(Former British Home Secretary) Jack Straw: Some White Girls Are 'Easy Meat' For Abuse

[Turborama]

Source: BBC

Former home secretary Jack Straw has said he believes some Pakistani men in Britain see white girls as "easy meat" for sexual abuse.

Mr Straw was speaking after two Asian men who abused teenage girls in Derby were given indeterminate jail terms.

The Blackburn MP said there was a "specific problem" in some areas where men of Pakistani heritage "target vulnerable white girls".

He called on the Pakistani community to be "more open" about the problem.

Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-derbyshire-12141603

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More details and video report (including Jack Straw making his comments) at the link.

[pettypace]

1. Build a wall

That'll keep em out.

[whathehell]

2. Aw gee...

and I thought it was just us racist "murkans" with these issues.:eyes:

[Very_Boring_Name]

3. This is really really dissapointing. I've always loved Jack Straw

I watched him debate Nick Griffon of the British National Party (the British neo-nazi party, which actually control a number of seats in the European Parliament, as well as at the local level). He was really articulate and seemed to be genuinely non-racist, arguing very strongly against the BNP's racist policies. I think this incident was probably a case of a very very poor choice of words, rather than inherent racism.

[western mass]

4. Heard this story on the BBC this morning...

The unconcealed race-baiting was shocking. A throwback to the days in the US where you heard stories about "those negroes want our white women."

[harvey007]

5. What Straw said is true

They do tend to be more niave and vulnerable and less worldly because of their protected upbringing. No one taught them about the big, bad world out there.

It happens in the U.S. as well. It's why Midwestern girls are often targeted and exploited in this way.

http://www.heart-intl.net/HEART/080105/JuvenileProstitutionMinn.pdf

[Turborama]

8. Are you just going by the headline of the OP?

Because that's what it looks like.

[harvey007]

9. Re-read the article

He was referring to a specific problem of one group of men targeting girls. It is not racist to point out racial or class or political or gender or age factors in criminal victimization. In some situations it may be white men preying on Asian girls, or whatever. Predatory criminals choose victims who are easy prey. It's why boiler room scam operations target the elderly in Iowa.

[Turborama]

10. Huh?

"They do tend to be more niave and vulnerable and less worldly because of their protected upbringing. No one taught them about the big, bad world out there."

Nothing there about "one group of men targeting girls".

[Turborama]

6. Row Over 'Pakistanis Groom White Girls' Claim (Straw's comments "perpetuated racist attitudes")

4:10pm UK, Saturday January 08, 2011
Damien Pearse and Huw Borland, Sky News Online

=snip=

His comments have been attacked by fellow Labour MPs. One, Birmingham Perry Barr representative Khalid Mahmood, said Mr Straw's comments "perpetuated racist attitudes".

=snip=

Leicester East MP Keith Vaz questioned why the ex-home secretary had not spoken out previously.

Mr Vaz, who chairs the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, said he did not believe there was a "cultural problem".

He told Sky News: "I understand what Jack Straw is saying, but I disagree. I think we should look at this issue primarily as one of criminality. I don't think we can make that jump necessarily to it being a cultural problem.

This is about criminals behaving in a way against young women - they need to be prosecuted and they need to go to jail."

More, including video reports: http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Politics/Jack-Straw-Claims-Some-Pakistani-Men-Are-Targeting-White-Girls-For-Sexual-Abuse-After-Two-Jailed/Article/201101215888624?lpos=Politics_Carousel_Region_1&lid=ARTICLE_15888624_Jack_Straw_Claims_Some_Pakistani_Men_Are_Targeting_White_Girls_For_Sexual_Abuse_After_Two_Jailed

It's going to be difficult for him to live down headlines like this Guardian one: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/08/jack-straw-white-girls-easy-meat">White girls seen as 'easy meat' by Pakistani rapists, says Jack Straw

This graphic from Sky gives some perspective...

[JCMach1]

12. Can't believe people are defending acts of paedophelia crying racism...

:grr:

Abuse of children IS abuse of children! Unfortunately, this has become a cultural (anti-social) phenomenon in British South Asian communities...

[Turborama]

13. Nobody is "defending acts of paedophilia"

However, attributing it to someone's race is racism

[JCMach1]

16. I still think Straw is right in this case...

Mr Straw said: "Pakistanis, let's be clear, are not the only people who commit sexual offences, and overwhelmingly the sex offenders' wings of prisons are full of white sex offenders.

"But there is a specific problem which involves Pakistani heritage men... who target vulnerable young white girls.

"We need to get the Pakistani community to think much more clearly about why this is going on and to be more open about the problems that are leading to a number of Pakistani heritage men thinking it is OK to target white girls in this way."

Mr Straw added: "These young men are in a western society, in any event, they act like any other young men, they're fizzing and popping with testosterone, they want some outlet for that, but Pakistani heritage girls are off-limits and they are expected to marry a Pakistani girl from Pakistan, typically... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12142177

THIS IS LARGELY TRUE CONSIDERING DATING, ETC. IN PAKISTANI SOCIETY...

IF IT IS TRUE, DOES THAT MEAN IT'S RACIST???

[Turborama]

7. Chief executive of the UK's largest children's charity disagrees with Straw

White girls seen as 'easy meat' by Pakistani rapists, says Jack Straw
Row erupts after former home secretary says grooming for sexual abuse is a problem among some Pakistani men

David Batty and agencies
guardian.co.uk, Saturday January 08 2011 13.05 GMT

=snip=

The Barnardo's chief executive, Martin Narey, said the case was more about vulnerable children of all races who were at risk from abuse. Street grooming was "probably happening in most towns and cities" and was not confined to the Pakistani community.

"I certainly don't think this is a Pakistani thing. My staff would say that there is an over-representation of people from minority ethnic groups – Afghans, people from Arabic nations – but it's not just one nation," said Narey.

Retired detective chief superintendent Max McLean, who led a previous police investigation into sexual exploitation involving the grooming and trafficking of young girls in Leeds, questioned whether it was a cultural problem.

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/08/jack-straw-white-girls-easy-meat

Bernado's website :http://www.barnardos.org.uk/

[JCMach1]

11. The actual cases are really horrible and disgusting... unfortunately Jack Straw is right here

The Times article I read over the weekend was horrific:


...It said the grooming usually began with older groups of men befriending girls aged 11 to 16 they meet on the street.

The victim was initially treated as a girlfriend and showered with gifts and attention.

But the relationship quickly becomes more "sinister" as the abuser plies the child with drinks and drugs before effectively pimping her out to friends and associates.

The worst cases involve girls being moved around the country to be repeatedly abused... "These girls are being passed around and used as meat. To stop this type of crime, you need to start everyone talking about it but everyone's been too scared to address the ethnicity factor," Chief Inspector Alan Edwards said.

"No one wants to stand up and say that Pakistani guys in some parts of the country are recruiting young white girls and passing them around their relatives for sex, but we need to stop being worried about the racial complication," he said.

In 17 court cases since 1997 where men were prosecuted, 53 of the 56 people found guilty were Asian, 50 of them Muslim, while just three were white, according to The Times.

Five Asian men were jailed in November 2010 for 32 years for sexual offences against girls aged between 12 and 16 in Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

Judge Peter Kelson said the men were "sexual predators"... http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/uk/Pakistani-men-grooming-British-girls-for-sex/articleshow/7223824.cms

[Turborama]

14. The Daily Mail is Britain's newspaper version of Faux news.

And it's quite telling that The Times of India are using it as their source of information about the activities of Pakistani men in Britain.

A question about right-wing British sources: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=437x1302

[JCMach1]

15. The Times (of London not India) had virtually the same plus some in-depth pieces

Unfortunately, The Times is a pay site. I read the print version while boarding a flight.

There was some good perspective from a Labour MP (whose name I can't recall) who did some good work protecting muslim women in midlands communities and how this led her to uncover some of the abuse going-on across race. The constituents came to her with the horrific stories.

Yes, sometimes things are racist... no doubt. If anything, there are elements of racial hatred being perpetrated (in this case) against young white girls by people of a different ethnicity.

[Turborama]

17. I think I'll go with the chief executive of the largest children's charity in Britain on this one

From the Guardian article above...

"The Barnardo's chief executive, Martin Narey, said the case was more about vulnerable children of all races who were at risk from abuse. Street grooming was "probably happening in most towns and cities" and was not confined to the Pakistani community."

And the lady who played a large part in bringing the case in question forward:

But other experts in the field believe it is wrong to suggest that child sexual exploitation is solely perpetrated by Asian men against white girls.

Sheila Taylor runs Safe and Sound Derby, a group that was instrumental in persuading girls to give evidence against Siddique and Liaqat.

"This model of street-grooming is going on in many places. It is just that the recent spate of prosecutions against Asian men in the north of England and Midlands makes it look like it is concentrated in these communities," she said.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12140641

A comment from that BBC article I think we can all agree on, "There is a growing feeling this is a problem that needs more vigorous attention from the (British) government."

And this from the right wing broadsheet The Telegraph is quite informative:

Sadly for the racists, the figures just do not support any attempt to paint British Muslims and Asians as sex predators on a national scale. Asians are, in fact, under-represented among sex offenders. As at June 2009, there were 7,021 British men in prison for sex crimes, of whom only 234 were Asian. That is 3.3 per cent, rather less than the proportion of Asians in the population. And a 2008 study by Malcolm Cowburn of Sheffield Hallam University found that jailed sex criminals from ethnic minorities were less likely to have abused children than white sex offenders.

Haras Rafique, of the Centri counter-extremism think tank, says: “There is a problem, a massive problem, but I don’t think it’s confined to Pakistani communities. It only appears to be a bigger problem with immigrants because immigrants are more visible.”

And not just because of their skin colour. Asians do not commit more sex crimes, but they do, perhaps, commit different sorts of sex crimes. White child abusers are more likely to find and groom their victims in private, on the internet. The evidence suggests that Asian abusers are more likely to find and groom their victims in public, on the street.

Straw says young men “fizzing and popping with testosterone” are taking up with white children because “Pakistani-heritage girls are off limits and they are expected to marry a Pakistani girl from Pakistan”. Rafique says the former Home Secretary is living in the 1970s: “These guys are just as happy to groom Asian girls if they can get them,” he says. “It’s just that the parents of Asian girls tend to keep a closer eye on them.” Quite a lot of those convicted are also in their 30s.

Full article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/8248347/Are-white-girls-really-easy-meat.html

[JCMach1]

18. Relative size doesn't mean that it isn't a problem... also it seems that political correctness has

played a role in even getting information out in the affected communities.

i.e. Pakistani/South-Asian communities that need to recognize there is an issue.
i.e. possible victims.

There are huge issues concerning race and class in Britain. That is undeniable. However, the issue of race shouldn't cloud our view if there is in-fact a race-based problem (i.e. targeting of young, white girls). That said, never misunderestimate the ability of the press to sensationalize something... especially in Britain.

Maybe because I have 12 and 15yo daughters, but the articles absolutely shocked me when I read them Thursday evening.

What Jack Straw said shouldn't deter from the fact that there were men who were put on trial and convicted of these acts...