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0 pointsrich_sasha4y ago0 comments

But he wasn’t foreign, is my whole point. He was born in Britain. Or if not, passed the whole naturalisation process. Apparently he’s indistinguishable from other British people. Oh except for the “Somali heritage”.

I feel like the focus on “Somali” is meant to deflect any responsibility on domestic matters. This guy apparently was born, bred, schooled in the UK. Maybe he was radicalised by hardcore Somali-heritage islamists (if that’s a thing), but then it’s a failure of UK domestic policy for creating an environment, or cause, for them to organise, and UK domestic security for preventing this.

I’m not saying this is easy, rather that this is where the onus lies. But when we say “ah he’s Somali”, suddenly it’s someone else’s fault.

When a white British guy, with a name like Gary or Shaun stabs a teacher, say, you get stories from people who went to school with Gary or Shaun. He was an alright guy but a bit extreme when angry, maybe. Or no one would see it coming, he was a quiet guy. Why did no one see it coming? Ah well you can’t prevent everything.

But this guy is Somali, it’s their fault. I mean, ok he’s British but you know what I mean. Different British.

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2 comments · 2 top-level

chuckee4y ago

> But he wasn’t foreign, is my whole point. He was born in Britain. Or if not, passed the whole naturalisation process. Apparently he’s indistinguishable from other British people.

Naturalisation process as it currently stands. I believe the GP was alluding to the fact that that process could be changed. Though I agree the public should base their sentiment on, for example, per-capita homicide rates of various groups, and not anecdata. But graphs don't seem to move people the way stories do, and we are stuck with the public we have.

> When a white British guy, with a name like Gary or Shaun stabs a teacher, say, you get stories from people who went to school with Gary or Shaun. He was an alright guy but a bit extreme when angry, maybe. Or no one would see it coming, he was a quiet guy. Why did no one see it coming? Ah well you can’t prevent everything.

After Stephen Lawrence, a Black man, was murdered in the UK by whites, he was commemorated by, among other things, making 22 April "Stephen Lawrence Day": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Stephen_Lawrence

jahewson4y ago

You can’t simultaneously assert that the fact that he’s not foreign is the most important component while advocating for excluding this information from the news.

Was he British? <censored>.

Was he foreign? <censored>.

What in his upbringing could have had ties to extremism? <censored>.

Hmm. Great newspaper.

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