Rachel from Piddington was magnificent on
#Newsnight.
She described how hard-right activists and “plastic patriots” arriving from outside the village have used fear to organise hostility towards plans to house 1,200 asylum seekers, bringing overt racism into what had always been a peaceful community.
When
@vicderbyshire said local women were worried about 1,200 male asylum seekers, Rachel rightly reframed it:
“Women would be worried about 1,200 men from anywhere.”
Legitimate questions about the scale and management of the site must be answered. But women’s safety must not be weaponised to portray every asylum seeker as a sexual threat.
Rachel eventually broke down while describing what it feels like to discover that she is living among such prejudice.
An excellent, courageous interview. It will deeply upset all the usual people which rather proves her point.
"It's really upsetting - it's always been the most amazingly peaceful place to live and we've never experienced the level of overt racism that we’re witnessing"
Rachel, a Piddington resident, expresses her concern at some of the arguments made in opposition to plans for a nearby disused MoD base to house 1200 male asylum seekers.
#Newsnight