Man sends banana to black mans table in Wetherspoons pub

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Caporegime
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My guess is that this was an easily provable case. Low hanging fruit.

If anyone should be blamed of wasting the police's time it should be the tool that sent the fruit in the first place. It started with him
Just to pick up on this particular point, the article included a statement from the police that the crime was solved due to "painstaking investigation" by a "lead detective".

That investigation may have included others working under them but this is not specified.

However if we take the police at their word, the investigation was far from trivial and tied up a lead detective officer for some time.

As said by others, when the police say they don't have resource to investigate theft, etc, then clearly there is only one conclusion to be drawn. The investigation of any act of racism is more important than the investigation of theft, etc.
 
Soldato
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I'd say I'm surprised by people trying to justify this

Are you? I saw the thread when it was just the OP and thought to myself "Well, if there's one forum where he'll find a bunch of apologists willing to either downplay it or straight out deny he did anything wrong, it's the OCUK forum."
 
Soldato
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Just to pick up on this particular point, the article included a statement from the police that the crime was solved due to "painstaking investigation" by a "lead detective".

I read that bit too, had a think about it, and concluded that he probably means they checked who owned the card that was used for the payment.
 
Soldato
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I feel like that it's obviously wrong and was pretty likely to be racist abuse sending a banana to a table where there was a black guy. I'm not sure how they can prove there was definite intent there though, although it's obviously very likely. I feel that the Police spent a fair bit of time on this because of how high profile this kind of stuff is at the moment, but it's not really a proportionate use of resources compared to crimes where's there's been material loss or physical harm that don't get this level of investigation and coverage this got. I've been the victim of theft and never seen a Police officer, there's been no investigation as far as I can tell, just a crime recorded.
 
Soldato
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Discriminating based on sexuality or disability is also illegal, and there is no history of slavery involved there.

As a society, we have decided - probably to some extent due to pressure groups/lobbying - that some characteristics are "protected", and some aren't.

Therefore you can call someone a ginger ****** all day long, and even have a sign in your shop saying "We don't serve gingers", but you can't do the same to a gay person or a black person.

The question was essentially why is there a particular sensitivity about discriminating against someone based on skin colour as a physical characteristic and not about hand size. The obvious point is that there is a long history of the very worst type of discrimination (including literal slavery) based on skin colour. Presumably if people with small hands start experiencing discrimination there might be a case for them to be added to the other protected characteristics in UK law. List at: https://www.gov.uk/discrimination-your-rights

  • age
  • gender reassignment
  • being married or in a civil partnership
  • being pregnant or on maternity leave
  • disability
  • race including colour, nationality, ethnic or national origin
  • religion or belief
  • sex
  • sexual orientation
 
Soldato
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Just to pick up on this particular point, the article included a statement from the police that the crime was solved due to "painstaking investigation" by a "lead detective".

That investigation may have included others working under them but this is not specified.

However if we take the police at their word, the investigation was far from trivial and tied up a lead detective officer for some time.

As said by others, when the police say they don't have resource to investigate theft, etc, then clearly there is only one conclusion to be drawn. The investigation of any act of racism is more important than the investigation of theft, etc.

The "lead officer" is just the officer who was allocated the investigation.

I read that bit too, had a think about it, and concluded that he probably means they checked who owned the card that was used for the payment.

There would have been a bit more to it than that but essentially, yes.
 
Soldato
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Regardless of the courts and the law...

Is there anyone here who thinks it's acceptable to send a black man an unsolicited banana?
 
Soldato
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What a waste of time and resources.

This is why people don't take the phrase "hate crime" seriously, it's just so overused it's become trivialised.

Which is presumably why the man who sent the banana was fined. They have to recoup the costs of him being an imbecile. If he would've engaged his brain for a moment he would've saved the police time and money and not bothered a stranger.
 
Soldato
OP
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Regardless of the courts and the law...

Is there anyone here who thinks it's acceptable to send a black man an unsolicited banana?


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Caporegime
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I never said he was, not even once. You are only saying it as a deflection tactic to hold an opinion no civilised society seems to agree with you on. If there were political hate groups that existed and there was a history of hatred and violence against short people, which would be a threat to short people today, Im am pretty sure they would be included in the protected group of people

But race as a characteristic is protected. Not just black people. What history of oppression has there been against Norwegians or the Dutch?

What long history of oppression is there against people who identify is asexual? They're protected.
 
Associate
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Casual, systemic racism alive and well on OCUK forums. :(

Posters falling over themselves to trivialise and minimise the act or condemn the investigation as a waste of police time or simply state that people have thicker skin...

Drunk or not, the bloke knew what he was doing and that it was a racist, no amount of mental gymnastics can explain it away or justify it.

Its exactly this sort of casual racism and the lengths some will go to justify it which demonstrates that not all lives are equal in our society and that needs to change.

/Salsa
 
Soldato
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Could you explain how sending a banana to someone is oppressing them?

This isn't about discrimination, oppression or exploitation. It's nothing more than name calling.
No, you already understand what it represents. I don't agree with your interpretation and I'm not going to change your attitude over the internet. But you are part of the problem and thankfully the number of people that see this is rising. This is what needs to happen, acts like these need to be challenged and people need to understand dismissive attitudes do not help either.
What long history of oppression is there against people who identify is asexual? They're protected.
Your implication is that every sexuality needs to undergo the same discrimination as the worst cases in order to qualify for protection. We don't need every race to be severely oppressed in order to protect all races, we're smarter than that.
 
Soldato
OP
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Casual, systemic racism alive and well on OCUK forums. :(

Its exactly this sort of casual racism and the lengths some will go to justify it which demonstrates that not all lives are equal in our society and that needs to change.

/Salsa

You are naive if you think humans will all be treated equally one day. Dream on.
 
Soldato
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Casual, systemic racism alive and well on OCUK forums. :(

Posters falling over themselves to trivialise and minimise the act or condemn the investigation as a waste of police time or simply state that people have thicker skin...

Drunk or not, the bloke knew what he was doing and that it was a racist, no amount of mental gymnastics can explain it away or justify it.

Its exactly this sort of casual racism and the lengths some will go to justify it which demonstrates that not all lives are equal in our society and that needs to change.

/Salsa

You're making broad accusations of racism without addressing anything specific, accusations of racism are offensive. If you're going to make them then address posts specifically by quoting them and back up why you think that post is racist.
 
Soldato
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People harping on about police resources are thick as mince.

If something is obvious and provable in an instant then the police should definitely act on it.

There is a difference between this and trying to trawl cctv to find someone with a covered face who stole a bike.
 
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