look at you as that. And the water's either worth throwing away or drinking'.
Mr Jackson said that when Mrs Jethwa saw the webcam footage she felt she was portrayed as “some sort of traitor” who was “leaving her culture and siding with someone she shouldn't side with.”
Mrs Brown, who is Bristol City Council's first black Liberal Democrat councillor, is responsible for the ethnically diverse ward of Ashley
Link here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/78592...
I have to say I am glad she was prosecuted, BBC news this morning seemed to be suggesting that because Mrs Brown apologised that there should not be a case, but I am sure that if someone called Shirley Brown a golliwog etc she'd be demanding punishment to the full extent of the law, even if there was an apology from the "assailant".
Would also be interesting to see what exactly the "Slave education" was teaching, I doubt very much that it was entirely truthful or factual.
Story here
Coconut insult councillor guilty of racial harassment
A black councillor who called an Asian colleague a “coconut” during a council debate has been found guilty of racially aggravated harassment.
By Richard Savill
Published: 7:59AM BST 29 Jun 2010
Shirley Brown, 48, a Liberal Democrat, used the term to describe a Conservative opponent, Jay Jethwa, who backed spending cuts for ethnic minority projects at a Bristol City Council meeting last year.
The jibe is used to accuse someone of betraying their heritage by pandering to 'white' opinion, as a coconut is white in the middle but brown on the outside, Bristol magistrates heard.
Mrs Jethwa, 42, said she did not hear the term used during the meeting but was alerted by a fellow councillor, and she later watched it on the council's webcast.
The alleged victim, who moved to England from India 24 years ago, wept in the witness box as she recalled the “deeply upsetting” moment she saw the footage.
She said: “I heard her say there was a word in her community for people like me and that word is coconut.
“I was completely shocked and I was numb. I had to rewind the footage to see if it was only me she had directed the comment to.
She added: “I was very, very upset and distressed. The word is doubly insulting as it insults both me and the white population.
“She added that 'the water was either worth drinking or throwing away'. I consider this racist and saw her comments to mean that my comments were worth throwing out.”
Mrs Brown, who denied racially aggravated harassment, used the term after Mrs Jethwa proposed to cut funding to the city's Legacy Commission, which was set up in 2007 to educate people on the abolition of the slave trade two centuries ago.
Mrs Jethwa told the meeting on Feb 24 last year that spending pounds 750,000 of tax payers’ money “righting the wrongs of slavery” did not make sense.
The Conservative Party later lodged a formal complaint to the council.
A member of the public then complained to Avon and Somerset police who began a criminal investigation.
In July last year, Mrs Brown was suspended for a month by the council's Standards Committee for using ''offensive and abusive language'.
But this was overturned on appeal by the Adjudication Panel for England Tribunal Service and Mrs Brown was allowed to continue in her post.
Ian Jackson, prosecuting, told the court the debate became “somewhat heated” when discussions turned to the funding of the legacy commission.
He said: “Jay Jethwa is a councillor of Asian origin and is the Conservative spokesman for the Conservative party for the commission.
“Shirley Brown was speaking in opposition to the funding cuts when she was heard to say: 'In our culture we have a word for you, which, as many in this city would understand, is a coconut. And at the end of the day I just look at you as that. And the water's either worth throwing away or drinking'.
Mr Jackson said that when Mrs Jethwa saw the webcam footage she felt she was portrayed as “some sort of traitor” who was “leaving her culture and siding with someone she shouldn't side with.”
Mrs Brown, who is Bristol City Council's first black Liberal Democrat councillor, is responsible for the ethnically diverse ward of Ashley
Link here
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/78592...
I have to say I am glad she was prosecuted, BBC news this morning seemed to be suggesting that because Mrs Brown apologised that there should not be a case, but I am sure that if someone called Shirley Brown a golliwog etc she'd be demanding punishment to the full extent of the law, even if there was an apology from the "assailant".
Would also be interesting to see what exactly the "Slave education" was teaching, I doubt very much that it was entirely truthful or factual.
bonsai said:
LD1Racing said:
Are they brought up wrapped in cotton wool or something?
I think some of it gets stuck to their clothes when they're out in the fields picking it. Oh dear, I didn't mean 'they'. I meant the sort of people who get offended by name-calling, black, white or other. But you knew that anyway, right?I saw the wretched dim witted woman on the very sympathetic BBC this morning. She is an absolutely typical politically correct sponging leftie who couldn't grasp why the Asian councillor was calling for cuts to spending on Black and Asian projects. The reason, love, as was well pointed out in the council chamber, is because such projects are a total bloody waste of bloody money we don't bloody well have.
I found it very amusing to see her skewered on the end of her own politically correct spear.
They then went on to interview the organiser of an "Asian" day centre. Yeesh, these people make me seeth...
I found it very amusing to see her skewered on the end of her own politically correct spear.
They then went on to interview the organiser of an "Asian" day centre. Yeesh, these people make me seeth...
Edited by Andy Zarse on Tuesday 29th June 09:17
LD1Racing said:
People should just harden the f
k up. Pathetic. Are they brought up wrapped in cotton wool or something?
You only need to look at the fat bint that is standing for Labour leadership to know that the country is at risk of being fooked over by political correct loonies. k up. Pathetic. Are they brought up wrapped in cotton wool or something?I am fat, if someone calls me fat is that racist?
Andy Zarse said:
I saw the wretched dim witted woman on the very sympathetic BBC this morning. She is an absolutely typical politically correct sponging leftie who couldn't grasp why the Asian councillor was calling for cuts to spending on Black and Asian projects. The reason, love, as was well pointed out in the council chamber, is because such projects are a total bloody waste of bloody money we don't bloody well have.
I found it very amusing to see her skewered on the end of her own politically correct spear.
They then went on to interview the organiser of an "Asian" day centre. Yeesh, these people make me seeth...
750k to educated people on the slave trade?!!I found it very amusing to see her skewered on the end of her own politically correct spear.
They then went on to interview the organiser of an "Asian" day centre. Yeesh, these people make me seeth...
Edited by Andy Zarse on Tuesday 29th June 09:17
I learnt that in school, it was called a history class.
Andy Zarse said:
They then went on to interview the organiser of an "Asian" day centre. Yeesh, these people make me seeth...
We run a number of projects for Adults and Children in a town where 98% of the population are white, everytime someone checks on us they have a go at us for not working with minority groups and tell us we need to be inclusive. The same people visit a local group that is ran by Asians and is situated where most of the towns Asian community lives, from what they tell us they are never asked about how they promote their services to white people.
elster said:
Andy Zarse said:
I saw the wretched dim witted woman on the very sympathetic BBC this morning. She is an absolutely typical politically correct sponging leftie who couldn't grasp why the Asian councillor was calling for cuts to spending on Black and Asian projects. The reason, love, as was well pointed out in the council chamber, is because such projects are a total bloody waste of bloody money we don't bloody well have.
I found it very amusing to see her skewered on the end of her own politically correct spear.
They then went on to interview the organiser of an "Asian" day centre. Yeesh, these people make me seeth...
750k to educated people on the slave trade?!!I found it very amusing to see her skewered on the end of her own politically correct spear.
They then went on to interview the organiser of an "Asian" day centre. Yeesh, these people make me seeth...
Edited by Andy Zarse on Tuesday 29th June 09:17
I learnt that in school, it was called a history class.
I believe the term used was 'coconut', now correct me if I'm wrong but that can't be an insult, to fit into an Anglo-saxon country [white] any person who is Black, Brown, Yellow or any other colour other than white, should at heart be 'white' in there inner self, it used to be called fitting in in my day.
A note from History, Idi Amin came to power on the back of this same inter-racial tension, the Ugandan Africans hated the Ugandan Asians as they too were too close to the whiteman, Miss Brown is guilty of stirring up the same sort of tension on a minor but still significant scale. Her pleading is worthless as a result. A bad person is a bad person, black, white, pink, blue, red or gold.
A note from History, Idi Amin came to power on the back of this same inter-racial tension, the Ugandan Africans hated the Ugandan Asians as they too were too close to the whiteman, Miss Brown is guilty of stirring up the same sort of tension on a minor but still significant scale. Her pleading is worthless as a result. A bad person is a bad person, black, white, pink, blue, red or gold.
Andy Zarse said:
It seems to me generally that kids today couldn't give a monkeys what colour their friends are, and you're right, it simply needs to be covered in history lessons rather than stuffing it down people's throats at vast expense.
Definately, when I was in primary school there was a big mix of kids from all backgrounds mixing together and we were all good friends, we hit secondary school and political ideals were informing us that the whiteman is evil, that brown people are different, that religion is a reason to not like someone else.....needless to say some people listened to it and so friendships ended and people identified themselves as an ethnic background rather than an individual. Ironically, trying to force-feed people anti-racism information created racism where it did not exist
bonsai said:
LD1Racing said:
Are they brought up wrapped in cotton wool or something?
I think some of it gets stuck to their clothes when they're out in the fields picking it.
Some kids at school said I was like a banana... peeled easily and mushy inside... no, wait, yellow on the outside, white on the inside because I'm Chinese yet lived in England all my life and have a "mixed" culture (the spores get everywhere).
Gassing Station | News, Politics & Economics | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff