Britain’s highest ranking Asian police officer complains of racism

James M. in England writes:

The determinedly liberal Metropolitan Police in London is reaping what it has sown in terms of its unrelenting commitment to recruitment policies reflecting the rich diversity of the vibrant ethnic communities it serves. Like all other official bodies in the UK, it encourages minorities to see themselves as victims of white racism, so it’s inevitable that its minority employees will take it as its word and turn against it. But note three things: 1) every name mentioned in the below BBC story is Muslim; 2) the Iranian-born Ali Dizaei has been causing similar trouble for many years; 3) government funding for the National Black Police Association was frozen in 2007 while investigations are carried out into “improper activities.”

Top Asian officer in race claim

The country’s most senior Asian police officer has accused his own force of racial discrimination. Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur is preparing a legal case against the Metropolitan Police. His allegations include being silenced over concerns against 42-day detention and being sidelined by Commissioner Sir Ian Blair in key decisions.

Mr Ghaffur is said to have complained of being humiliated, undermined and subjugated by the Metropolitan Police. The Black Police Association has said it is backing the assistant commissioner’s complaint. Ali Dizaei, president of the National Black Police Association, said he was aware of Mr Ghaffur’s concerns. He said: “It will be a sad day for the police service if one of the UK’s most respected senior ethnic minority police officers is forced to challenge his treatment in court. The negative effect of such an action on recruitment and on trust and confidence in policing, in particular with minority ethnic communities, will be significant and cannot be under-estimated.”

It would send a message to potential recruits from ethnic backgrounds that the police was not a career for them, he said. The news comes as Sir Ian was accused in another employment tribunal of excluding black and Asian detectives in favour of a “golden circle” of white officers. Commander Shabir Hussain, 45, claimed he was passed over for promotion by Sir Ian an “unprecedented” four times. Speaking at a London employment tribunal on Tuesday, he said: “My face did not fit and did not fit because I am not white.”

LA replies:

It’s been a theme of mine since 1994 that the more a white society seeks to overcome racial discrimination by deliberately including nonwhites, the more it will be accused of racial discrimination. When nonwhites are admitted into a university, a police department, or a country, that doesn’t END the problem of “discriminatory treatment” (as naive whites imagine), it BEGINS it, because now that the nonwhites have been included, their failure to fit in culturally with the whites or to have equal outcomes with whites will be blamed on the very institution or country that admitted them. There is no end to this problem, other than either giving up diversity, or giving up equality.

- end of initial entry -

An Indian living in the West writes:

The charge of racism is like the charge of wife beating—you are presumed guilty unless proven innocent (and proving innocence is impossible usually).

All said and done I find this episode somewhat comical. You have a Muslim police officer accusing the liberal and holier than thou Metropolitan Police of being racist. Even funnier is the fact that the beneficiary of this “racism” was the liberal and holier than thou Iain Blair.

Liberalism started out as morality, turned into a religion and has now become a farce.

On a more serious note, the idea that Britain is still basically a “racist” society is fundamentally ingrained among its “Asians.” In the time I spent in Britain, this was clear when you scratched the surface. I think they are not entirely to blame. The wider society tells them this every day, so they believe it too.

James M. writes from England:

/The Indian living in the West made some excellent points. Now another aspect of liberalism emerges in the dispute between Sir Ian Blair and his “top Muslim officer”: we have a competition between the PC chief and the ethnic trouble-maker about hurt feelings. Two quotes from the British press:

Sir Ian, who is said to be “hurt” over the allegations of racism, will face questions from MPA members at a meeting today. A source said: “Everyone knows that there is not a racist bone in his body. He is hurt by these claims.”

Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur is said to be upset on being excluded from key meetings about the London Olympics in 2012, despite his role in charge of security planning. Insiders said Mr Ghaffur had already been left “hurt and humiliated” when, following a bitter row with Met chief Sir Ian Blair two-years-ago, he was moved to a less prestigious job.

And Ghaffur will no doubt have support from his fellow trouble-makers and incompetents in the National Black Police Association:

Ghaffur is expected to meet colleagues in the National Black Police Association today to discuss his case and seek their support for his legal strategy.

So on the one hand we have increasingly embittered minorities, who blame white liberals for their own shortcomings; on the other increasingly bewildered liberals, who cannot understand why their campaign against racism is blowing up in their faces. Ghaffur’s actions are making it harder for Muslims to succeed, and that will in its turn be blamed on white liberals. Liberalism does indeed contain the seeds of its own destruction.

James M. writes from England (June 27):

As I predicted, the National Black Police Association has backed Ghaffur and the farce seems to be expanding by the day:

Britain’s most senior Asian police officer has a secret dossier of evidence supporting his allegations of racism against the Met, it was revealed today. Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur revealed the documents supporting his claim at a four-hour meeting of the National Black Police Association executive. Senior police sources said the developments were so serious that Government intervention was now needed as they called on Home Secretary Jacqui Smith to step in.

What will happen to police discipline and morale as commanding officers have to worry about their minority underlings compiling “secret dossiers” for future use in law suits? Richard Littlejohn of the Daily Mail has written a good piece on what’s taken place so far, but he unfortunately turns liberal at one point and he’s mistaken to say an accusation of racism is the “last resort” of someone like Ghaffur. It’s generally the first resort (if “chancer” is obscure, it means “scheming opportunist”):

Crying ‘racism’—last resort of a chancer

There’s a delicious irony in Met Commissioner Ian Blair being dragged before an industrial tribunal accused of racial discrimination. For some reason, the words ‘petard’ and ‘hoist’ spring to mind. Short of converting to Islam and turning up at Scotland Yard in a Bob Marley T-shirt, no one could have done more to prostrate himself in front of the altar of diversity. Most people think that’s how he got the job in the first place. So it’s no great surprise to discover that he’s ‘hurt’ at finding himself facing these allegations. ‘There’s not a racist bone in Ian’s body,’ said one of his sympathisers. Unfortunately, that’s no longer any defence. According to the definition established by the Macpherson Inquiry, which Blair backed to the hilt as he greased his way up the promotion ladder, ‘racism’ doesn’t have to be intentional. It doesn’t even have to be real. All that is required is for someone—not necessarily the ‘victim’—to interpret an action as ‘racist’. Guilty as charged. Take him down. So he’s on a hiding to nothing now that his Assistant Commissioner Tarique Ghaffur has decided to sue.

Matt C. writes:

James M. quotes Ali Dizaei as saying “”It will be a sad day for the police service if one of the UK’s most respected senior ethnic minority police officers is forced to challenge his treatment in court. The negative effect of such an action on recruitment and on trust and confidence in policing, in particular with minority ethnic communities, will be significant and cannot be under-estimated.”

Good thing, because I was estimating its effect would be “none at all.” It is nice to know that, according to Mr. Dizaei, even this is not an underestimate.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at June 25, 2008 03:05 PM | Send