Police investigate report of offensive stickers and graffiti in Cliftonville

45 Comments

1. He is ANTI racist, so definitely not him !

2. Ignorance abounds. Of course there is racism here… Black People die more from Covid-19 FACT – Why? Because Black People are more likely to live in poverty. They form 3% of the population but make up 20% of those stopped and searched. There is prejudice, institutional bias and casual discrimination of all ethnic minorities, immigrant groups, gay people, women in general and all… burying your head in denial solves nothing. We cannot live in harmony until all people are valued equally… saying BLACK LIVES MATTER is not saying anyone else matters less, of course ALL lives matter, but minorities are often treated as if they don’t!

   • Saying BLM is saying anyone else matters less though, if it was meant to be equal then ALM would be said. And saying that black people are more likely to live in poverty is also wrong not a fact. We have many doctors and nurses who are catching covid and they don’t live in poverty. Makes no difference if black or white. I wish people would just stop putting a divide amongst people and race just to push their own agendas. Grow up and learn to live peacefully as all that you are doing is pushing the divides further apart with all your rubbish.

     • Black people do not absorb vitamin D very well through the skin which is why covid is more virulent.

   • Two public health england reports were published early june. One concluded that once you took into account all factors the bame community were no more affected than anyone else. The other report ignored factors including obesity and found that the bame community were more likely to die. So is it covid or the other factors that cause the problem?
     The worst affected were from the indian subcontinent , but again they have massive levels of obesity and weight related diabetes. In a community that consists of many relatively recent migrants and marrying from their homeland, they choose to eat a similar diet as the y wouldmin their home country where many did hard physical work and burnt off the calories, but in the uk the amount of work is less and the weight gain considerable, then many also choose to wear their traditional style of clothes and as a resullt have vitamin d defficiences.
     None of that is racism rather the problems of education and integration. Soemtimes facts achieve more than rhetoric.

   • Likely more due to genetics & the family structure-BAME tend to live in more crowded conditions as a family unit, often they also tend to have higher incidences of underlying health problems such as Lupus, heart disease, diabetes, hypertension etc.

3. Farage did not choose to stand in this constituency because he liked the beer. Most pubs are closed or have been burnt down but the racist xenophobes are here in numbers.

   • Is it true that most local pubs “are closed or have been burnt down”? Or is this an exaggeration?

   • Can we have some names.please so we know exactly who the racist xenophobes in Thanet are…

4. Classic Thanet.

   Racist/Nazi graffiti appears and folks start going on about “All lives matter” and complaining about peaceful protests.

   Racism is bad, it’s not that difficult.

   • Have you crawled back into that hole yet?

     Doesn’t look like it.

     This Matthew Smyth kid is comical. Chatting sh** about something he knows nothing about.

     • Get back in your…. BOX. “box”. We won’t stand for disgusting racist graffiti in our community.

     • Matt Smyth is a top lad box. I know him well and think his contributions to local community and society way exceed most people. So hush up Box you wet bellend.

5. For onceRebecca, I agree with you.
   These BLM marches and protests are making racism worse and causing an even bigger rift.
   Racism is wrong, whether it comes from the whites, blacks or any other hue.

6. Thanet community safety team have had no reports of white on black racism up to 2 weeks ago via an FOI request also before you go on about proportions of black people stopped and searched in London just remember they are mostly black people living in certain areas so stop and search will show this as more than other colors also black on black crime is rife in those areas

   • Exactly!

   • Correct. If a lot gangs are made up of young black men it’s no wonder the police perform more stop and searches on them. The radical left can incorrectly shout racism all they like but if a certain group is carrying weapons or committing crimes then of course the police should target them. Targeted policing is intelligence based policing and there to stop crime and protect the local community , it has nothing to do with racial bias. If crime is being committed the perpetrators need to be caught no matter what colour they are. The same goes for the people or persons who have left the racist graffiti over Thanet, they need to be caught as racism is abhorrent and a crime.

     • If a lot of gangs are made up of young black men,then society as a whole – at every level – needs to investigate WHY this is so,and do something to offer such people a better option in life.Treat the causes,not just the symptoms.

     • Well statistically this is incorrect. Here are some facts on policing & racial bias if you’re interested: https://www.release.org.uk/press-release-racial-disparities-drug-policing

     • Are you saying that crime levels can be predicted by race?

       If you’re interested in some statistics on crime rates & racial bias in policing here’s an interesting article:

       https://www.release.org.uk/press-release-racial-disparities-drug-policing

       It does contradict your opinion though…..

       No need to paint those campaigning against racism as extremist.

       • 2018 sky news freedom of information act. Black people in London made up 13% of the population but half the murders in London had black victims and suspects and most were gang related.

         Denying there’s a problem with black gangs and serious gang related crimes in England’s is delusional. There is a massive problem with black criminal gangs. Acknowledging something that is plain to see is not racist. Burying your head in the sand and living in denial is not helping anyone.

         No one is saying you Can predict crime but if there are certain areas where one demographic is committing more crimes, then that demographic has to be targeted regardless of what colour, race, religion or sex they are.

         The BLM protests are being taken over by the far left in my opinion and millions more like me would agree to that. For now until the radical left ban debates I will continue to voice an opinion.

7. What nonsense… just because its not reported doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen! Racism is not just ‘discriminating’ or even abusing its about oppressing… one group having power over another. So the white majority (I am part of) cannot be oppressed by the black minority.

8. The way some post messages on here as if it’s FACT when in FACT it’s a rubbish assumption. The full reasons why BAME have been more prone to catch Covid 19 IF that proves to be the case, could be due to a whole range of reasons and has nothing whatsoever to do with racism. Genetics, DNA, blood groups, family size. BAME families are more likely to have elders living with them and generally have more members of family per household due to they are more inclined to care for elderly relatives. Also a large proportion of BAME work in front line care sector particularity in the bigger cities. The benefit system in the U.K. is available to all who need it regardless of race location or anything else.

9. This country, and others, have spent, many, many, years trying to overcome racism, but still it exists.

   Anyway, has anyone seen a big pile of stickers, must have dropped them somewhere.

10. A minority can indeed oppress the majority. You only have to look at certain countries in the Middle East and Africa.

    The majority in this country are afraid to submit an honest opinion because of the current climate we are in. The left wing Politically correct machine is pushing its agenda on the silent majority and publicly vilifying anyone who opposes their radical ideology. The cancel it brigade are now the fascists.

    A minority of white people may be racist but unfortunately many in the far left are stereotyping all of us as racist. BLM protests are have been hijacked by the far left and the hatred that the far left bigots spead is only going to inflame racial tensions further. Rather than creating a coming together of colours the far lefts takeover of the BLM protests is only segregating us further.

    Racism is disgusting but so too is vilifying people who have might have a different opinion to yours. You only have to look at the letter signed by 150 authors and academics opposing the cancel culture. The left are now the intolerant bigots.

    • There are Nazi’s, right now in Cliftonville. They are putting up stickers and graffiti daubed with swastikas, with text saying “Hitler was right” and “National Socialism Now”.

      Upon reading an article about Nazi’s in Cliftonville, you’ve chosen to rant about the “radical left” and comment that in fact “the left are now the intolerant bigots”. You sure about that? You sure it’s not the Nazi’s you just read about?

      What the hell is wrong with you.

    • Of course they would be – their Marxist interpretation of history,along with its ideology,was discredited when the Soviet Union collapsed 30 years ago.The ideology is now so out of date and discredited that it isn’t even taught – at ANY level – accept as an aside,or when mentioning fringe theories.What remains of the extreme Left is trying to create an anti-establishment revolution,and is using BLM as cover to try and make it happen.However,as the election last December showed,no one is really interested in their extremist,discredited,out of date Marxist programme any more.

    • What is your ‘different opinion’ in this instance?

      Also the comments on here would suggest that if there is a ‘far left policing’ of minds & words then it’s not working very well. People do seem to be free to express their opinions. Perhaps what you resent is that others are equally free to respond to your opinion & you might not like that response…

      As for ‘cancelling’ I do think that the views of some of the speakers who have been ‘cancelled’ are explicitly racist and their ‘views’ would cause deep harm to some students.

      Not sure who you think ‘took over’ the local BLM movement. Maybe you should chat to People Dem Collective about your concerns? They are the brilliant group who organised the protests here…

11. Violence is not the answer attacks on police attacking toddlers like you see in the USA because she is white. It doesn’t help with a large poster in the window of a flat above the old post office in Cecil square that kind of thing on display will cause devision I have never seen any racism in Margate most people of different races get on well. This organisation needs stamping out.most want to live in peace remind people this is a natzi organisation.backed by labour.

    • If you haven’t seen any racism in Margate ever,then you’re not really looking…There are LOTS of organizations I don’t like much or agree with BUT i have NO desire to see any of them ”stamped out” – that’s NOT how a free,democratic society works.Even the most extreme views (of whatever political hue) should be allowed to be publicly expressed,so that everyone can see and hear them publicly debunked for the nonsense they are.

    • ‘This organisation needs stamping out’ – that’s a really awful thing to say. A movement asking for racial equality and racial justice should not be stamped out. To get back to the original story, I have had sight of the stickers and graffiti that prompted this, and they say things like ‘Hitler was right’. Does anyone on this comment thread want to tell us that isn’t an example of very disturbing racism?

12. I am truly shocked by the ignorance being displayed here. Women get on well with men… that doesn’t mean that they are not systematically given less opportunity. It certainly doesn’t mean that some are not abused and that attitudes mean they live in fear at times or just get sick of being treated as if the are less than men. How dense do you have to be to think that BLM diminishes the worth of white lives. How far to the right do you have to be to think that rabid lefties are pushing an agenda… that agenda is about everyone being treated fairly, given the same opportunities, not abused or labelled as criminal for the crime of having a different skin colour. Of course we should remember history… but would you think it right if there were statues of Hitler all over Germany, or of Stalin left all over Russia, or Pol Pot… I could go on. We Brits enslaved millions of people during our empire and we need to stop glorifying people like Clive of India who massacred thousands. Or Cecil Rhodes who stole people’s land and then forced them into indentured labour for Victoria and the Empire. Glorifying our ‘owning’ half the world needs to be recognised for what it was. Incidentally, I didn’t make up the FACT that proportionately four times more Black people die of Covid-19 than whites because they are more likely to live in deprived circumstances or work in front line service like health & social care… it is endorse by WHO and SAGE.

    • Ignorant and dense, just two of the words you have used to Spread yet more hate because people do not agree with your left wing ideology. As I said earlier, the left wing radicals are the new bigots. Your intolerance of anyone who dares to question your agenda is plain to see. You talk of oppression but at the same time you try to suppress anyone who disagrees with you.

      Black Slavery was disgusting but remember that many white people also suffered slavery at the hands of non whites. Over 1 million white Europeans were taken as slaves. It’s in the history books or will that also get whitewashed because it doesn’t fit the radical agenda. What about the Muslim invasion of Europe, again it’s in the history books but ignored because it doesn’t fit the lefts narrative. Are you ignorant of history or is it only white people who are supposed to feel survivors/white guilt ?

      Demonising critics and vilifying dissenters is the new norm for the far left fascists calling themselves the radical left.

      • Let’s not forget as well that the three poorest most deprived areas in England, Jaywick, Blackpool and Middlesbrough are predominately white areas. Jaywick has under 1% of black residents, Blackpool has 0.2% of black residents and Middlesbrough only has 1% of black residents. So much for white privilege and middle class white men.

    • Plenty of Stalin statues still in Russia,and Pol Pot statues in Cambodia (Tuol Sleng prison is one such site.)You can even visit his house and grave,it’s a tourist attraction in Siem Reap (the area where Angkor Wat is.)I’ve been to Cambodia and Russia,so believe me these statues do exist.The UK leaders of BLM have freely admitted they are Marxists with extreme left wing views,so no one needs to be far to the Right to know or believe this.Can you also please give me hard evidence of any massacres carried out by Clive? It would seem that ”facts” in your post,Bo,at least in some places,simply aren’t ‘facts’ at all…

13. Marva Reese it is an exaggeration no pubs have burned down the only one was the old one top of northdown road that was empty for a while then I small fire in
    nd kitchen closed it for good. Other pubs have closed because people buy from supermarkets and some because of viris and out of fashion nothing to do with racism.

    • So many pubs have closed down – not just locally,but nationally – because of the smoking ban introduced by Blair’s government.

      • The factors listed by Brian Smith-Stewart have played a large part in pub closures. The ban on smoking in pubs, and the improvement in food, has probably attracted a lot of people to them who would otherwise have avoided them.

        But yes, it’s not relevant to this thread- I just wondered.

14. Dane Valley Arms.

15. The only places that used to burn down regularly, are those that were owned by Jimmy Godden.

    By the way, was he cremated?

16. Nothing undermines your own argument than getting your facts wrong… it will serve me right for quoting others without checking and I was wrong about Clive of India… he didn’t massacre anyone so far as I can find out. He mostly fought over the sovereignty (for the East India Company) of chunks of India, against other colonial powers or supporting one local prince against another then ‘confiscating’ their wealth for himself. Typical colonial but not as I painted him. It doesn’t detract from out appalling colonial past. For example, we literally hunted aboriginals in Tasmania until they were completely wiped out. There were other colonial powers but, almost uniquely, the British justified their expansionism by dehumanising Africans giving them the status of sub humans. Others, like the French, tended to just defeat and govern. We were responsible for the majority of the millions of Black Africans ‘stolen from Africa, and shipped to America’, because we wanted free labour to grown sugar and tobacco. We destroyed the art and culture in, for example, Benin, so we could demonstrate that ‘negroes’ were not civilized like us. Sure, the Arab nations were taking slaves for hundreds of years, also believing themselves to be civilized (as they were at the time the most technically advanced in the sciences, math etc). They didn’t enslave Europeans, they conquered part of Spain etc… not the same thing.

    I’m always happy to engage in debate (I have friends of all political persuasions across the globe) and ready to admit when I get my facts wrong. But the debate so far shows a woeful lack of understanding of what racism is, and a continuing denial of the fact that our society maybe better than we were, and better than the US, but still racist. I think the way in which people have made assumptions that drug gangs are all black is a really good example. There are drug gangs in every part of the country… and as most places are mostly white, so are the gangs. Many immigrants are also involved from Russians to Turks but there are plenty of homegrown white criminals. But, like you the Police (generally) see black people as innately criminal so stop and search, arrest etc etc far more proportionately than whites.

    Incidentally, WHO has recently announced that Vitamin D and Melanin have no bearing on Covid-19 at all!

    It would be nice if people didn’t hide behind a pseudonym!

    • Did you read the two public health england reports ?

      From one

      “Hoever an analysis of over 10,000 patients with Covid -19 admitted to intensive care in UK hospitals suggests that , once age, sex,obesity and comorbidities are taken into account, there is no difference in the likelihood of being admitted to intensive care or dying between ethnic groups”

      From the other

      “ An analysis of survival among confirmed COVID 19 cases showed that,after accounting for the effect of sex,age,deprivation and region, people of Bangladeshi ethnicity had around twice the risk of death when compared to people of white british ethnicity. People of Chinese, Indian,Pakistani,Other Asian,Caribbean and other Black ethnicity had between 10 and 50% higher risk of death when compared to white British.”

      So only by ignoring the effects of obesity and comorbidities can there be shown there is a increased risk to some ethnicities. So its reasonable to say that COVID is in itself not the problem.

      Have a look at the “Born in Bradford” study and the groundbreaking work that has been done on the reasons and solutions to the poor health outcomes in the area.

      Hopefully this comment will not be deleted.

17. I was going to have a rant but Bo and Kirsty seem have covered all the points I wished to make more eloquently already, well said. Brian Smith-Stewart…whatever ur smoking or injecting, is very bad stuff, seek treatment asap. Lived and work all over Kent and South and the worst Rascim is right here, Thanet( but improving). UKIP was the new sliced bread in Thanet only 5mins ago! I Have met the worst ‘offenders’ and still do regularly. Mostly white cars with blue lights. Ps if ur black don’t buy a German car n live in Thanet,it’s not allowed. even after uve met the same officers for the tenth time in a year nothing changes, it’s still stolen and I’m still a drug dealer, apparently = Aggression

    • But unfortunately if you’d lived around the corner from 17 St.Johns road and witnessed those involved in the blatant drug dealing and county lines activity , it would soon be apparent why the police target those they do. Though it must be said its a shame they don’t extend that to those running back and forth on mopeds distributing the goods delivered. If the courts and criminal justice system/ council were inclined to deal with those arrested more efficiently or at least shut down the properties involved faster, the problem would not be as widespread and there’d be no need to stop as many cars.
      I drive a german car with standard privacy glass, get followed on a regular basis , but must be said not stopped , i can only assume that this is as a result of the information provided by background checks, via the registration, its difficult to believe they can’t get the same information in respect of yourself and previous stops to determine that you are of no interest to them.

18. L Moore such insults are not welcome first I do not smoke never have done I don’t drink alcohol certainly don’t inject any drugs of any sort don’t need any treatment of any sort. An apology is needed here.