Suella Braverman vows to stamp out grooming gangs behind organised child sex abuse

[IwantToRetire]

The Home Secretary, writing in The Mail on Sunday, pledges to 'track down and punish the grooming gangs with the same sense of mission and determination' used to pursue the murderers of Stephen Lawrence, the black British teenager who was killed in a racially motivated attack at a bus stop in South London in 1993.

Ms Braverman, who was born in Harrow, in North-West London, to a Kenyan mother and Mauritian father, writes: 'The time has come to make right one of the greatest injustices seen in Britain in modern times. The systematic rape, exploitation and abuse of young girls by organised gangs of older men – and the disgraceful failure of the authorities to act despite ample evidence – is a stain on our country.'

A Buddhist, Ms Braverman describes the 'perpetrators' as 'groups of men, almost all British-Pakistani, who hold cultural attitudes completely incompatible with British values'.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-11928629/SUELLA-BRAVERMAN-mission-ensure-really-no-hiding-place-gangs-grooming-young-girls.html

I am not sure if this is just the DM take on what she said, or if it accurately reflects what she said.

If she did say this and not talk about how men of all cultures, given the opportunity, have and will exploit young women, then she is letting down all the women who are exploited.

Braverman is implying they are more repugnant by focusing on British Pakistani men and their different values.

I think we should go after all rapists equally and have no tolerance of any victim blaming nonsense from any alleged rapists. Stop using it as a defence. That would be fabulous and i would def be behind Braverman if she did that.

I doubt she will though as she probably perceives feminism as "woke nonsense".

It's you that says bizarre things to minimise and deny this problem.

Some have been dealt with.

But nowhere near on the scale that they should have been.

Walsall is very different to Rotherham. I went there once. Rotherham is up north.

Wahahahahahah
Suggest you advanced search me. I'm the very opposite of defending rapists. I just think we should be equal opportunities in prosecuting them, rather than giving white rapists a pass in the courts while targeting brown ones in the media

Braverman is implying they are more repugnant by focusing on British Pakistani men and their different values

Which different values are they then exactly? Can you spell them out?

You went there once. Fucking hilarious. Did you go to Bolton and Rotherham once too? Did you manage to find them on the map and get the right train?

So you will agree that the Home Secretary was wrong to single out one group, particularly as it seems likely she was motivated by the selection meeting this evening more than achieving anything for the victims.

There have been some racist comments on this thread. I don't recall @AdamRyan defending them, though. Perhaps you have confused them for another poster?

@Jonei Do you think the 25% cuts to the Ministry of Justice budget, along with cuts to other vital services might have something to do with that?

I think one of the problems may be that some people on this thread are in a bubble that doesn’t experience racism, and hasn’t experienced the ramped up racism that has followed the Home Secretary’s recent comments. They don’t see the effect that racism is having on not just Pakistani heritage but any people (perceived) south Asian heritage who now have to carry the weight of this insinuation and the danger it carries for them based on the actions of a tiny minority of their population someone worked it out as 0.04% of British Pakistanis but I haven’t checked the maths.)

And probably, some of the people here don’t give a shit about that.

Problem is, inflammatory, unprepared comments like the Home Secretary’s won’t actually help. What will help is working with communities, not alienating them. Focusing on integration. Focusing on education of women and children as well as men. Having policing which believes the victims rather than calling them “slags”. Having a solid social services system which can support victims and their families. Etc.

Making an offhand, controversial, poorly worded statement achieves none of that.

What’s problematic is focusing on one group at the (implicit) exclusion of others.

Nobody including Suella is excluding others. But as I’ve said so many times on this thread, she made particular reference to the cases in Rotherham Rochdale etc because as we all know, they were left for decades and it is absolutely the case that people in positions to have done something didn’t because of the race and religion of the perpetrators, as well as the class of many of the girls. It’s a specific and known situation that is absolutely ok to talk about sometimes, separate to the wider issues with child abuse. In those areas it was specifically Pakistani Muslim men, many who were not born here and immigrated here from a different culture with even worse views and laws around women and girls. To deny any of this is wrong. And no, again as I’ve said already, not all of the abusers have been convicted as police said last year, they expect there are more victims and more abusers in those same locations. All part of the same grooming gangs. One poor victim was in the supermarket when her abuser she thought was in jail walked around the corner. The fact some here think that all child abusers operate the same and should have identical policies and ways of dealing with it including preventing it shows either complete ignorance or wilful denial because of some bizarre issue with mentioning race. Nobody here or in government has ever suggested that only Pakistani Muslim men commit child abuse or groom. The article was discussing specific cases of national concern. How the fuck are we still having to repeat this over and over so far into the conversation. I’m a Maori woman and I know our culture is different to white culture and with regards to health, crime and some other areas, people working in those areas need to understand those differences.

Trains go to these places. Well that's exciting and something they have in common, but as we know Rotherham is quite different. Rotherham is up north.

I think one of the problems may be that some people on this thread are in a bubble that doesn’t experience racism

Not me so don’t even start.

I’m adding that one to my list as well, thanks @jgw1 - a justice system that recognises rape and convicts rapists seriously instead of either ignoring cases or giving them community service….

No. I don't agree with you. It's about time more effort is spent on these particular groups, bearing in mind how lacking it has been in the past. Although across the board, more effort on both, whilst making sure those previously neglected are not any more. Such as these groups.

And, for the millionth time. I don't care about the selection meeting that you keep harping on about. I don't care about the perceived motivation. I only care that the problem is dealt with.

I believe that your point, that you have brought up over and over again in this thread, has already been addressed a number of times. If only you could be bothered to read it.

You're starting to sound like a scratched record.

Not me either.

I know. I used to lived there. But thanks for pointing it out. Bolton is up North too btw.

And the rest of the post?

Sorry, my point to @Whaeanui and @beastlyslumber whether we agree or not that all grooming gangs need to be focused on equally, can we agree that Braverman’s handling of this is not likely to get the results we need?

No, I already said I support SB in this effort and I very much hope she gets results. I'm keeping an open mind.

No there is no way to spot a groomer, really. But the culture from which many come includes punishment rape (i.e. the rape of women - preferably unmarried girls - of a family which has offended a family of greater status/rape of women who have gone outside the boundary norms) and also the idea that women who are with a man who is not their husband/father are available and can be raped (as was the young woman on a bus in Delhi - she was raped and sexually assaulted with an iron pole, which killed her though she died several days later - her 'crime' was being out with her boyfriend/fiance/work colleague approved by her family visiting a cinema and then catching a (private) bus home). The idea that some women can be raped with impunity extends to Untouchable girls in India (several horrible cases including rape of girls as young as 4) and also to women who are debt slaves (raped by their - or their husband's - owner). Such attitudes brought here result in particularly working-class girls in care being seen as available and to be mistreated with impunity - as indeed turned out to be the case until Alex Jay published a report on what was going on under social workers' and the police' noses. This is the problem which Braverman wants addressing. She is probably using it as clickbait for the election but also may actually care about what happens to girls in care; why should she not care? My DH says that when he has been in deep trouble he got help from Conservative councillors/MPs not from Labour (don't want to go into details but his problem was one a Labour MP would be expected to have been interested in and helped with). White gangs doing the same - if they are, they may be doing something different - do not negate the problem of immigrant men with different cultural norms acting out those norms in our towns and cities (they just add to the hell).

Me too.

Ok @beastlyslumber I hope you’re right. Unfortunately having worked in a similar field, division and alienation closes doors and leads to more things happening “out of view” to the huge detriment of the victims. That’s my worry and it’s unfortunately a valid one. The victims (of all grooming gangs) need to be the priority, but this kind of inflammatory, divisive comment of Braverman’s risks pushing the victims of British Pakistani grooming gangs more out of sight.

I hope that despite the cuts to policing and social services that - whether they were at fault when dealing with these gangs or not - they have learnt from these cases and can work to support victims and prosecute grooming gangs.