Racial discrimination

[JanB]

I've just been watching/listening to a woman saying on English television that the police would have searched for her son harder, but didn't, because he was black.

Rather amazed, is that how it is now?

If a white woman had said the same, what would the reaction be?

[TheOstrich]

Was that the mother of Richard Okorogheye, Jan, the lad who went missing from home two weeks ago and his body was found many miles away in Epping Forest?

The comment you refer to doesn't appear in the only BBC News interview with her I've seen.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/uk-56683582

I would suggest that if it was this lady, for all her on-screen composure, she is someone who is still in shock and denial at what has happened.

Yes, I know the police are not exactly the most blameless of organisations, but to be honest, I would put that accusation down as part of her grief.
The Met has been referred to the Police Watchdog over the handling of the case - but that is mandatory for all missing persons cases, according to this:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... apart.html

[Workingman]

From the very moment it was known of the disappearance of Richard Okorogheye his whereabouts have been under the microscope. His case has been front page news. We had records for CCTV footage, phone use, texts, social media messages and emails. The police asked for help, and those who could provide it gave it.

It is not a race thing unless you are a member of a race ready to throw the race card. We do have more than a few, add in a religion and we get many more.

A white mother or family would have hardly got on TV, it would have been peripheral, but the police response would have been the same.

[medsec222]

I saw part of the interview on Sky news and I had the same reaction as Jan. The poor boy's mum was obviously very shocked and grieving, as anyone would be after losing a son in tragic circumstances, but my initial thoughts were that the race card was being played once again.

[JanB]

Yes, it was on Sky news, not the beeb. We tend not to watch it.

[cromwell]

Rather amazed, is that how it is now?

How it is now is that we have built a grievance industry up in the UK. We have a lot of people claiming victim hood who aren't really victims, and people are encouraged to think that if anything bad has happened then someone (or more accurately someone else) is always to blame.

We have just had a report out on race relations in the UK led by a black man called Tony Sewell, which concluded that the UK is not particularly racist.
This poor lady had lost her son and is looking for someone to blame.

[Kaz]

It's a tricky one Jan. Normally the police would act straight away to look for someone considered to be vulnerable, rather than waiting for 48 hours as they generally would for a fit young adult. Richard had sickle cell, and hadn't taken his medication with him. They certainly act quickly here in Gloucestershire for vulnerable adults, such as older people with dementia.

So why they didn't look straight away I'm unsure. However there was a huge amount of posting and sharing for him on social media almost immediately - I shared such posts myself.

All in all, I doubt there was a racist element to this, more some prevarication over whether he was vulnerable or not. His mother is naturally looking for answers, and perhaps lashing out a little. Poor woman

[miasmum]

It was on BBC News at Ten last night. She said it was disgusting the way the police had failed to look for her son and take it seriously. She told them he had sickle cell and had left home without a coat or his medication and they still didn't take it seriously. The interviewer actually said "disgusting is a strong word" and she said she still felt it was disgusting the way he had been treated. I agree with you Kaz, the vulnerable element is the fact that should be being examined, not the colour of his skin.

How long did it take the police to take Corrie McKeague's disappearance seriously, how many other youngsters go missing after a night out and the police don't act until the next day? Because they are presumed drunk and missing. But the waste of time doesn't matter then, as long as they aren't Black and missing

I think it is really sad the way things are going.

[Suff]

I think it is really sad the way things are going.

It is not sad, it is dangerous.

People who live in communities which have coalesced together as non Ethnic, then think that the rest of the world is against them because they don't get 45% of representation in the whole country.

Ably assisted by the press.

As WM said, the police used every avenue at their disposal to find this boy. The problem is this woman, in her grief, is being racists against the rest of us and it is entirely unacceptable. Even in her grief.

What is more unacceptable is that she is not being taken to task about it and it is being passed off as acceptable to say this.

It isn't and it should never be so.

My sympathies are with her for the loss of her son. I have no sympathy whatsoever for her racism.

[miasmum]

I agree Suff