How Can My Son be Racist, Asks Mother of Down’s Boy Charged after Playground Spat with Asian Girl
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| Report from Britain (Sep. 2001) |
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| No Representation (May 2001) |
| The Racial Transformation of Britain (Aug. 2000) |
| Black Crime in Britain (Apr. 1996) |
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Until recently, Fiona Bauld thought her 18-year-old son Jamie had not fully grasped the gravity of the situation he found himself in.
It brought her solace that her child, who has Down’s syndrome and the mental age of a five-year-old, hadn’t fully comprehended the charges of racism and assault against him, let alone begun to contemplate the consequences.
But one night shortly after Christmas, as the family watched TV, Fiona realised to her horror that Jamie was not as oblivious as she’d hoped.
A scene featuring a prison appeared on screen, at which point Jamie said quietly: “I don’t want to go to jail, Mum. Please don’t let them take me away.” He then burst into tears.
“I rushed over, put my arms around him and told him everything was going to be fine,” says Fiona.
“All through this nightmare I’ve done my best to put on a smile and act normally around Jamie, simply to protect him from everything that was happening. But that night, as he sobbed in my arms, I wasn’t sure everything would be OK.
“My worst fear was that Jamie would be taken away somewhere that I wouldn’t be able to protect him. I said: ‘Jamie, you’re not going to prison’, but I found myself in tears, too.”
When Fiona—who lives in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, with her husband James, 46, a telecommunications contractor, and their daughter Stephanie, 17—uses the word “nightmare” she is making no understatement.
Hers is a situation so ridiculous it would be laughable, had the potential ramifications not been so serious.
Her story also serves as a disturbing example of how extreme political correctness can allow minor of incidents to be blown out of all proportion.
The events which have brought her such anguish in recent months begun with what was effectively a playground spat between two individuals with special needs.
It soon escalated into a seven-month criminal investigation that could have resulted in Fiona’s son being hauled before a court and left with a criminal record.
Last September, Jamie—who is 18 but cannot even tie his own shoelaces, needs help on the lavatory, mustn’t be left alone in the house and still relies on his mother to tuck him up in bed at night—had an altercation with an Asian girl of a similar age, also a pupil at the special needs department of Motherwell College in Lanarkshire, where Jamie is a student.
Put quite simply—girl irritated boy, boy pushed girl and told her to go away. Then, girl responded by telling her teacher.
The two were sent their separate ways and their parents informed about the falling out.
Given their mental ages, it was no more significant than a playground spat between two five-year-olds. That should have been the end of it.
Instead, a notice was placed in the local newspaper—it is not known by whom—asking for witnesses to a “racial assault” at the college on the day in question.
Whether this notice led to the police investigation, or whether the family of the girl contacted them directly is still not clear. Either way, just over a week later, Jamie was charged with racism and assault.
It was an insane example of overzealous political correctness; a local zero-tolerance policy on racism taken to its extremes without any common sense being applied, let alone consideration for the unusual circumstances of the individuals involved.
After months of stress and fear, the Baulds’ ordeal came to an end yesterday when, in a remarkable climbdown, the Crown Office issued a formal apology to the family for any distress caused over the past seven months.
All charges have now been dropped, but this, says Fiona, is not enough.
Not only have they encountered confusion, red tape and a lack of compassion in their dealings with the Scottish legal system, they are left fearing that Jamie will forever have a blot on his reputation as a result of being charged at all.
“Our family has been put through a terrible ordeal over nothing,” says Fiona. “It is utterly ridiculous that the authorities brought adult charges against our son, who was not only innocent, but clearly unable to comprehend why he was in trouble.
“For instance, when the police arrived to interview Jamie, he welcomed them with a big smile and a handshake. As they read him his rights, he said thank you for coming to see him, and agreed with everything they said.”
Those with Down’s syndrome often agree with whatever they are told simply to please other people.
Fiona continues: “I said: ‘Do you realise he doesn’t understand what you are saying?’ while the police officers shifted uncomfortably and admitted they had no training in dealing with anyone with special needs.
“But the official process had by then swung into action. From that point on, it seemed there was nothing my husband or I could do to halt it.”
It’s clear that Fiona dotes on her son. Not only is she frequently tearful as she recalls the past seven months, but she describes how she happily gave up her career in hairdressing to become Jamie’s full-time carer.
It was, she says, the only thing she could do given the circumstances she found herself in.
“We had no idea before Jamie was born that he had Down’s syndrome, and we were told the diagnosis when he was just 24 hours old,” she recalls.
“At the time, I was deeply upset—to the point where I had to be sedated. But that passed, and if I’d known what I know now, I wouldn’t have given two hoots about the diagnosis.
“By the time I fell pregnant with his sister, my attitude was that if she has Down’s syndrome too, then that’s fine by me. I adored Jamie, and didn’t wished things had been different.”
Raising Jamie has, nonetheless, been far from an easy task. He has suffered from respiratory and bowel problems, which have seen his parents spend weeks sitting at his hospital bedside.
On two occasions—when Jamie was ten months old and when he was four—Fiona and James were told to prepare themselves for the worst.
“Hospitals have become a second home to me over the years,” says Fiona. “I’ve spent weeks—months even—at Jamie’s bedside. But I’ve always seen him as a fighter, and no matter what the doctors have told me, I’ve always known I’ll be bringing my boy home again.
“Thankfully, he’s always proven me right, refusing to give up even when doctors said there was no hope.”
Since reaching his teens, Jamie’s health has improved and Fiona has watched her son blossom.
“Jamie has got through school, and is now doing a life skills course at Motherwell College, which makes me burst with pride,” she says. “He has friends, he’s sociable and chatty.
“He’s a very loving, kind person. He dotes on his sister, and if she is out, he refuses to go to bed until she gets in.”
Indeed, so placid is Jamie, says Fiona, that he steadfastly refused to respond to the provocation of a year of severe bullying at secondary school.
“One boy really started picking on Jamie when he was about 14, and made his life a misery,” says Fiona. “He punched him in the face, kicked him on numerous occasions, ripped his clothes and even smashed his glasses.
“Jamie used to come home and tell us he couldn’t hit this boy back because they were friends. My son simply has not a got a streak of violence in him, and is so laid back that we always joke that he’s horizontal.”
With this in mind, Fiona was instantly doubtful when she heard Jamie was being accused of hitting the girl at college. She wasn’t, however, surprised to hear a dispute had taken place, because her son had already complained of the girl in question.
“Before this incident at college, Jamie had told us on a couple of occasions that this girl kept following him, staring at him and putting her face really close to his without saying anything,” says Fiona.
“We told him just to ignore her, and she’d soon get bored.
“Then, on September 4, we got a call from the college saying they’d had a falling out and Jamie had hit her. I talked to him, and he was adamant he hadn’t hit her, but had pushed her away when he was eating lunch.
“I didn’t take the event lightly at all—Jamie was meant to be staying with his aunt that night, but I grounded him, and we took away his Playstation for a few days, too.
“I believed him when he said he hadn’t hit her, but I’m not a lax parent and I don’t make allowances because of his disabilities. I wanted to make it clear to Jamie that falling out with students and pushing other people was not a good thing.”
The family went away on holiday, putting the incident behind them. But on their return, they were notified by the college that the girl’s family had contacted the police, who had taken it upon themselves to question other students and staff at the college.
They now wanted to talk to Jamie about allegations of racism and assault.
“I have to say, at first, the whole thing was so ridiculous I didn’t take it that seriously,” says Fiona. “That said, I was really annoyed about the racism part of things. Jamie is far from racist. He doesn’t even realise the difference between skin colours.
“But the college said the police were coming to interview Jamie and I thought: ‘OK then, it won’t do him any harm.’
“I still wanted to be sure Jamie understood he shouldn’t have altercations with other students, and I thought a visit from the police would help him fully grasp that fact.”
However, the police interview a few days later, Jamie was charged with racism and assault.
“I was panicking and saying it was crazy, that Jamie doesn’t even understand things like upstairs and downstairs, whether a door is open or shut, but Jamie stood up, shook their hands and said: ‘Thanks very much’,” says Fiona.
“My husband and I didn’t know then that we should have insisted the officers return with someone specialised in dealing with people with special needs, or perhaps we could have stopped the entire thing there and then.”
The officers, says Fiona, were pleasant enough and advised the family “the case probably wouldn’t come to anything”.
They said they would explain to the Procurator Fiscal (a public officer in Scotland who prosecutes in petty cases) that Jamie had Down’s syndrome.
They revealed that the girl had also admitted to scratching her own face—either to her family or to police officers.
But shortly after the visit, a letter arrived from the Procurator Fiscal saying the authorities had enough evidence to charge Jamie.
2That was when all hell broke loose for us as a family,” says Fiona. “I read the letter with shaking hands, and I was crying my eyes out. I phoned the Procurator’s office five times and asked if they knew Jamie had Down’s syndrome, but no one would talk about the case with me.
“I went to the police, and no one there seemed to know what was going on. I would have been able laugh at the total chaos and incompetence were it not for the fact that I knew that, at 18, Jamie is technically an adult.
“I was genuinely terrified that he would end up in the dock on trial for something he didn’t do.”
During December, Fiona asked the family lawyer to write to the Procurator Fiscal’s office explaining the situation. They did not receive a reply.
“We tried to carry on as normal, but I felt as though we were living on borrowed time, and Jamie was going to be taken away from me,” says Fiona.
“It was as though there was an axe hanging over our head the entire time. We were living with this terrible sense of foreboding.
“The lowest point came when we were watching the prison scene on TV and Jamie started crying. It broke my heart because it made me feel as though I’d failed him.
“My natural instinct as a mother, especially a mother of a child with special needs, was to try and protect him from everything around him, and here he was, sobbing his heart out because he was so frightened.”
It was only a fortnight ago—seven-and-a-half months after the initial incident—that the family received a brief letter from the Procurator Fiscal saying he would not be proceeding with the prosecution. There was no apology.
And despite the Crown’s official apology yesterday, Fiona still feels that they were the victims of “political correctness gone mad”.
A spokeswoman for Down’s Syndrome Scotland is also horrified by the case and called for better handling and understanding.
She says “I’ve never met anyone with Down’s syndrome who was racist. This incident should have been contained within the college. It has been very badly handled.”
Next week, Jamie is due to return to college, and his mother thinks it is likely that he will forget the happenings of the past seven months long before she does.
“Jamie has said he’s happy it’s all over, and he is back to being his usual sunny self,” says Fiona.
“At the moment, I still feel like a nervous wreck, and I’m determined to speak out because I want the people in official positions to think twice about what they are doing, and apply common sense to unique situations like these.
“But at least we can start to get on with our lives again. Last night, as I tucked Jamie up in bed, he asked me once again whether he was going to jail.
“This time, I was able to tell him that no, he definitely, definitely wasn’t.”
(Posted on April 18, 2008)
Comments
Did I read that right?! It’s an indictable CRIMINAL offense to offend a non-native Briton? And it doesn’t have to be you personally, as the 18 year old Asian could not have possibly put the ad in the paper. It also seems that one is guilty until proven innocent.
Now, the reason why this is happening at all is that it’s easy to file a charge apparently with no penalty for misuse. They are simply exploiting something given to them by the British authorities that is exploitable.
That begs a couple of questions. Does it matter what the races are of the accuser and defendent? Is any altrication between persons who happen to be of different races a race crime?
My condolences to the once great Britain.
Posted by Reality Check at 6:10 PM on April 18
Authorities are sending a message: “don’t defend yourself against non-whites. If you do, the entire weight of the State will come down upon you”. Had the girl been white, nothing would have come of it. The powers that be are saying “non-whites are wards of the state. Raise a hand against them and you are declaring war against the State”. One wonders how long this idiocy can go on.
Posted by jewamongyou at 8:15 PM on April 18
After reading this story, I don’t know whether to scream, cry, or punch a hole in the wall. That mother is an angel, though. God bless her.
Posted by Ellen at 8:26 PM on April 18
I am so terribly sorry that this young man and his family had to go through this ordeal, but hopefully people will wake up and realize that the same thing can happen to them.
Posted by at 10:57 PM on April 18
People in Totalitarian States are always terrified of the
Police and with good reason. Boy, am I glad we have the Bill of
Rights. The Whties in the Commonwealth Countries are defenceless
against their inquisitors. Not that it can’t happen here, but
they going to have a much tougher time of it. If we can keep our
second amendment rights, we may yet have a chance-a chance of
some kind of future for our people on this continent. I wont
say country.
Someone in that school is unspeakably evil for placing that
ad in the paper.
Posted by Leif the Lucky at 1:03 AM on April 19
Thought I was reading a George Orwell novel here. England is right on the path to being “Air Strip One”.
We’re only a year or two behind in my opinion.
Posted by Simon at 3:35 AM on April 19
Reality Check, you are exactly right— Britain has formally criminalized anything, whether words or actions, that even hints at insulting non-whites in the country. Canada and Australia have followed in the same footsteps— both countries have draconian laws that make any “offense” against “visible minorities” a harshly punished crime. And since “offense” is subjective, the burden of proof is always on the accused. While we in the USA won’t go to jail for such a thing, we of course would suffer extreme levels of social ostracism and humiliation that would destroy our careers and livelihoods, if there were any hint of our being “offensive” to minorities— which, of course, ultimately has the same effect.
This is why white families in Britain, Canada, Australia, Sweden, increasingly even in parts of the USA, are leaving these countries in droves. It’s become clear that we are not wanted there, that we are seen as impediments to an all-powerful state that will never change, no matter what the sham of our elections, and which prefers an easy-to-manipulate Third World electorate compared to a hard-headed white population that demands competence.
And the destination countries of White families in these places tend to be the remaining band of Western nations that still have a bit of nationalism left in them and prefer a majority white population— basically some Central European countries like Denmark, Finland, Austria, Switzerland, Hungary, Romania, as well as Italy and Germany, the only two “big nations” with a more nationalistic streak. Also, the “Big 4” in South America— Chile, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay— seem to have become major draws in their own right. A number of my own friends and neighbors have moved their families to these countries, which are now among the most heavily Western on earth. White families, simply enough, will go where we’re wanted, where we have some heritage, and where we can raise our kids without them being considered an “impediment” to the state.
Posted by Casey James at 6:07 AM on April 19
I feel for the family of this boy, I truly do! But Britain has become an Orwellian island made up of lunatic politicians. They seem hell-bent on turning the nation into some Marxist nightmare, where a person can find themselve arrested for the slightest infraction, espcially one that might offend their immigrant population. Small wonder, indigenous Brits are fleeing in record numbers. And a place I have no desire to visit. Forget the changing of the guard, they are changing the entire nation, and not in a good way.
Posted by at 6:34 AM on April 19
A terrifying story to someone like me who has a special needs child.
Posted by Kevin at 8:02 AM on April 19
What used to be a simple misunderstanding or a minor argument is now a vicious racist hate crime! Although the legal system claims to offer protection for all people under this legislation, we are all aware of it’s one-sidedness and arbitrary application.
Unfortunately, Jamie is a hetero white male and not eligible for any pity or equal protection. As a hetero white male, in the eyes of the law that means he has been oppressing women, gays, and minorities for thousands of years.
Posted by ODDL at 10:08 AM on April 19
Casey James, Paraguay is some 95% Mestizo, with the majority of citizens speaking a native tongue, Guarani, in addition to Spanish. That said, the Indian element in the mix is quite low and indications are that they are rather peaceable folks, and their country is one in which whites are typical welcome (and comparatively safe).
Nonetheless, to flee is to surrender. The PC-crowd does not hold the upper hand, WE do. Non-whites are not necessarily bad people, but they are not OUR people, and as “successful” as relations can sometimes be, multiracialism is too aggravating, to much of an ordeal to bother with. We’ll have to accept we were wrong about the desirability and practicability of multiracialism and part ways with non-whites, meaning them neither malice nor harm. PC cannot be defended by rational people; it is madness sustained only by the longings of utterly irrational control freaks and it is they who must yield, not we.
Posted by Michael T at 12:27 PM on April 19
“I’ve never met anyone with Down’s syndrome who was racist. “
Gives a new insight into the liberal mind and why they
never see what’s right in front of them! The multiculters are
just the slowest in the group; but they got that way
by listening to the diversity babble.
Posted by at 12:50 PM on April 19
In England, a foreigner can put a native in jail without a jury trial.
Posted by ben tillman at 4:25 PM on April 19
The sickest part about this article isn’t the British government’s aggression, but the mother’s placid attitude towards it. No talk of retribution or compensation or justice - almost as if she’s resigned to such avenues being closed to Whites. The implication in the whole interview is that if her son had been of normal intelligence and pushed or defensively hit a non-White, that in and of itself would constitute a “racial assault”.
Posted by Doppelgangbanger at 4:41 PM on April 19
“a local zero-tolerance policy on racism taken to its extremes without any common sense being applied”
Zero tolerance policies, usually in schools, ALWAYS remove responsibility for authorities to use common sense or personal judgment. In this case applied to racism, but we’ve all seen it applied to 1)weapons - a butter knife rolling around in the back of a pick-up parked in a school lot, 2) sexual harassment - a kindergartner hugs a classmate at recess, 3) drugs - an honor student is expelled for taking a Midol at school…
Posted by Blue Eyes at 5:39 PM on April 19
“When Fiona—who lives in Cumbernauld, Lanarkshire, with her husband James, 46, a telecommunications contractor, and their daughter Stephanie, 17—uses the word “nightmare” she is making no understatement.”
The descending darkness of political correctness.
Posted by Unemployed WASP at 1:11 AM on April 20
Zero tolerance policies, usually in schools, ALWAYS remove responsibility for authorities to use common sense or personal judgment. In this case applied to racism, but we’ve all seen it applied to 1)weapons - a butter knife rolling around in the back of a pick-up parked in a school lot, 2) sexual harassment - a kindergartner hugs a classmate at recess, 3) drugs - an honor student is expelled for taking a Midol at school…
You’ve no doubt heard of this incident:
http://zerointelligence.net/archives/000440.php
Posted by qwerty at 9:12 AM on April 20
Read it and weep America. What you are witnessing are the PREVIEWS OF COMING ATTRACTIONS for our future right here in the United States.
T..REXX
Posted by T REXX at 9:53 AM on April 20
Totalitarian regimes terrify their populations through arbitrary laws and the arbitrary application of those laws. England, Canada, and much of Europe, has already descended into totalitarianism, with “Hate Crime” laws and tribunals to prosecute and jail those who dare speak ‘incorrectly’ about the govt. and its imported underclass.
It’s only a matter of time before the same nightmare comes to America, the First Amendment notwithstanding.
Posted by at 1:30 PM on April 21
The guy has the mental development of a five year-old, and apparently all he did was shove her because she was bothering him. With their shocking overreaction, the police have merely succeeded in making themselves appear ridiculuous.
Posted by Michael C. Scott at 4:43 PM on April 21
THEY FIRST DRIVE MAD, THOSE THE GODS WOULD DESTROY (or however the exact quote runs)…
Certainly the case with respect to British politicians. I suppose the next legislative step will be to criminalize DENYING an immigrant anything he/or she asks a White person for… be it sex, their possessions, or whatever. Or requiring by law, that every White person can prove to have a non-White as their closest friend.
I am glad I am in America. Because I surely would be driven by my conscience to fight to the death against this insanity called political correctness — or for saying the self-evident truth about what non-White minorities REALLY are like. I can only hope enough Whites come to their senses and DEFY the government to throw them all in jail for violating this obscenity of a law.
Posted by Fed Up at 4:50 PM on April 21
Totalitarian regimes terrify their populations through arbitrary laws and the arbitrary application of those laws. England, Canada, and much of Europe, has already descended into totalitarianism, with “Hate Crime” laws and tribunals to prosecute and jail those who dare speak ‘incorrectly’ about the govt. and its imported underclass.
It’s only a matter of time before the same nightmare comes to America, the First Amendment notwithstanding.
*The totalitarianism going on in Europe today, is clearly designed to make room for a new world order. And to replace indigenous Europeans with non-white foreginers. Canada is following suit, and you’re right that America is not far behind, look how MSM downplays, and even hides stories of interracial violence when the victims are white. In effect, Whites are being robbed of their homelands, and of their basic rights throughout the western world. And western media further brainwashes it’s minions into believing that it is correct, and entirely appropriate. The sad part is it is working like a charm.*
Posted by at 7:27 AM on April 22
Food for thought…
The damned liberals will yet come to HATE THE INTERNET. Simply because it is such an excellent vehicle for promulgating the TRUTH (anything they deem politically incorrect).
Posted by Fed Up at 4:41 PM on April 23