Earlier this week, a man was brutally stabbed by a Sudanese refugee in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It was a truly heinous act, and the news was widely received with justified contempt. The public was horrified that this could happen in their streets, fearing naturally that it might just as well happen to them and their families one day.
Yet this was apparently not good enough for those who immediately sought to racialize the discourse, blaming the incident on “mass migration from the third world,” as the infamous anti-Muslim activist Tommy Robinson described the stabbing as “the attempted beheading of a man by a Sudanese invader.” With his characteristically aggressive comments, the principal “Unite the Kingdom” organizer seemed to have effectively encouraged the arson of homes believed to be occupied by migrant families. Following Robinson’s call to action, violent rioters took to the streets and set fire to multiple residential buildings across Belfast. The images of burning houses and rescued children were heinous, too.
Despite its mainstream promotion, however, most non-arsonists in Britain agree that constant vilification of “foreigners” is actually “not conducive to the public good,” which is often legal grounds for denying certain other “foreigners” entry into the country, as we find out more and more every day.
