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A Britain We All Call Home > Published by Guest, February 29th 2012 at 6:00 pm

Anti-Traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged in Britain

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Conn Mac Gabhann is the Manager of the traveller project at the Irish Chaplaincy in Britain.

When my mother came to England in the 1950s to work as a nurse, the signs on the boarding houses said ‘No Blacks, No Irish.’ She described it as normal.

You couldn’t get away with putting up signs like that now.

That’s what I thought. Or really, what I thought was that nobody, even if they were racist, would be stupid enough to erect signs like that and attract the attention of the police.

I was wrong. And I was wrong on two counts. Firstly, because there are people stupid enough to put up the signs. Secondly, because I assumed that the police and the CPS would pursue these people under race relations legislation.

Before Christmas, I was walking up through a back street in north London when I noticed a pub that had a sign that read ‘Travellers strictly by appointment only.’

I thought it was a mistake, so the next day I went back to the pub with my colleague Joe. The signs were there alright – three of them making it clear that Travellers weren’t wanted.

Even though I’ve heard a lot of racism towards Travellers, I was surprised that in multi-cultural London a sign like that could remain in the open for some time. We took photos and reported the sign to the police, who promised they would investigate.

I went to the police station and made a long statement, stressing the seriousness of the crime. I made the point that such racist incidences prevent Travellers from getting legal work and getting on with their lives.

I stated that when there are signs like that it’s not surprising that many Travellers in prison point to discrimination in schools and society as one factor that put them on the path to offending.

I stressed that, like everybody else, Travellers have a responsibility for their own actions. But I added that whenever Travellers as a group are singled out for unfair treatment it just means this section of society feel unjustly treated. Then everybody loses.

It is in the interests of the police and society that they pursue these cases of discrimination, otherwise Travellers will rightly feel aggrieved and disconnected.

Yesterday, I received a phone call from Islington Police Station. The CPS have decided not to pursue any action against the pub.

The next time I’m in a prison and a young man whispers to me that at school he had to stand on a chair in assembly while he was called a ‘dirty gypo,’ I’ll think, like my mother, that that’s normal.

See also:

• “Sorry if you were offended” does not cut it, Diane – Daniel Elton, January 5th 2012

• What will Cameron do to end the racism of the young Conservatives? – Alex Hern, November 23rd 2011

• Has racism returned to football? – Shamik Das, October 25th 2011

• End of the road for Dale Farm? – Kevin Meagher, October 13th 2011

• The ‘Dalits’ of Dale Farm have needs too – Kevin Meagher, September 1st 2011

  • http://twitter.com/makarobo/status/174926755906334720 MakarObo

    Anti-traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged in Britain, writes Conn Mac Gabhann of @irishchaplaincy: http://t.co/5G3P3YqB

  • Guest

    Surely it should be Traveller not traveller… they are an ethnic group and deserve a capital letter :-)

  • http://twitter.com/wtbdavidg/status/174937181889105920 David Gillon

    Anti-traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged in Britain, writes Conn Mac Gabhann of @irishchaplaincy: http://t.co/5G3P3YqB

  • http://twitter.com/jcboyce85/status/174937814037823488 Joe Cottrell-Boyce

    CPS refuses to pursue our complaint regarding anti-Traveller discrimination. Read about it on @leftfootfwd http://t.co/TOUHFh4Q

  • http://twitter.com/johnfinniesnp/status/174938362002685954 John Finnie

    Anti-traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged in Britain, writes Conn Mac Gabhann of @irishchaplaincy: http://t.co/5G3P3YqB

  • http://twitter.com/patronpress/status/174953210350534657 Patron Press – #P2

    #UK : Anti-Traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged in Britain http://t.co/NXF0bLc3

  • Sarah AB

    Does this not mean *commercial* travellers?

  • Sarah AB

    Or maybe it is aimed at the travelling community (given that the term ‘commercial traveller’ is barely used now) but making a sort of play on words – otherwise the ‘by appointment only’ bit seems odd.

  • Guest

    the signs are very common and squarely aimed at Travellers. The ‘by appointment only’ bit is an attempt to get around charges of racism that a simple ‘No Travellers’ would generate. Legally though, by appointment only directed at an ethnic group is still overt discrimination under RR act.

  • Mr. Sensible

    There should be no place for that in modern society.

  • http://twitter.com/jintyg51/status/174995533985878016 Janet Graham

    Anti-traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged in Britain, writes Conn Mac Gabhann of @irishchaplaincy: http://t.co/5G3P3YqB

  • http://twitter.com/trakgalvis/status/174997872662687746 Trakgalvis

    Anti-traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged in Britain, writes Conn Mac Gabhann of @irishchaplaincy: http://t.co/5G3P3YqB

  • http://twitter.com/changekitchen/status/174998026492968960 Dr Birgit Kehrer

    Anti-traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged in Britain, writes Conn Mac Gabhann of @irishchaplaincy: http://t.co/5G3P3YqB

  • http://twitter.com/petersen341/status/174998978960687104 petersen

    Anti-traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged in Britain, writes Conn Mac Gabhann of @irishchaplaincy: http://t.co/5G3P3YqB

  • TJHuntington

    could the police complaints body help perhaps?

  • http://twitter.com/spsot/status/175013453533159424 Spir.Sotiropoulou

    RT @leftfootfwd: Anti-Traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged in Britain http://t.co/3Xqy9ICr

  • Facey Romford

    Yes, this refers to ‘commercial travellers’, alias cold-calling salesmen; such signs have always been common and their meaning universally understood. You may have a little egg on your chops over this!

  • http://twitter.com/june4th/status/175167429322874881 Noxi

    RT @leftfootfwd Anti-traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged.., writes Conn Mac Gabhann of @irishchaplaincy: http://t.co/aGgcJYi0

  • http://twitter.com/JCBoyce85 Joe Cottrell-Boyce

    No it did not mean Commercial Travellers. After investigating and questioning the pub owner the police were fully satisfied that the signs were discriminatory. It was the CPS who decided not to take it further.

    Joe – ICB

  • Geraint

    Sadly, bigots exist everywhere. It is ashame that the CPS didn’t take action, it by letting such ignorance go unchallenged that creates resentment and re-enforces the idea that it is kind of behaviour is acceptable in society. It is not.

  • Sarah AB

    Thanks to those who have responded to my question – I’m quite happy to accept that the signs were discriminatory.

  • http://twitter.com/shamikdas/status/175357771838013440 Shamik Das

    On the subject of racism, read our shocking report on how anti-Traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged: http://t.co/jQeQiRsV #BBCqt

  • http://twitter.com/judoon_platoon/status/175358438593937409 Alex Watkins

    On the subject of racism, read our shocking report on how anti-Traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged: http://t.co/jQeQiRsV #BBCqt

  • http://twitter.com/harlowtuc/status/175358471598915584 David Forman

    On the subject of racism, read our shocking report on how anti-Traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged: http://t.co/jQeQiRsV #BBCqt

  • http://twitter.com/fergusonkeith/status/175359142557515776 keith ferguson

    On the subject of racism, read our shocking report on how anti-Traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged: http://t.co/jQeQiRsV #BBCqt

  • http://twitter.com/robhove/status/175360696979173376 Rob Jarrett

    On the subject of racism, read our shocking report on how anti-Traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged: http://t.co/jQeQiRsV #BBCqt

  • http://twitter.com/jintyg51/status/175522759638646784 Janet Graham

    On the subject of racism, read our shocking report on how anti-Traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged: http://t.co/jQeQiRsV #BBCqt

  • http://twitter.com/june4th/status/175532736633774080 Noxi

    RT @leftfootfwd …read our shocking report on how anti-Traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged: http://t.co/7QRsnfZ6 #BBCqt

  • http://twitter.com/laughingnoam/status/175532855026388992 Just Say Noam

    RT @leftfootfwd …read our shocking report on how anti-Traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged: http://t.co/7QRsnfZ6 #BBCqt

  • http://twitter.com/rogue1210/status/176697755165655040 Chris Rogue
  • http://www.leftfootforward.org/2012/04/gypsy-traveller-sites-planning-policy/ Coalition’s new planning policy will make more Dale Farm style stand-offs inevitable | Left Foot Forward

    [...] See also: • Anti-Traveller attitudes continue to go unchallenged in Britain 29 Feb [...]