Rosa Parks, you ain’t.
An English teacher and Labour Party activist who was kicked off a train for fare dodging before hurling abuse at a station guard said the arrest was her ‘Rosa Parks moment’, a court heard.
I presume that she will find an excuse for her criminal behaviour? Rosa Parks was protesting Jim Crow laws – you know, actual racism, segregation entrenched in the law of the land. This woman is merely a common thief.
The activist, who also teaches drama at Trinity High School in Hulme, was stopped by Northern Rail official Steven MacDonald, who asked the woman if she had a valid ticket.
This is a fair question.
Ndukwe responded: ‘Are you taking the f***ing p***,’ before telling him ‘You are a f***ing d***head’ and walking away, Bolton Magistrates’ Court heard.
That would be a “no,” then.
She then boarded the train, which was consequently delayed by an hour while British Transport Police were called to escort Ndukwe away from the scene.
Yup, standard practice when someone tries to steal a ride.
The teacher later claimed she bought a ticket in advance through the Northern Rail app and accused staff of racism, even comparing herself to civil rights activist Rosa Parks.
Bingo. Of course her failure to produce a valid ticket to travel was because of racism. What else could it possibly be? Railway staff will apprehend anyone no matter what their colour or creed if they are travelling without a ticket. This was no Rosa Parks moment. Indeed, I suspect Parks would be appalled at what is being done in her name by this petty thief.
Ndukwe claimed she ‘did have a ticket as I always do’, adding: ‘It is absolutely not true that I tailgated.
‘Train staff all know the app is temperamental and there is always a risk of losing a mobile service connection.’
If it works the same way as the airline ones, the mobile connection is neither here nor there as it is stored on the phone. Besides, that was the conversation she should have had – politely – when she was first approached rather than go straight into the abusive behaviour. Or, if she was having problems with the app, she could have approached the platform staff and asked for help – it’s what they are there for. It’s what a reasonable person would do. She clearly didn’t have a ticket and got caught. Now she has been found guilty. I guess the court is racist too.
‘Nobody in this process was interested in seeing my ticket. I felt humiliated, violated and extremely upset when I was arrested. It brought tears to my eyes.
‘I guess I was staring racism in the face. People asked what had happened on the train. Two passengers felt uncomfortable with what they were watching.
‘People were telling the staff to leave me alone. They were upset.’
Which was why they never asked for the ticket – oh, wait, that was the first thing that Steven MacDonald asked for and she couldn’t produce one. The platform staff and BT Plod were doing their jobs correctly here. As for denying the abusive behaviour, there were witnesses, so, er…
So we have someone from an ethnic minority getting caught committing a criminal offence and is treated in exactly the same way anyone else doing the same thing would have been treated, yet she is trying to blame everyone else for it and of course, racism.
No, she is no Rosa Parks, she lacks the necessary class.
That: “Indeed, I suspect Parks would be appalled at what is being done in her name by this petty thief.”
This vulgar woman should have her punishment doubled for daring comparing herself to Rosa Parks.
Perhaps it was her way of claiming her “reparations”.
As we now have a range of rather dubious aggravating factors taken into account when sentencing, shouldn’t claiming racism where there was none lead to an increase in the penalty she faces?
I suppose it’s too much to expect that Trinity High School in Hulme will immediately invoke disciplinary procedures for gross misconduct for bringing the school into disrepute and failing to set a good example to their pupils, followed by dismissal.
You’d like to think so. In my role, I’d probably lose my training certificate under the fit and proper person rules.
Its incredibly rare for teachers to be dismissed or banned from the profession (only really seems to happen if it’s a safeguarding issue). I did a quick search and found a document for 2019-20 that had the following stats:
– 985 referrals of teacher misconduct
– 462 cases of alleged serious misconduct which had a panel meeting
– 51 were imposed Interim Prohibition Orders (IPO- i.e banned pending a legal case)
(source- https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/823307/Teachers_Regulation_Agency_Text.pdf)
That’s only 5% of cases brought to the Teachers Regulation Agency lead to dismissal.
“The activist, who also teaches drama at Trinity High School in Hulme”
Well you have to concede that it’s 10/10 for the drama created. Shame it’s a tired, worn out old victim script…
As soon as I see someone described as an activist, I automatically translate it to arsehole. I’m invariably right.
Does she ever wonder why there might be people who think that black people are inferior? Could she perhaps think of any reason that they might think that?
There are millions of honest, hard-working, non-crazy intelligent black people without chips on their shoulders in the UK.
Why can’t the Labour Party ever find any to represent them?
Because they are intelligent hard working non-crazy people without chips on their shoulders?
BTW anyone here seen Unforgotten on ITV? One of the main characters is an Asian copper with a massive chip on his shoulder, who plays the race card whenever his conduct is questioned. I was surprised that was given approval!
I’ve seen previous series. I’ve recorded this one. I’ll see for myself. That said, it’s been mentioned elsewhere how many BAME CID officers there are in television drama. Completely unrealistic.
If I had a £ for every time I was in this situation with a black criminal. You can also bet that she was being filmed by do-gooders whilst this was all happening who were sympathetic to her without knowing the full facts.
The sad thing is that some deluded people will support her and believe that it was a racist stop. You can’t reason with them.
You can’t reason with those who lack reasons capacity or capability.
You cannot reason with the unreasonable.
I have a ethnic minority great grandfather, never really thought about it. I don’t remember him as he died when I was 4. I am beginning to realise how useful it might be if I ever need an excuse for anything!