Tamsyn’s multicultural nightmare

Posted by Guest Blogger on Sunday, 18 December 2005 03:06.

Tamsyn Lewis is an Australian runner, currently preparing for next year’s Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. She is undeniably attractive, and gets a fair bit of media attention here in Australia.

Earlier this month, Tamsyn revealed that she is still haunted by a nightmare experience which occurred in England in 2002, when she was preparing for the Manchester Commonwealth Games.

She was short of money at the time and so decided to base herself in the London suburb of Brixton. It was not a good choice. Not only were two people down the road murdered and her neighbour held up at knifepoint, she herself suffered two attacks during her brief stay.

On one occasion she was at a bus stop when a man leered at her. She told him to go away and he smashed a bottle and threated to cut her and kill her with it. Another time, she was walking along the street when a man tried to pull her into a parked car. She fought him off and ran away.

Brixton is, of course, one of the more multicultural suburbs of London. We are always being told how much our lives will be enriched by the multicultural experience, but clearly Tamsyn does not feel at all rewarded by her time in Brixton. She remains frightened to this day by her experiences there.

Tags: Law & Order

Comments:

Posted by John on Sun, 18 Dec 2005 10:08 | #

Brixton is filling up with queers and yuppies atm. Many of our coloured frends don’t like the rising prices and are moving out.

Posted by Guessedworker on Sun, 18 Dec 2005 10:09 | #

Mark,

Does the eponymous bloke reading the Sunday Herald Sun know what is meant by “the tough suburb of Brixton, South London”? Does he understand that it isn’t simply “men” who threatened Tamsyn with a glassing and abduction?

Posted by Mark Richardson on Sun, 18 Dec 2005 11:43 | #

GW, good question. Most Australians would not know about Brixton and its demographics, unless they happen to remember the Brixton riots (I expect that most don’t). Even so, most Australians have had dealings with the English and are on familiar and friendly terms (despite sporting and other rivalries) so that many, I expect, might wonder about what kind of a suburb Brixton is for a young Australian woman to be treated in such a manner.

Posted by Phil on Sun, 18 Dec 2005 13:17 | #

She was lucky. It could have been far worse.

I remember talking to an acquaintance who was about to leave for Florida on holiday a couple of years ago. As a friend I thought it was my duty to warn them of the dangers, particularly in Miami. So I told them to avoid areas that are populated by you know who.

Instead, I got a long lecture from them about racial stereotyping and racism and that they were “appalled” that I bought into such rubbish. So I thought to myself, “if you get shot mate, don’t blame me”.

Now I only warn people if they are likely to listen.

Posted by Guessedworker on Sun, 18 Dec 2005 13:30 | #

Phil,

Not so many years ago there was a wave of publicity of armed attacks on tourists picking up hire cars from Miami airport. The Foreign Office very properly urged caution about the routes holiday-makers should drive on leaving the airport.

Of course, it would be too much to ask that anti-racist ideologues comported themselves faux-morally into the wrong areas and were promptly re-educated. Life is unfair.

Posted by Phil on Sun, 18 Dec 2005 14:24 | #

GW,

Yes I remember those vividly.

I also ended up having some interesting conversations with people before leaving for South Africa. I wish I could put all the hilarious quotes I got - from the hilarious to the downright absurd.

Some excerpts:

“Driving through the country is not dangerous at all. People just make a big deal of it. Me and my girlfriend hired a car and drove around. It was fine”

“Crime is all psychological anyway”

“Don’t get too influenced by scare stories”

“We went there two years ago and we didn’t see any crime”

“We were in J’burg and it was fine. I mean there are parts of town that aren’t safe but you have that everywhere.”

etc.

Listening to all the horror stories from New Orleans after Katrina hit, you had to wonder what kind of an idiot would go there in the first place (especially if the person in question was white)? And then they come back shellshocked. Well, what did they expect from a mob of crazed blacks?

Posted by ross on Thu, 22 Dec 2005 06:49 | #

Do the savages in Brixton match the level of primitive moronism displayed by Lebanese undesirables in Sydney?
Their unwanted intrusion into civilised societies is the sin of politicians and media creeps who gag and intimidate the majority.

Posted by Brixton Resident on Mon, 06 Feb 2006 04:44 | #

Listen you racist fools. Like many inner city areas Brixton has its problems, but the experience of “Tamsyn” is rare here. As a visitor you are more likely to be met with smiles and assistance - honestly. From both black and white people.

Unless of course you are a racist shit from mono-cultural Australia who talks down to people and is totally complacent in his/her own complete ignorance!

And by the way - if the world truly had “majority rule” based on race - it wouldn’t be caucasian.