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RACE HATE OVER REDCAR
Racist slogan remains on display on Eston Nab as council dithers.
Racist slogan remains on display on Eston Nab as council dithers.
An England flag flies on a hilltop above Redcar. It used to be just that. But recently it’s been embellished with the slogan, “White Lives Matter”. It’s been like that for about a month now and a few people seem to be in no hurry to see it gone.
TVM set out to discover why.
TVM set out to discover why.
The flag’s not there officially. When a group of local people first put it up on Eston Nab in 2013, the council took it down. But the group just put it back up, and did so every time the council removed it.
Eventually there was a demonstration, during which they publicised that it was there as a memorial to murdered soldier Lee Rigby and other veterans. According to a poll in The Gazette at the time ( https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/incoming/lee-rigby-eston-nab-flag-4881326 )the flag enjoyed widespread public support.
The council gave up and left it there.
The issue is not about the flag.
The issue is not about the flag.
Fast forward to June 2020, and three things happen. First, Black Lives Matter protests and a furore over monuments, prompting counterdemonstrations from groups intent on protecting said monuments.
Second, the family of Lee Rigby releases a press statement, widely reported on 4 June, (e.g. the Daily Mail https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8388975/Lee-Rigbys-mother-pleads-people-stop-using-photos-soldier-son.html) saying that they do not wish their son’s name to be used in connection with any of the anti-BLM protests.
Then someone adds the slogan to the flag on Eston Nab.
So, the flag now stands in direct defiance of the wishes of Lee Rigby’s family.
The issue is not to do with remembrance.
So, the flag now stands in direct defiance of the wishes of Lee Rigby’s family.
The issue is not to do with remembrance.
As for the ‘white lives matter’ slogan itself, some have questioned how it can be considered racist when ‘black lives matter’ is not.
While ‘Black Lives Matter’ has been described as short for ‘black lives matter too’ and is a response to racial inequality, ‘White Lives Matter’ is the name of an American neo-nazi group, and the phrase is unashamedly racist, and white supremacist.
The Southern Poverty Law Center provides a neat synopsis of what this group stands for https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/white-lives-matter.
The issue is all about the race hate.
The issue is all about the race hate.
Last week TVM contacted Councillor Mary Lanigan (Ind), leader of Redcar and Cleveland Council, to ask what plans the council had to remove the flag. When, after a few days, we received no response, we contacted the leader of the Labour group on the council, Carl Quartermain.
He responded by emailing all Redcar and Cleveland councillors, asking for steps to be taken to remove the offending symbol. His opinion was defacing the national flag in any way was offensive, but noted he believed Cleveland Police are not treating it as a criminal offence.
Which, if true, is odd. The BBC recently reported a similar incident in Warwickshire ( https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-coventry-warwickshire-53226897 )where, during June, the same slogan was sprayed on a hillside.
They report that “Warwickshire Police said it was being treated as racially-aggravated criminal damage and said officers would be increasing patrols in the area.” Is it possible that the same slogan can be seen as ‘racially aggravated’ by one police force, and not by another?
TVM has now written to the chief constable of Cleveland Police as well as the Police and Crime Commissioner for clarification, and we will update our post when we have a response from them.
Mary Lanigan’s eventual response to our enquiry was, “We are aware of this [the presence of the slogan]and we are trying to ascertain who this land belongs to. It appears it is not Council but we are doing further checks.”
Which is also odd.
Which is also odd.
It’s odd because, in 2013, the council removed the flag at least four times on the grounds, as they stated in a press release to the Gazette ( https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/incoming/lee-rigby-eston-nab-flag-4881326 ) that the flag had been put up, without permission, on council land.
So, the council owned the land in 2013, but now they don’t, and, in fact, they don’t actually know who it belongs to. And a month after the offending slogan was added to the flag, they haven’t managed to find out.
Now we know that council services have been severely disrupted by the coronavirus crisis, but compare Redcar’s response to that, last week, of Bristol City Council.
ICYMI, on the plinth formerly occupied by the statue of Edward Colston, a statue was installed in support of Black Lives Matter.
Exactly 24 hours later the council removed it saying that the artist who had made the new sculpture was to be billed for removal and storage.
Exactly 24 hours later the council removed it saying that the artist who had made the new sculpture was to be billed for removal and storage.
Now you may not approve of Bristol City Council’s sentiment, but you have to admire their efficiency. Especially if you live in Redcar, where the wheels of government move so much more slowly.
Not only that, but they don’t appear always to move in the same direction.
Not only that, but they don’t appear always to move in the same direction.
It turns out that, while the comms department told us that “Officers are currently looking into issues in terms of land ownership and legal enforcement powers before a decision is taken on any relevant action”, they haven’t told the person who manages the council’s Twitter feed.
In response to an enquiry about the flag on 3 July that person stated that they were going to alert neighbourhood teams to “request its removal”.
What makes this particularly unusual is that, we suspect the person who manages the twitter account are themselves a member of the comms team.
Are they keeping secrets from each other?
Are they keeping secrets from each other?
There’s a need for someone at Redcar and Cleveland Council to show leadership and make clear racist messaging is unacceptable. There may also be a need for a new legal team to complete simple tasks in under a month. And possibly deal with the comms breakdown in the comms team.
And Redcar and Cleveland Council needs to do this soon, before the whisper goes round that it runs scared of Redcar’s racists.
