School governors told to ‘dismiss’ grooming gangs concerns

We live in a world where the truth has become inconvenient to any preferred narrative.
The left needs to accept that they frequently deny and minimise violence, including sexual violence and abuse, from ethnic minorities and the right needs to acknowledge that they frequently deny and minimise racism.

And then there’s the issue of ethnicity. Early whistleblowers, including MP Ann Cryer, former police officer Maggie Oliver and journalists Andrew Norfolk and Julie Bindel, were dismissed as Islamophobic and racist and, in 2004, a Channel 4 documentary about Asian men grooming girls in Bradford was postponed over fears that it could lead to race riots. There is evidence that many officials feared being accused of racism: Jay found that councillors had fretted that discussion of the issue could harm “community cohesion”; Telford’s inquiry also identified a “nervousness about race”. A vast amount of evidence was ignored and there have been many claims of cover-ups."

An earlier poster helpfully included a link ^^ confirming that fear of being called racist / inflaming racist tensions did indeed play a significant role in allowing the abuse to continue for years. This appears to continue to be playing out. And?

Err, if experience in working with vulnerable groups is the standard for understanding them, then we know that isn't a high bar given the monumental incompetence involved by the authorities in Rotherham.

@Howseitgoin

What is your experience of growing up and working with vulnerable groups in Rotherham?

This.

No one said fear of racism was the only factor in the so called “grooming gangs” phenomenon, which is still happening today, it’s not simply historical. Many of us have been discussing this for years here. And it was a factor, whatever biased sources posters manage to dig up.

Exactly.

Fear whilst certainly a factor wasn't the only reason.

"Why did officials fail to address grooming gangs properly?
There are a range of explanations, from lack of understanding and incompetence to snobbery, misogyny and fear of inflaming racial tensions.
Many of the victims came from care homes. Some police officers referred to them as “slags”, and to their abuse as a “lifestyle choice"; the issue was given a low priority. Prosecutors saw victims as poor witnesses. Social workers in Rotherham were often “overwhelmed”, Jay found. Another inquiry found that Rotherham Council was “in denial”.
And then there’s the issue of ethnicity. Early whistleblowers, including MP Ann Cryer, former police officer Maggie Oliver and journalists Andrew Norfolk and Julie Bindel, were dismissed as Islamophobic and racist and, in 2004, a Channel 4 documentary about Asian men grooming girls in Bradford was postponed over fears that it could lead to race riots. There is evidence that many officials feared being accused of racism: Jay found that councillors had fretted that discussion of the issue could harm “community cohesion”; Telford’s inquiry also identified a “nervousness about race”. A vast amount of evidence was ignored and there have been many claims of cover-ups."

https://theweek.com/crime/the-grooming-gangs-scandal-explained

"No one thinks only Pakistani men rape girls."

Lol, some one might need to let Reform, Tommy Robinson & their enablers in on the 'news'. But good luck with that given their incentives direct them otherwise.

BINGO!
The point you are spectacularly missing is no one knows because the data isn't clear.

The complaint is not that only certain ethnic groups are committing these offences.

The complaint is that only certain ethnic groups are having their offences covered up and called "disinformation".

There's systemic racism going on, and it's very, very deep-rooted.

With a particularly nasty feedback loop - racism in one direction from one side is causing increased racism in the other direction from the other side. And round and round we go.

The state is going to have to defuse this, and tackling its own racism is going to be key to it.

But so many seem to want keep wanting to make the same mistakes - "I think Bad people are being more racist in this direction, so as a Good person I'm going to be even more racist in the other direction than I already have been."

Great work, guys.

I agree that the majority of the police and social workers in Rotherham, who betrayed 1,400 children who suffered gang rape and torture, would have been white British men and women.

This is also relevant. Fears of being accused of being racist, or of damaging social cohesion between local communities, or of weakening their relationship with key figures in Rotherham's Muslim community were significant contributing factors to the Police, Social Workers and other public officials choosing to look the other way.

1,400 girls. Raped and tortured by gangs of predominately British Pakistani men. That was the price they were willing to pay to protect social cohesion in Rotherham and to keep their jobs safe.

You are right they should also be in jail.

No one thinks only Pakistani men rape girls.

The issue is the pressure on professionals to ignore it or cover it up.

The issue is the police being complicit in it. Social services facilitating it. Councillors vouching for their perpetrating family members.

The issue is anyone daring to speak about it being put a risk of facing criminal changes. Including the victims themselves.

That is what makes it so endemic. Useful idiots wanting to widen the scope to all grooming and rapes instead of allowing the victims to get justice for their very specific experience.

It literally states the research is lacking in the article. It doesn’t disprove anything being stated here.

I grew up in Rotherham. I worked in various roles with very vulnerable cohorts in Rotherham for a number of years.

I had to leave because, even after the news became international common knowledge, we still all had to pretend we didn’t know about the clear risk that protecting some men’s feelings has.

We were STILL being called racist for trying to be proactive instead of reactive. In around the early 2000’s, these men started targeting girls from the Roma community which made it easier for some professionals to ignore.

And here we are, still arguing about whether we can talk about an issue that is endemic in some pockets of a culture because the public would rather allow poor girls to be raped than to upset the feelings of some men.

Listen here, stating the facts that pimping is racially& ethnically universal isn't minimising anything other than lies by racists.

What is being minimised here is the utter incompetence by the government services that facilitated the abuse. It's the British system that allowed criminals to escape accountability & perpetuate their crimes. So if you want to lay the blame at ethnicity of criminals don't forget to include the ethnicity of the criminals who looked the other way.

Let's be clear about what is being minimised here:

The Rotherham Grooming (child rape & torture) Gangs scandal involved an estimated 1,400 children between 1997 and 2013. The rape victims were mostly vulnerable white girls aged between 10-14 at the start of the abuse. The child gang rapists were predominantly British-Pakistani men. This is one town in England. Just one town.

Official reports, including those by Prof Alexis Jay and Baroness Casey, found systemic failures, cover-ups, and a total dereliction of duty by the police and social workers. Very young, vulnerable girls who were the victims of gang rape, were disbelieved, or ignored, or casually dismissed as 'child prostitutes' making poor life choices by the people whose job was to protect them.

It was so very shocking, to so many people, because we expected paedophile rapists to need to hide their evil behaviour from all their family, colleagues and friends. Here we saw so many examples of brothers, cousins & uncles, people working at the same taxi firm or fast food outlet, all forming groups to gang rape children.

Something was, and is, very wrong.

What Trump speech and Queen story did they lie about?

Th whole point tho is to exploit the 'distraction'. These bad actors don't care about abuse of women rather how they can use it for their own political agenda.

I appreciate that there was an element of racial/ethnic 'coverup' in Rotherham. But that doesn't justify racial/ethnic scapegoating. Two wrongs don't make a right.

It seems badly worded, of course. But there has to be a way of distinguishing between a real potential threat and the latest version of the “foreign looking men in a white van tried to grab a girl just outside school” scare story. Not least because kids (and adults too) need to be made aware of the real, present risks of abuse and not wholly distracted by the foreign grooming gangs story.

'Sacred caste' Oh please. Kids aren't that stupid.
All that needs to be said is criminality knows no limits on race/ethnicity/sex & comes from all walks of life. See Rose West.

I'm going to direct your wilful misunderstanding to my earlier post in which I said "a focus on Pakistani Muslim men erases white perps". No one is claiming that white men don't rape or groom. I mean, Epstein FFS.

At the same time, the BBC is not a reliable source any more.

You can look up the research & examine it yourself you know. Not that the fact that pimps are also white isn't self evident.