"Asian" Gangs

The Daily Mail today, in common with most newspapers, reports on an "Asian" gang which groomed and abused young white females over a number of years.

Why do they insist on referring to them as "Asian", a totally meaningless word in this context covering a wide variety of nationalities and races from Russia and Turkey in the west to Japan and China in the east. The Asians (or their parents) to which the media refer invariably come from a very small part of the Indian sub-continent, which in itself is quite a small part of Asia (have a look at a map, I've coloured it red!).

Now, when I was working, I had a number of Asian born colleagues whom I feel would have every right to be offended by this constant use of the word "Asian". There was Sonny from Hong Kong, Clem from Ceylon (as it was when he was born there) and Olly from Burma (ditto) to name but three of a number of Asians with whom I worked over the years. Yet they are now being lumped together in the media by the use of this generic term "Asian". They are not likely to complain, being grateful that this country gave their parents shelter at a time of need, but it is now time that someone did so on their behalf.

Now the ludicrous thing is that we all know what the newspapers mean.
It is well worth reading this article in today's Daly Mail

"Asian gangs, schoolgirls and a sinister taboo: As nine men are jailed for grooming up to 100 for sex, the disturbing trend few dare talk about".

As one of the victims of another similar gang is reported to have said

‘The truth is, most men running the gangs in the north of England are Asians of Pakistani ­origin. But very few of the authorities will say this.’.

Not only won't the Authorities say or admit this, neither will most of the media and certainly not the BBC, whom as far as I can remember didn't even go as far as mentioning that those jailed were Asian.

So, on behalf of those Asians of different ethnic descent, I would ask various authorities and the media, particularly the BBC, to stop this pretence that it is Asians in general who are responsible for these crimes and to start telling the real truth. They are invariably Asians whom ethnically originate from the northern part of the Indian sub-continent, currently known as Pakistan. They are also invariably claim to be Muslims and there seems to be an odds-on chance that they will be named Mohammed.

And at the risk of offending those who see racism everywhere, I would like to use a good old fashioned English phrase "It's time we started to call a spade a spade"