In the toxic discussions around Muslim integration, the ‘fear of being called racist’ has been used during the Trojan Horse Affair and at the same time as the excuse for failures to act on child sexual exploitation. Prof. John Holmwood asks whether this fear even exists, or are deeper racist politics at play?
There has been a steady drumbeat, in right-wing and liberal media alike, about the failure of British Muslims to integrate. This drumbeat warns of self-segregated lives insulated from mainstream values. This is often fed by official reports that are occasioned by media “scares” and used to align public policy with media-driven concerns highlighting threats to public safety.
Among the most potent of such concerns are those involving children and young people. On the one hand, there is the claimed risk of “radicalisation” and involvement in “Islamist” terrorism to which some young people may be vulnerable (because, we are told, of a deficit in “British values”).
On the other hand, some Muslim men allegedly pose a threat to white girls through group-based sexual exploitation, or the activities of “grooming gangs” as recently set out in Baroness Casey’s recent rapid review although the available data doesn’t warrant that conclusion.
Both issues generate a discourse directed at different responsible authorities – whether local government, social workers, or police – and their failure to act because of what they claim to be “a fear of being thought ‘racist’”.
Read the full article on Middle East Eye.
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