Somalian Descent

[YearsSinceISawYou]

AIBU to wonder why the papers are referring to the man arrested for killing David Amess as a British Muslim of Somalian descent.

Surely, if he is British-that's all we need to know. Why do we need to know about his line of descent?

[Tal45]

Is there a reason we shouldn't know? As long as it's not lies then I don't see the issue.

[Porcupineintherough]

Well they need to narrow it down after the initial description of "African looking". Otherwise the EDL might target the wrong community.

[YearsSinceISawYou]

@Tal45

Just wondering why it's important. I could understand if they were looking for him, as it would form part of the description.

[AlfonsoTheDinosaur]

Because Somalis often describe themselves as being a separate race from other Africans. And if the suspect had been of Nigerian origin or of Irish origin, they would have been described as such.

[WoodchipNightmares]

Probably part of it is "not a convert to Islam"

[Sparklfairy]

I think it's the press' way of shit stirring alluding to a motive. i.e. if he'd been white we'd assume white supremacist etc.

[MatildaIThink]

[quote YearsSinceISawYou]@Tal45

Just wondering why it's important. I could understand if they were looking for him, as it would form part of the description.[/quote]
On that basis why tell us he was a Muslim, or even a man, why not just confirm "a human has been arrested"? There is no issue with providing factually accurate information.

[YearsSinceISawYou]

Well, I suppose they said Muslim because they are saying it might be a radical Islam attack but people of all nationalities are Muslim.

[MiddlesexGirl]

It's some kind of identifier - along with sex, age . Did we need to know he is a man? Likely it would be said if he was white too.

[scatterolight]

Because someone's background is (usually) relevant to their motive. And people want to know what on earth would motivate someone to stab an MP to death. Somalia is well known for violence, instability and extremism. If this guy is recently arrived or if his family/cultural background is important to him this gives us a very good understanding of why he did it.

[fanjosaysi]

I can see both sides. I think there's a tendency to announce race or religion if the victim is different from that of the perpetrator

But at the same time they didn't need to. There's no proven link between his ethnicity and the killing, and it definitely can store people up more

[YearsSinceISawYou]

Ok. Now I know and will ponder no more on the matter

[mygenericusername]

Because the Met have confirmed it was a terrorist attack. There is a need for vigilance.

It has been heavily reported that it was a man of African heritage. It was immediately assumed he was an illegal immigrant.

Would you rather tell the truth about his heritage or would you prefer every innocent black and Asian person to be looked at with suspicion?

[Ponoka7]

You don't think that we need to know were terror attack might be originating from and who might need to be on watch lists? Why should the public be kept in the dark? Background is what has shapes us.

[Ledition]

When you read "terrorist incident" you're naturally curious about the potential ideology behind it. Saying he's of Somali descent clears that bit of curiosity up. People want to know "why" things happen, what potential motive there may be. Where a terrorist is from is important to know.

[MissAmbrosia]

"Would you rather tell the truth about his heritage or would you prefer every innocent black and Asian person to be looked at with suspicion?"

Why would you look at other people with suspicion?

[Ponoka7]

On a different note, if African countries could get sporting teams together, we'd barely get a look in. Look at the top 'French/British/Spanish/German' sportspeople.

[mygenericusername]

@MissAmbrosia

Because it’s been happening since 9/11. It’s human nature unfortunately.

To this day my Indian BIL gets stopped at the airport gate more than my white sister. He’s a 40 year old GP for Christ sake and Hindu not Muslim yet he is still packaged up and victimised with the extremists based on his look.

We need to be honest about where the terror cells are coming from. It’s not racism. It’s realism.

This man was british. His heritage is Somalian. Somalia is a dangerous, violent country with extremist views. There is absolutely nothing wrong with knowing that.

[GoWalkabout]

I think the reporting of crime does somewhat need to be clear about incidences and patterns of crime in different communities within a multicultural society. For instance, the grooming and sexual abuse of mainly white British girls by mainly Asian men in Rotherham, that over 1,200 women (of all nationalities) were reportedly sexually assaulted during the 2015–16 public New Year's Eve's celebrations in Germany, in most cases by men of non-European origin, or that over 75% of the names on a list of drink driving arrests in my local area were Eastern European names. I think if it can't be talked about it can't be tackled. In those first two cases journalists were reluctant to report the facts and it obscured what happened. Today people will be wondering and worrying about the motives, and need to understand why and how this happened. Extremism and terrorism within certain groups (far right, white supremacist, Islamic) is something we all need protection from, and to do that need to be able to discuss it.

[lollipoprainbow]

Does it matter ?? A poor man has been stabbed to death.

[silentpool]

If they were saying of African appearance, well then I'd prefer they were specific. Africa is a big place with lots of different cultures in it. I'm an African and I have white skin. So you see how it could get confusing.

[Jinkiesfredlll]

@mygenericusername .... Indian isn't a religion... you can be both Indian and Muslim. Muslim is for the followers of Islam. Your post just seems a bit ignorant using the terms so interchangabley ?

[SaskiaRembrandt]

@Ponoka7

On a different note, if African countries could get sporting teams together, we'd barely get a look in. Look at the top 'French/British/Spanish/German' sportspeople.

African countries already have sports teams.

[GCAcademic]

[quote Jinkiesfredlll]@mygenericusername .... Indian isn't a religion... you can be both Indian and Muslim. Muslim is for the followers of Islam. Your post just seems a bit ignorant using the terms so interchangabley ?[/quote]
Er, she didn't use the terms interchangeably. Go back and read what she wrote.

[puddlebubble]

ffs. If a bomb went off in Canary Wharf tomorrow, and it was a white male, it would be his background included, is he Irish, Russian, mental health issues, known to police, there is a similar thread on here at the moment, these are descriptors that are absolutely KEY.