...unforgiving...

...I think my friends would agree that I am a pretty mild-mannnered, forgiving kind of person. Inclined to be liberal and understanding - in a complex world where social, ethnic, economic, and religious difference making snap judgments is dangerous.
However I can feel my blood boiling now - a kind of nervous, angry shaking - having read a brief account of the attack that lead to the death of teenager Anthony Walker. The motivation for the attack was clearly racist, no doubt excerbated at least in the minds of his attackers, by Anthony who had black skin, presuming to have a girlfriend who had white skin.
The cowardly bastards - seemingly four of them - attacked him, and left him for dead with an axe buried in his head.
Can there ever be forgiveness for such an act? - it's hard to know which is worse, the supposed motivation for the attack, or its cowardly nature - four people in the dark, with at least one mortal weapon, followed by the gutless, spineless running away to avoid the consequences. After the event, can they imagine the life cut short, the shattered family, the unforgetable trauma for his girlfriend and cousin - could they ever care?
What can be the future of humanity, when at least four men (I feel certain it was men) in just one small Merseyside suburb are capable of such an act - ask yourself how many people there are in your neighbourhood like those men, 'cos there is nothing special about Huyton that would suggest violent racists are concentrated there?
I bet they thought of themselves as big men in their community, men to be respected, men who stood up for "british" values - a few pints and they "could take on any Iraqi, Muslim, poof, Paki, crip or clever-dick black". I bet also that their ignorance is only exceeded by their capacity for violence, which in turn is only exceeded by their cowardice.
I want to stand in street and shout "I am black - kill me as well you stupid cowardly arseholes". Of course I'm not black but I believe it is important to stand solid with people who experience racism.



...but I won't stand in the street and shout - the neighbours would be scared and think me dangerous...

Guardian article and Guardian comment