Groomed A National Scandal

[snughugs]

On Channel 4. I’ve been watching this. How come this isn’t getting the same coverage as Adolescence which is a fictional story or as some claim based on a young black boy from Croydon?

We need a National Inquiry, these are our children and it’s still happening.

I believe they didn’t take holistic action due to race. So not the individual arrests, i believe they were happy enough to do that but I believe they didn’t have an overarching strategy, as you would for any other organised crime, because of race.

No one wanted to sit in those meetings and say “guys, I’ve noticed, you know how we keep getting called to oaklands care home because the girls keep running away? Have you noticed they’re always in taxis from JB bead taxi firm? Have you noticed how a few of the drivers have rape accusations against home? Maybe we should really go after that?”

Exactly. Hence Reform

That goes without saying. We all know Reform are going to transform the country. I believe their MPs tirelessly campaign against VAWAG.

One of the girls said that one of the people that raped her was a police officer. That was in the film. I wonder if that is also part of the reason it was covered up too

That's your first mistake, watching that shite.

And you can't say this issue hasn't been talked about, how many headlines has there been over multiple years

Lucy Powell let slip the government's thinking about this issue on Question Time last week - it's a 'dog whistle' issue.

In other words, the rape of few thousand girls is a price we must pay for a better and more diverse society.

The ruling progressive elite can't make any connection between that stance and the results of the local council elections last week...

Probably involved!

Do you often post 'possibly nonsense' - but definitely racist - claims on social media?

Nope because I’m not a racist, Sikhs girls were also abused by these gangs anyway. This is precisely how these conversations were shut down in the first place by telling people they’re racists. Many people have contributed very interesting and good angles to this story that I’ve appreciated, yours is not.

Funny how the warriors for young white girls only come out when the rapist is brown.

Shame you don’t campaign for all girls without your own agenda.

Agree. And a few weeks before that, a grooming gang from Glasgow was sentenced- two white men and a white woman if I recall correctly. Don't recall a wave of outrage over that one, either 🙄

The children were related, it’s still absolutely horrendous. There’s been numerous paedophile rings abou, usually related to the victim. I know of one near me where the Grandparents brought their grandchildren into it.

This is different though. These are men seeking out vulnerable girls on a mass, organised scale. It’s not downplaying abuse in families (awful) but these are men seeking out mainly white, vulnerable, working class girls or sometimes young boys to exploit.

I’ve found others comment explaining the environment really interesting. I grew up somewhere that I never even saw a black person until I was 16 on a trip to London and may be the only Asians I knew had a shop, that was it though nothing else. I now have Black and Asian friends. I’m sorry you jumped on the “You’re a racist”.

Perhaps these Pakistani men are also racist? Many cultures do not treat women like we do. I once went on holiday to Turkey in my 20s it was the longest week ever. I got harassed every time I left the hotel. I ended up staying in the hotel and ordering room service, still didn’t stop the men working in the hotel. The harassment put me off going out and I was away with my Mother she hated it too. I would never travel to one of these places again. You know what as I woman I am allowed to say I can’t be bothered with that. I am also allowed to say keep away from young girls and not be called racist. They need to come down very hard on the men responsible so this never happens again and warn young girls to stay away and make them aware from age 11.

"warn young girls to stay away and make them aware from age 11"

Who are we telling young girls to stay away from exactly?

@snughugs These men were from the UK and were brought up in British culture. They were very much aware that what they were doing was wrong.

It's been explained to you already that there were many factors behind why this went on for so long. One was most definitely a fear of creating further racial tension.

However another factor was the fact that many people, including the police, social workers and care workers, were convinced that the girls were choosing what was happening and they weren't victims.

It's a great idea to warn girls about being approached by strangers. Who's looking out for girls in care homes or ones with alcoholic neglectful parents?

What coverage do you think it should have?

You are currently watching a new documentary series about it on a major mainstream TV station

There has been a well regarded BBC One drama made about it (Three Girls, back in 2017).

There was a BBC Panorama documentary about it in 2015 (Stolen Childhoods).

In 2004, Channel 4 screened Edge of The City about social workers in Bradford dealing with the victims of a a Pakistani grooming gang.

There have been multiple long form newspaper features over the past 15 years particularly in the Sunday Times. Julie Bindel has also written about it extensively over a decade including in the Observer.

So there has been quite a lot of attention and quite a lot of content produced about it.

Far more than on the issues raised by Adolescence and whatever you are talking about black boy on Croydon.

What exactly do you think is the right amount of attention?

This is different though. These are men seeking out vulnerable girls on a mass, organised scale. It’s not downplaying abuse in families (awful) but these are men seeking out mainly white, vulnerable, working class girls or sometimes young boys to exploit.

Yes. We all know it happens.

Doesn't change the fact that most grooming gangs in Britain are made up of white men, or the fact that there HAS been a National Enquiry.

It’s legally statutory rape. Anyone who works with children does safeguarding training and knows this. They all need to be hung out to dry.

When it comes to the rape and torture of children I’m all for more enquiries, more policing, more convictions. I don’t care what colour or religion the men are. Campaigners are saying it is ongoing and frankly I don’t trust this government or the last one for that matter to take it seriously.

I really don’t like the echoes of “it’s a dog whistle” I’m seeing here. Many girls were trafficked to areas where there were zero investigations apparently.

Yes this is what I don’t understand. You know the girl is underage, it’s straightforward what needs to be done. It’s a bloody crime.

Its still going on

And this isn’t new. Safeguarding training has been compulsory for more than 2 decades. I find it mind blowing.

The point of the National Inquiry is not to discover more abusers but to find and hold to account those (in positions of power) that covered it up.

While I completely agree it is hard to prosecute when the girls are generally only a year or so from 16 AND refuse to give evidence or cooperate with Police.
As I said upthread a family member was almost involved, she WAS 16 but has SN and The Police were involved as soon as they discovered she had a "nice MC" background. Even then it would have been hard to prosecute because she insisted that the man who attempted to do this was her boyfriend and he loved her. Her SN MAY have meant that she was unable to consent apparently which would have made prosecution easier but it was decided not to persue it as the SN were unclear on her medical record (because her Mum had refused to accept it)

I thought “statutory rape” wasn’t a thing in the UK?

I don’t think it’s automatically rape if one person is under 16, which would be the case if statutory rape was a crime. There’s obviously allowances for consensual activity between 15 year olds, or a 15 and a 16 year old, for example.

in this circumstance anyway I don’t think “statutory” rape is relevant. The age of the victims is not relevant, it should be a time whether they are 15 or 21. It’s coercion and rape of a vulnerable person, regardless of age.

The safeguarding training I have done is very clear that it is statutory rape and that a child under the age of consent cannot consent, even if they are willing. In these cases they were clearly coerced, which is also illegal, regardless of age.