In the coming days there will blaring headlines about how British Pakistani men are targeting white girls.
Not a minority, not a section, but a whole community’s image will be dragged through the dirt.
When comments such as those made by Jack Straw MP on Newsnight yesterday are made, a barrage of accusations usually follows that the Asian community is not doing enough to sort out these ‘Pakistani sexual predators’.
The problem with Jack Straw’s comments have nothing to do with what he actually ended up saying.
On the whole you would have to agree there are issues that need dealing with.
He begins by stating that most sexual offences are carried out by white men.
Many in the Asian community will be shocked and saddened that the perpetrators are supposed Muslims.
We say supposed because in the large part many are Muslims by name only.
They will be saddened for those victims who will have to live with these crimes or the rest of the lives.
It is how the following section of his comment which may be causing concern amongst many people.
“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.
”So they then seek other avenues and they see these young women, white girls who are vulnerable, some of them in care... who they think are easy meat.”
Now, even Mr Straw should have realised that to suggest that there is an inherent problem within the Pakistani culture that leads men to think white girls are ‘easy meat’ was going to cause some sort of offence.
Most British Pakistanis will be alarmed that these abhorrent crimes took place.
But was it really the fault of the culture? Or should we not treat this is as the criminal act it is?
Mr Straw shows how way off the mark he is by stating that many Pakistani men married women from Pakistan.
It may surprise him to know that many British Pakistani men are married to British born girls.
There is a problem in stating Pakistani men somehow are not westernised enough, so take part in such crimes.
It is also alarming to see how this will be perceived as Pakistani gangs targeting white girls when in fact young Asian girls are also being targeted by these criminals.
It is also wrong to say that this issue has been brushed under the carpet when parts of the country have dedicated police projects looking to stop this from happening.
Yes, there needs to more awareness of the issue within the community and we need to tackle it head on ourselves.
But by labelling sections and generalising in such a way we will find that the actual problem at hand will be ignored to the detriment of the victims.
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