Reporting Racism...

January

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum or if it's not allowed... lock it if so, just want to get a bit of input into the process...

My next door neighbour was the unlucky victim of racial abuse tonight, by a teenager in our locality... I won't go into details just in case, but the poor woman knocked on my door earlier in distress and asked for my help.

I rang our local Garda station direct and explained what happened, the lady on the phone then put me through to the Community Garda and I spoke to an officer on the phone re same, she also spoke to my neighbour (who speaks broken English, hence asking me for help) and got a description of the lad who verbally (and nearly physically) abused her. They said they'd "try to get a car around" (in fairness I know this particular station is a busy station so I'm not belittling them in any way) to get a proper I.D. on the lad. They haven't been so far, and the lad has since moved on. They took both our phone numbers and addresses to follow up and gave me the name of the Garda who would follow it up.

I'm just wondering what happens now? I'm not so sure it will be easy for my neighbour to I.D. this lad again as she does not know a lot of people from the area (and this guy is local)? What steps will the Garda take if any??

kub

Don't worry, it sounds to me like you made an official report, they will follow up.

Eru

It really depends on what the lad actually said and done. Without offending people, the reality is that we are legally entitled to be racist. (and no, being racist is not automatically incitement to hatred). Racism or prejudices only comes into it if it is in addition to or as a reason for someone committing a crime such as for example, gay bashing.

If he threatened her then its a common or minor assault which is a summons offence and would require attending court but your post suggests there was no actual witnesses so a prosecution is unlikely. If he was plain old abusive or insulting such as "Go home you ****ing black bitch" thats a public order offence which really requires the person to be caught at the time.

A car calling around is probable the most that can happen unless there aspects of the case that you didn't mention.

(I am in no way condoning gay bashing, racism or anything of the sort, merely answering the OP)

January

Eru wrote: »

It really depends on what the lad actually said and done. Without offending people, the reality is that we are legally entitled to be racist. (and no, being racist is not automatically incitement to hatred). Racism or prejudices only comes into it if it is in addition to or as a reason for someone committing a crime such as for example, gay bashing.

If he threatened her then its a common or minor assault which is a summons offence and would require attending court but your post suggests there was no actual witnesses so a prosecution is unlikely. If he was plain old abusive or insulting such as "Go home you ****ing black bitch" thats a public order offence which really requires the person to be caught at the time.

A car calling around is probable the most that can happen unless there aspects of the case that you didn't mention.

(I am in no way condoning gay bashing, racism or anything of the sort, merely answering the OP)

Thanks for that, it's basically an on going issue in the local lads tormenting the neighbours, she stuck her head out the window and asked him to stop doing something (kicking a football repeatedly at the window) and he told her to "eff off you effing n" (except, properly, y'know?)... there's a few other things too. The Community Garda is calling up tonight to have a chat anyway and we'll see what happens. To be honest I know it's just going to be a case of maybe having a word with the lad, as the only witnesses were his mates and none of them are going to go against him.

Thanks for the info.

Eru

January wrote: »

Thanks for that, it's basically an on going issue in the local lads tormenting the neighbours, she stuck her head out the window and asked him to stop doing something (kicking a football repeatedly at the window) and he told her to "eff off you effing n" (except, properly, y'know?)... there's a few other things too. The Community Garda is calling up tonight to have a chat anyway and we'll see what happens. To be honest I know it's just going to be a case of maybe having a word with the lad, as the only witnesses were his mates and none of them are going to go against him.

Thanks for the info.

For ongoing issues the community Garda has more options allright, some of which being to speak with the lad, his parents and something within the asbo act maybe.

mzgoody2shoes23

Hey all,

We've had a similiar experience and I am wondering if anyone has any experiences of reporting this and if it even made any difference.

I have a beautiful little foster brother who happens to be black and living with a white irish family. He gets into all the normal squabbles a normal 8 year old does in the area however there is one neighbour has came out of her house several times and called him racist names. She most recently called him 'a black prick'. She is not the kind of person that being approached and spoken to (which I what I would normally do if I had an issue with someone). We have already tried that but she has just proven herself to be uneducated trash who just screams and shouts.

I would ring the Gardai and have something done about it if I thought that it would make any difference. What she is doing is about as anti-social as it gets.

Any advice or ideas?

TylerIE

mzgoody2shoes23 wrote: »

Hey all,

We've had a similiar experience and I am wondering if anyone has any experiences of reporting this and if it even made any difference.

I have a beautiful little foster brother who happens to be black and living with a white irish family. He gets into all the normal squabbles a normal 8 year old does in the area however there is one neighbour has came out of her house several times and called him racist names. She most recently called him 'a black prick'. She is not the kind of person that being approached and spoken to (which I what I would normally do if I had an issue with someone). We have already tried that but she has just proven herself to be uneducated trash who just screams and shouts.

I would ring the Gardai and have something done about it if I thought that it would make any difference. What she is doing is about as anti-social as it gets.

Any advice or ideas?

Seeing as ye have tried the softly softly approach.

No harm ringing your local Garda station and asking if there is a community guard, when s/hes in and asking to leave a message/ or to make an appointment. All they can probably do is talk to the lady, as there may not have been any offences committed, but they can advise you on same when you give the exact circumstances.

Just bear in mind that while this can often diffuse things, it may cause her to change her focus from being racially abusive to generally abusive, and could end up being the start of a more long running issue.

Eru

mzgoody2shoes23 wrote: »

Hey all,there is one neighbour has came out of her house several times and called him racist names. She most recently called him 'a black prick'.

Is calling someone a black prick anymore insulting or offensive that just being called a prick? If a black man shouted at me "You ****ing white bastard" would I do more annoyed by that than "You ****ing bastard"? Not really, someone is still shouting abuse at me.

I realise stating a colour is insensitive as it may well be making the child more aware of his differences to his family so please dont think Im dismissing it but its not a crime. shouting abuse at a child in the middle of the street is very much a crime, if it can be prosecuted depends completely on the exact details.

mzgoody2shoes23

My post is about an adult racially attacking a child which is extremely different. I feel that is is even worse for a adult to verbally attack a child who is obviously unable to verbally attack back. This child is the only black child in the area and already has to put up with kids calling him names never mind fully grown adults coming out and joining in.

Still, if anyone has any experiences of having to deal with this then I'd like to hear. As I have said before- talking to her makes no difference as she has little communication skills besides screaming and shouting. I reckon I will speak to one of the community Gardai if this happens again and see if legally there is anything that can be done about it. We shouldn't just have to put up with that kind of behaviour.

jill_valentine

Eru wrote: »

Is calling someone a black prick anymore insulting or offensive that just being called a prick? If a black man shouted at me "You ****ing white bastard" would I do more annoyed by that than "You ****ing bastard"? Not really, someone is still shouting abuse at me.

I would say it is. It's intended to make the abuse just that little bit more pointed and personal, and the implied undertone is clearly apparent.

To run with your scenario, if somebody who wasn't white were to call me a white bitch or something, the context and circumstances would make the intent of it clear.

Eru

jill_valentine wrote: »

I would say it is. It's intended to make the abuse just that little bit more pointed and personal, and the implied undertone is clearly apparent.

To run with your scenario, if somebody who wasn't white were to call me a white bitch or something, the context and circumstances would make the intent of it clear.

So what your saying is that adding an accurate description increases how offended you get? If he called you a stupid woman / man does that make it worse than just being called stupid?

You shouldn't get offended by the truthful part of a statement but instead consider it proof of that persons low intellect.

Eru

mzgoody2shoes23 wrote: »

My post is about an adult racially attacking a child which is extremely different. I feel that is is even worse for a adult to verbally attack a child who is obviously unable to verbally attack back. This child is the only black child in the area and already has to put up with kids calling him names never mind fully grown adults coming out and joining in.

Still, if anyone has any experiences of having to deal with this then I'd like to hear. As I have said before- talking to her makes no difference as she has little communication skills besides screaming and shouting. I reckon I will speak to one of the community Gardai if this happens again and see if legally there is anything that can be done about it. We shouldn't just have to put up with that kind of behaviour.

Did you read my answer at all?

the_syco

mzgoody2shoes23 wrote: »

there is one neighbour has came out of her house several times and called him racist names. She most recently called him 'a black prick'.

Eru wrote: »

So what your saying is that adding an accurate description increases how offended you get?

It sounds like she has gone through the usual slurs such as gollywóg, niggér, etc, and as it's not taken it's desired effect, she has started with the "black prick". I'm sure she'll go onto more colourful racial slurs given time. It may be an idea to inform the community officer what names the crazy woman likes to call the black child.

jill_valentine

Eru wrote: »

So what your saying is that adding an accurate description increases how offended you get?

They're not using the description just because it's accurate. They're using the description in the manner they are to suggest that it is, in itself, derogatory. It's a different angle of attack, and one that is instinctively and deliberately more provocative than it might be otherwise.

If he called you a stupid woman / man does that make it worse than just being called stupid?

In this case, I think it would probably depend on the tone, tbh.