The “B” word continues its reign of terror. Across the pond, the tally thus far:

  • One serious injury
  • One gurudwara in Kent set on fire
  • Three attacks on mosques in east London and Bristol
  • Four arson attacks on mosques (Leeds, Belvedere, Telford and Birkenhead)
  • 19 windows smashed at the mosque in east London
  • Bottles thrown at the windows of a gurudwara in south London
  • Arson in Southall, reported at the home of an Asian family

Then there was the poor Asian woman from Middlesex who, on the day of the bombings, recognized the unmistakable scent of petroleum while “liquid” dripped down her door. Remind me to add “attempted arson” to the bullet points above.

Commander Brian Paddick, a senior spokesperson for the police had this to say:

“We have had a number of incidents of hate crime, racially and religiously motivated offences, and we take these types of offences very, very seriously,” he told reporters.

So the good guys are on the case. But whose case are they on? When I first posted about vandalized mosques and gurudwaras, a fast and furious comment thread decayed in to race-baiting madness. The flames have been put out, but a remaining comment makes me shake my head.

We don’t actually know that the gurudwara attack was fomented by white people, do we? For all we know it could have been Hindus, but this board is full of remarks about British and American skinheads, etc., which simply assume the racial identity of the evil-doers.

Right. Except I don’t have to assume Jack when I repeatedly read facts like this:

The same day, five white men were arrested after bottles were thrown at the windows of a gurdwara in south London.

Maybe they were white Hindus. One can never be sure.

Look, it’s the hatred, stupid. I don’t give a rodent’s posterior who is committing these atrocious crimes against houses of worship and homes of innocents; everyone who is guilty of this misguided vigilantism sucks. This blog see no color and we don’t go out of our way to bash “the man”. We do, however, go out of our way to bash any man who bashes us or our peeps.

:+:

The Sikh community requested “greater protection” from the police after a gurudwara was torched on Friday. The Muslim Council of Great Britain reported that Muslims, especially those who live or work in London, felt “fear and apprehension”.

I respect the actions that the Police are taking, from “reassurance patrols” in affected areas to President of the Association of Chief Police Officers Chris Fox worrying out loud that “low-level” incidents weren’t being reported.

“We encourage everyone to report this type of obnoxious and dangerous behaviour, from whatever quarter, for full police investigation because we are determined there will be a very robust enforcement response to it.

Fox’s words ring so true to me:

“It is absolutely crucial that there should be no reaction against any section of the community. That would simply play into the hands of the murderers,” he said.

In other words, be a true loyalist to your country; don’t hurt the innocent and make a mockery of the principles that created your nation’s greatness in the first place.