Another hate crime against sanity

Yet another black person has fallen victim to a heinous racial crime. As I write, spasms constrict my throat, tears blur my vision, and fury paralyses my mind.

I can’t find words to express my disgust at racial hatred in general and this incident in particular. So I’ll just tell you what happened, and you can express your own indignation.

Jane Savidge, 69, later described by the local police commissioner as a “pillar of the community” for her devotion to charitable works, was waiting to have her car filled up at a pump.

The car in front of her had already been filled up and still wouldn’t budge, blocking Miss Savidge’s way, “taking ages” in the latter’s description.

Nobody’s patience is endless under such circumstances, and eventually Miss Savidge tooted her horn and waited for a reaction. When none came, she honked again.

I don’t know how the police got involved, but involved they got. An annoyed woman tooting her horn obviously took priority over pursuing burglars or trying to prevent knife crime.

Miss Savidge was arrested and interrogated – but not for tooting her horn. She was suspected of a racially aggravated hate crime. You see, the inconsiderate driver in front of her was a black woman.

Of course Miss Savidge had no way of knowing this because the race and sex of the other driver were impossible to identify through the tinted rear window. But ignorance is no excuse, as far as the Thames Valley police are concerned.

Had she fired a gun out of her window, killed somebody and later claimed she didn’t know there were people in the street, she would have been charged with murder wouldn’t she? In the eyes of our law enforcement, this is a watertight analogy.

To her credit, the black woman in question told the cops it wasn’t a hate crime, but that had no effect. Once a crime has been committed, personal feelings no longer apply. The law takes over.

As a result, Miss Savidge had sleepless nights and could no longer do her charitable work because she was worried that a background check would identify her as someone investigated for a racial hate crime.

Anthony Stansfeld, the police commissioner for Thames Valley, sympathised with her plight. He realised the whole thing was ridiculous, but his hands were tied. The existing law left him no room for manoeuvre.

Seeking justice, Miss Savidge enlisted the help of her local MP, Dominic Grieve. After his intercession her misdeed was reclassified as a ‘hate-related incident’, rather than crime.

As Mr Grieve explained, “The current position is that she has been told by Thames Valley police that as long as she does not come to the attention of the police in future it is most unlikely that any reference would be made to this record even if an enhanced check were carried out into her.”

‘Most unlikely’ is a nebulous phrase. It could mean all sorts of things, such as ‘possible’, ‘probable’ and even ‘almost guaranteed’. But Miss Savidge should thank God and Mr Grieve for small favours: at least she’s unlikely to do time.

Do you sometimes feel as if the sane people of the world fought a war against an army of madmen and lost?

Do you sometimes realise that the idiotic and destructive law about so-called hate crimes effectively criminalises us all?

If honking at a car that happens to belong to a black woman is a hate crime, then what about saying ‘Excuse me’ to a black man blocking your way in a supermarket aisle? Saying ‘watch it’ to a homosexual who accidentally steps on your foot? Smiling at a Muslim woman who then thinks you’re mocking her?

It’s a safe bet that in the course of a busy week, most of us commit hate crimes galore. We’re all criminals, in other words.

Now a state that criminalises everybody is itself criminal. For it issues itself a mandate to expand its own domain indefinitely, while shrinking that of the individual.

In the process, it debauches the very notion of legality: when patently insane laws swell the books, all laws will be despised. And public order depends on respect for the law because fear alone isn’t a sufficient inducement to compliance.

Every travesty of justice committed by our governing spivs puts justice in disrepute and us all in danger. Something must be done immediately, and I have a suggestion on how to avoid situations like the one Miss Savidge found herself in.

All members of vulnerable minorities, such as women, Muslims, blacks, homosexuals, cripples and especially crippled black homosexual Muslim women should be obligated to display a Protected Minority Onboard sticker.

That way we’ll steer clear of hate crimes by treating such cars with the deference due their owners. And if you like this idea, I have many similar ones in store.