Early last November, during a heated discussion with her fellow passengers on a crowded Wimbledon to Croydon tram, a grumpy and stressed 34-year-old former dental receptionist named Emma West proffered up some rather un-PC opinions about immigration and what she saw as the loss of Britain’s identity. The single mother of two remained in her seat throughout, and issued no physical or verbal threats, but she complained – profanely – that Britain’s identity has been lost due to excessive immigration (she singled out Poles, Nicaraguans, and “blacks”), and opined that these people should go back and “sort out (their) own countries.”
She would soon pay a massive price for her expressions. At the time of the incident British Transport officers merely escorted her off the tram and waited with her for the next one, but when one of her fellow passengers posted a cellphone video (language warning) a few weeks later, a nationwide womanhunt commenced – even the leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party got in on the act, issuing an “important appeal” to track her down – and on November 29th West was arrested and charged with racially-aggravated harassment. Denied bail over fears of revenge attacks after her home address was circulated online, the distraught West was sent to a category A prison (“the highest security prison in England…for ‘prisoners…whose escape would be highly dangerous to the public or national security’) and her children were taken away from her by social services.
Now infamous, West would become an entirely unwitting lightning rod for inflamed passions on both sides of the immigration debate. British journalist and CNN host Piers Morgan tweeted that she should be deported, scores of “anti-racist” online commenters called for her to be beaten and/or raped, and multiple death threats were issued. On the other side, anti-immigration proponents and white nationalists of all stripes appropriated her name and image, and practically deified her for her anxious outburst.
Tough gig for a single working-class mum with a history of severe depression.
One week after Emma West was arrested and jailed, four Somali-born Muslim women who had brutally assaulted a passer-by, kicking her bloody and unconscious while shouting “kill the white slag!” and “white b****!”, walked free from court. Unlike Emma West, they had not been charged with any race-related offences.