Monday, July 29, 2013

Everyday racism

The British have been running a controversial self-deportation scheme in London. Two vans with the slogan "Go home or face arrest" drove through two London boroughs for a week. The German press only picked up the story more than a week after the end of the trial run and once the Huffington Post reported on it.

There were flyers that offered help with travel documents, and the Home Office (their Department of the Interior) has just raised the prospect of extending the program to the rest of the country.

Enough people have pointed out the eerie history of "go home" as a slogan against immigrants, both legal and illegal.

At the southern end of the European Union, in Italy, their black female Minister of Immigration Affairs was harassed first by another government minister, then by a member of the public who threw bananas at her at an event.

She remarked that this was a waste of food.

In Germany, a minor league black soccer player was suspended for talking back to a spectator who had hurled racist slurs -- the spectator was not held responsible.

For events like these, we head straight to Twitter to enjoy the wisdom of the crowds.

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