Thread: This is ridiculous.

What a waste of resources this type of thing is.

Grandmother charged with racism after telling off gang

A grandmother and retired policewoman who told a gang of rowdy students to "go home" was charged with racial abuse after two members of the group of Asian origin complained.



By Richard Alleyne
Published: 2:18PM BST 24 Jul 2008


Jo Calvert-Mindell, 51, a liberal democrat councillor, said she just meant for them to go back to their parents but the students interpreted the remark as being racist and reported it to police.
She was then taken to the police station and charged with using racially aggravated threatening words and behaviour.


The case hung over her for three months until this week when it was finally dropped for lack of evidence.
"The last thing I am is a racist," said the former social worker and community volunteer who has reported the incident to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.
"I have a totally inclusive attitude to different races and cultures -- I don't care if you are black, white, green or a Martian from the moon.
"The authorities today are so sensitive to being criticised for being racist themselves that any claims of racism just raises their antennae, instead of using common sense."
The incident happened last November when Cllr Calvert-Mindell, of the Hales Place estate, Canterbury, was woken three times by students from the nearby University of Kent who were drunkenly shouting, and kicking bins.
Fed up of months of sleeplessness, she put her clothes to tell the eight students to be quiet.
She said: "I shouted to them: "Why can't you go back to where you come from and make some noise there -- I bet your families and neighbours wouldn't put up with it.
"Why should we have to put up with it -- you go back to where you came from and we live here all the time -- you don't care about us and do just as you like.
"All I meant was that they would not do that at their family homes wherever they had come from in England." Four days later Cllr Calvert-Mindell submitted a lengthy report on the incident, thinking she was the one who had been a victim.
But in March she found herself under arrest her first ever brush with the law after two members of the group of Asian origin complained that she had been racist towards them.
On April 30 she was officially charged with the offence and on May 14 she appeared in the dock of Folkestone Magistrates Court where she denied one charge of using racially aggravated threatening words or behaviour under section 5 of the Public Order Act.
The charge hung over Cllr Calvert-Mindell until the Crown Prosecution Service decided to drop the case last week admitting there was little chance of conviction.
Cllr Calvert-Mindell, who served as a PC in Canterbury for 11 years and is the vice chairman of the National Organisation of Residents Associations and volunteers with MacMillan cancer care, said: "It is symbolic of the modern police force - and of society in general - that someone can make a claim such as this and the full force of the state swings into action."
The Crown Prosecution Service said the case was being dropped.
Assistant District Crown Prosecutor Carol Chastney said: "The CPS keeps each case under continuous review and following a further review we decided to discontinue the proceedings against the defendant as there is no longer sufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction."
However a spokesman for Kent Police refused to apologise for the way the councillor was treated.
Superintendent Chris Hogben said: "An allegation was made that was fully investigated by officers in East Kent."

Grandmother charged with racism after telling off gang - Telegraph

Ain't that the shits, Fucking world is going PC crazy and it is surely getting to be a fucked up world.

Think of all the time wasted by the Police and the CPS and the Courts. This must have cost tens of thousands of pounds FOR NOTHING.

Originally Posted by Dug

Martian from the moon.

Martians from the moon? This is the only thing I can find that is the least bit funny the rest is a shamful, sad statement on society these days.

Originally Posted by blackgang

Ain't that the shits, Fucking world is going PC crazy and it is surely getting to be a fucked up world.

Yea, and the UK seems to have to have taken the lead in this. What a dubious distinction. Everytime I make a trip home I hear ordinary folk groaning about the totally crass stupidity of those running the show and yet things seem to slide from bad to worse.

Indeed, what is up with the UK lately?

Bring back Dixon of Dock Green!

Originally Posted by mediamanbkk

Bring back Dixon of Dock Green!

Carefull. Calling someone Green could be construed as racism.

I bet RC is in total agreement that she should have been charged.

F'n chinks

I'm not sure about the charge but she's a fucking idiot. Saying to a bunch of Asians "Why can't you go back to where you come from" is at the very least spectacularly stupid. 'Home' is obviously open to interpretation and it's not as if racists don't say exactly the same thing.

Originally Posted by Dan

A grandmother and retired policewoman who told a gang of rowdy students to "go home" was charged with racial abuse after two members of the group of Asian origin complained.

Fooking stupid granny should of gone back inside and made them all a nice plate of sandwiches and lime cordial like most grandmothers do!

She'll know better next time and not to raise her voice to these young well behaved lads.

I didn't say she shouldn't tell them off, so I'm not sure what your post is about. She made a statement the most obvious interpretation of which is racist so she's a fucking idiot. Anyone with half a brain would - or at least should - know how those words could be used or understood. If I heard someone say to some Asian kids "Go back where you came from" I'd assume the speaker was racist. It's a completely reasonable inference to draw. The students probably were - as pretty much all students are - obnoxious little tits but that makes no difference to her obvious lack of intelligence.

PC gone too far again.

Dont you just love the way, other people tell you, what you really meant when making a statement.

Sounds just like some of our esteemed friends here on TD.

The deciding point (at least in Oz) is the way the comment is taken rather than the way it is meant. Pretty ridiculous I know, but what it comes down to in the end is how the comment could be reasonably be interpreted by the recipient and not the intent. For example;-- if a bloke tells a woman she has nice tits and she fancies him, then its a compliment. But if another bloke says the same thing and the woman deems it as unwanted attention, then it becomes unacceptable sexual harassment. Its all become a bit like the mating habits of the black widow spider, -- one wrong move and you are lunch!

it seems like there are a lot of threatened, middle aged (and older...and significantly older) white men on this thread who are crying the blues about how the world has passed them by.

but before they stroke out over this 'outrage', they might want to actually read the article.....the case was dropped for lack of evidence.

Originally Posted by astasinim

I bet RC is in total agreement that she should have been charged.

really, is that what you'd bet? how much would you bet?

and just out of curiosity, do you spend a lot of time thinking about me....because i hadn't posted on this thread until now.

Originally Posted by raycarey

....because i hadn't posted on this thread until now.

I knew you would though.

Originally Posted by Panda

The deciding point (at least in Oz) is the way the comment is taken rather than the way it is meant. Pretty ridiculous I know, but what it comes down to in the end is how the comment could be reasonably be interpreted by the recipient and not the intent. For example;-- if a bloke tells a woman she has nice tits and she fancies him, then its a compliment. But if another bloke says the same thing and the woman deems it as unwanted attention, then it becomes unacceptable sexual harassment. Its all become a bit like the mating habits of the black widow spider, -- one wrong move and you are lunch!

Thats how I understand it to be also. I can understand why these rules were put into place originally, but, im sure most sane people would agree, that things have got out of control regarding issues such as this.

Originally Posted by raycarey

but before they stroke out over this 'outrage', they might want to actually read the article.....the case was dropped for lack of evidence.

That's the fucking POINT you dropkick.
Everybody's so wound up and sensitive about a possible 'racial slur' that huge resources are wasted on ridiculous issues like this.

She made a comment which could clearly be understood as racist. She was investigated for this. If you have a problem with this then you must think that people shouldn't be investigated for making statements which appear racist. Do you? Should it be possible for people to go around making any statements and claims, not matter how vile they are? I don't think so and neither, it seems, do you. You seemed quite happy in this thread https://teakdoor.com/issues/54334-about-time.html to cheer on people being charged for racism. And before you claim that the difference is that he was found guilty and she had the charges dropped, that's an inevitable consequence of having a legal system. If you can construct a legal system which guarantees that only the guilty are charged, let's hear it. Of course, one explanation for your sense of injustice comes from the fact that she's white and Hassan Butt's not; maybe you're not a disgusting little racist but it's hard to avoid that conclusion.

Originally Posted by Whiteshiva

I don't understand what is so racist about the comment she made.

If it had been, say German, French or Scandinavian students making a racket, and then being told to go back to where they came from, would that have been racist?

The issue is that - no matter what she actually did/didn't intend by it - the inference is that these Asian guys didn't belong and she wouldn't have said it to German, French or Scandinavian students because they'd, presumably, be white and therefore 'belong'.

Originally Posted by AntRobertson

Originally Posted by Whiteshiva

I don't understand what is so racist about the comment she made.

If it had been, say German, French or Scandinavian students making a racket, and then being told to go back to where they came from, would that have been racist?

The issue is that - no matter what she actually did/didn't intend by it - the inference is that these Asian guys didn't belong and she wouldn't have said it to German, French or Scandinavian students because they'd, presumably, be white and therefore 'belong'.

Well I was basically told the same thing while a student at Uni in the UK. Me and a couple of fellow countrymen had a drunken stroll back from the pub through a quiet neighbourhood while singing Norwegian drinking songs, and somebody in a window shouted something to the effect that we should bugger off back to our own country (although he thought we were German!).

Even at the time in my drunken stupor, I had to admit he had a point.

Racist, my ass! The thought of contacting the local police didn't even crooss my mind - good thing too, because we were white, so we wouldn't have had much sympathy there either!