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Murder rap
The British Home
Secretary,
Jacqui Smith granted a visa and work
permit to a Jamaican singer who incites the
murder of gay people, while the Metropolitan
Police were happy to collude by allowing the
concert to go ahead. The human-rights
campaigner
Peter Tatchell is
angry, and tells us why.
Although inciting murder
is a serious criminal offence, Jacqui Smith
gave
Bounty Killer (a.k.a. Rodney
Price), permission to perform at a concert
in east London on 23 November.
Bounty Killer was banned
from Guyana earlier this year, but the
British government says he is welcome to
sing in the UK. A white racist singer who
advocated the killing of black people would
be refused entry to Britain. Why the double
standards?
This singer encourages
and glorifies gang violence. At a time when
so many young people have been murdered in
gang-related gun and knife crime, it is
reckless and obscene for the Home Secretary
to give Bounty Killer a visa and work
permit. Rewarding maladjusted thugs who
incite violence sends the wrong signal.
Mr Killer helps reinforce
and legitimate gang violence by encouraging,
glorifying and celebrating the killing of
gay people. His negative impact goes way
beyond the gay community. He psyches up a
whole generation to see hatred and violence
as cool and street cred.
For the sake of parents
whose sons have been murdered in gang
attacks, it is time we closed the door on
Bounty Killer and similar murder-music
singers.
I wrote to Jacqui Smith
setting out six reasons why she should
revoke Bounty Killer’s visa and work permit.
I am also critical of blacks MPs, and
believe they are silent and spineless.
Murder
music
Murder music fuels the
culture of violence that has claimed the
lives of dozens of black teenagers. Instead
of speaking out, black MPs sit on their
hands and say nothing. They don’t condemn
singers like Bounty Killer, who encourage
straight black men to murder gay black men,
and who incite a culture of violence that
fuels gang warfare and has resulted in the
killing of more than 20 black youths in
London this year.
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Peter
Tatchell |
Let me give readers a few
short examples of the type of lyric Bounty
Killer uses to incite homophobia. These
lines are from a song called “Another
Level”:
Bun a fire pon a puff and mister fagoty
(Uh huh)
[Translation: Burn a
fire on poofs and faggots (Uh huh)]
Poop
man fi drown an dat a
yawd man philosophy (Uh huh)
[Translation: Shit men [queer men] must
be drowned and that’s a yardy man
[Jamaican] philosophy]
Here
are more, from “Man A Badman”:
You know we need no promo to rub out dem
homo
[Translation: You know we don’t need
prompting to rub out, i.e. kill, a homo]
And,
finally, a line from “Look Good”:
Mi
ready fi go wipe out this fag wid pure
laser beam
[Translation: I’m
ready to go wipe out this faggot with a
pure laser beam]
In urging Jacqui Smith to
ban Price from entering and performing in
the UK, I wrote on behalf of the LGBT
human-rights group
OutRage! saying that, in view of the
unacceptable levels of gang violence and gun
and knife crime, which has tragically
claimed the lives of so many young people,
we urged her to take prompt, effective
action against singers, such as Price, “who
contribute to the acceptability of gang
culture and violence by encouraging,
glorifying and celebrating the killing of
LGBT human beings”.
Letter
Home
My letter (written before
the 23 November concert, of course)
continued, “We respectfully request that you
deny Rodney Price/Bounty Killer (BK) a visa
and work permit (or revoke his visa and work
permit) and prohibit him from performing in
the UK on the following grounds":
(1) BK has not signed
the Reggae Compassionate Act, whereby
artists promise to halt inciting hatred
and violence – indeed, he was asked to
sign the RCA and he refused to do so.
(2) BK has incited
murder, which is a serious criminal
offence and a threat to public order.
(3) BK has
specifically incited the murder of LGBT
people, which is a threat to community
cohesion and good community
relations [. . .]
(4) BK has been
associated with repeated concert
violence and anti-gay hatred and abuse.
Caribbean World News reported in
April this year that the government of
Guyana has banned BK on the grounds of
violence, disorder and his torrent of
homophobic abuse at his concert that
month.
(5) The Home Office
and the Metropolitan Police ban foreign
racists and those who incite racist
violence from entering the UK and
performing in public, so you should
adopt the same policy towards foreign
homophobes and those who incite
homophobic violence: no entry, no
concert. LGBT people are entitled to the
same protection from murderous
incitements as black people – no more,
no less.
(6) BK’s incitements
of violence are not confined to
overseas. His songs advocating the
killing of gay people are played on some
radio stations and sold be some records
stores in the UK. BK is therefore
inciting violence and murder within the
UK.
We do not accept the
Met Police excuse that Bounty Killer
will not be permitted to perform songs
that incite homophobic violence at his
concert on Sunday. This does not make
his performance acceptable.
A white racist singer
who advocated killing black people would
not be allowed to perform in London,
even if he agreed to not incite the
killing of black people at his concert.
The Met Police would argue that any
stage performance by a white racist
singer would risk public disorder and
damage community cohesion. They would
ban him, full stop. They have adopted
this zero tolerance policy towards white
racist bands.
Yet when it comes to
straight homophobic singers who urge the
murder of gay people, the police take a
softer stance. They have agreed to let
the Bounty Killer concert go ahead on
Sunday [23 November], despite the
police’s professed commitment to oppose
homophobic hate crimes.
As Home Secretary, we
believe you should stop Bounty Killer
from entering the UK. He has committed
the criminal offence of incitement to
murder. If a white singer advocated the
killing of black people he would not be
allowed into the country. You would
rightly insist on his exclusion; and
deny him a visa and work permit. Why
should there be double standards?
It is unacceptable to
say that racism is worse than homophobia
and that different standards should
apply.
Allowing Bounty
Killer to enter the UK is particularly
difficult to justify, given the
exclusion from Britain of the American
Black Muslim leader, Louis Farrakhan, of
the Nation of Islam. I don’t agree with
Mr Farrakhan’s politics or religion, but
he has not urged his followers to kill
anyone. So, if he is banned from the UK,
singers like Bounty Killer who incite
the murder of LGBT people should
definitely also be banned.
I hope this
information will prompt swift action by
you to block Bounty Killer’s entry into
the UK and his performance this Sunday.
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Jacqui Smith |
In spite of our best
efforts, this homophobe was allowed to stage
his concert. Jacqui Smith and Sir Paul
Stephenson have ignored all polite, peaceful
lobbying by the LGBT community. They have
treated our community with total contempt.
They condemn gun and
knife crime, and deplore the terrible
killings of young Londoners, yet they
facilitate a singer who promotes murder.
I have been tipped off by
an officer at New Scotland Yard that the Met
Police have decided that they would cancel
Bounty Killer’s concert only if there had
been a likelihood of public disorder. This
is a tacit encouragement of violent
protests.
New Scotland Yard’s
approval of Bounty Killer’s concert, despite
his committing the criminal offence of
incitement to murder, is absolutely
shameful.
So, I’m urging readers to
protest to the acting Metropolitan Police
Commissioner,
Sir Paul Stephenson and to the Home
Secretary,
Jacqui Smith. We need to keep them under
pressure for future situations of this kind.
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