Croydon Magistrates Court has remanded Emma West in custody for her own protection. In a hearing held on December 6th 2011, she was told that she will spend Christmas and New Year behind bars, before appearing in court again on January 3rd. She wept openly, as bail was denied and the realisation hit that she would be separated from her two young children over the festive period.
She is charged with a racially aggravated public order offence.
Emma West and the My Tram Experience Controversy
Emma West is the woman at the centre of a race related storm, which is being reported and debated globally. The former dental assistant was secretly filmed unleashing a torrent of racist abuse at fellow passengers on a South London tram. The footage was uploaded onto YouTube under the title My Tram Experience.
12 million people have so far watched the video, which was posted on November 27th 2011. It has received 247,336 comments. They arrive so fast that it reads like an over-crowded chat room. She was arrested after some of those viewers supplied her name to the British Transport Police. Nearly 1000 news reports have covered the story in publications spanning the globe.
The courtroom heard that Ms West's address had been posted on Facebook and that her family had received death threats. As a result, bail was refused for her own safety.
Issues Being Raised by My Tram Experience
In the glare of publicity, individuals and communities are debating the issues raised by My Tram Experience and the subsequent arrest of Ms West. Journalists and bloggers are often leading the discussions.
Lauren Collins of the New Yorker linked racism with anxieties over immigration and the feeling that the British government aren't adequately managing the numbers in sustainable levels. The University of York's Nouse newspaper advocated more racial tolerance and awareness classes throughout the country. The Guardian's Hugh Muir thought that Britons were losing a collective sense of right and wrong, under the often offensive bulldozer of freedom of speech and expression.
''My tram experience' is shocking – but should it be cause for arrest?'' asked his colleague, Sunny Hundal. He worried that involving the law would ultimately backfire upon the ethnic minorities in Britain itself. He cited several examples where this had occurred in the past, then pondered the wisdom of prosecuting over what amounted to an argument on a tram.
These are just a few examples from the myriad out there.
White Supremacists Rally Behind Emma West
Members of Britain First - who describe themselves as a patriotic political party - have been holding a demonstration outside HMP Bronzefield, in Ashford, where Ms West is being held. Fewer than twenty delegates gathered, holding banners reading 'Free Emma West' and 'Take Our Country Back', while waving the Union flag and the Saxon White Dragon.
They are led by Andy McBride, who was the regional organiser for the British National Party until recently. He told Demotix that this was primarily 'a protest over the right to freedom of speech'. Substantially fewer people turned up than was hoped by Britain First chairman, Paul Golding. He reportedly e-mailed 70,000 sympathisers, inviting them to attend. The former BNP councillor for Swanley must have been disappointed with the meagre response.
Meanwhile, International Business Times UK reported that the far-right group Stormfront were raising money for Emma West's defence fund. She was being billed by them as a 'white hero'.
My Tram Experience is an Opportunity for Dialogue
One thing is made crystal clear by the outcry, on both sides, over the Emma West case. It has made racism a hot topic and therefore created a perfect opportunity for dialogue. Those defending or criticising her rant are able to cloister around it their own views on a much larger issue.
Instead of being hidden, as a perceived ill of the past, racism is suddenly centre stage again, along with facts, opinions and education. It can only be hoped that all of this publicity and debate stops the next Emma West being raised with the notion that racism is alright. Thus she will escape incarceration without her children over Christmas.
Jo Harrington - Jo has a BA (Hons) in History and Philosophy and a MA in History. She has a book published on the history of Wicca.
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