By Amit Roy
IT IS hard to fault the home secretary Priti Patel for wanting to deport Jamaican nationals convicted of murder and rape charges, but some 23 received last-minute reprieves last week.
The Black Lives Matter movement says it does not condone crime, but Jamaicans who grew up in this country are Britain’s problem.
The Home Office argues it is a mistake conflating the Windrush scandal with deportation of those convicted of very serious crimes.
Again, that is a persuasive agreement.
But I would like to ask another question: why have these Jamaicans become criminals?
The extent to which black people have suffered harassment, bullying and discrimination is graphically illustrated in Steve McQueen’s films – notably Mangrove and Red, White and Blue – currently being shown on the BBC. I urge Eastern Eye readers to see them because Asians quite often have little idea of what black people have been through.
In Mangrove, the police keep raiding a black-owned restaurant in Notting Hill. In Red, White and Blue, an idealistic young man who joins the force with the idea of changing racist attitudes from the inside, finds the N-word scrawled on his locker. And when he requests back up when he is in danger, his white colleagues refuse to turn up.
What has all this to do with the Jamaican deportation flights?
Perhaps there is a case for saying that Jamaican criminals should be treated more leniently.
