Page 12 - Urban Kapital Magazine Autumn 21

I WON’T BE INTIMIDATED AND I WON’T BE SILENCED!
GUILTY BY RACE?

Campaigners say: The attempted A serious accusation was made that Ms
destruction of Claudia Webbe and other Webbe threatened Ms Merrit with acid.
high profile black women must stop! An accusation Claudia Webbe
vehemently denies. However, despite
A Campaign has been launched by her denial and good standing as a
community led, grassroots senior politician, despite there being no
organisations to show solidarity and evidence to support those accusations,
support for Claudia Webbe ahead of her despite the fact audio recordings played
sentencing. Ms Webbe was convicted on in court did not contain such threats and
14th October for Harassment. Ms Webbe is instead heard repeatedly
telling the woman to leave her
Ms Webb reacted with a statement relationship alone.
saying,

“The judge had a choice to believe Despite this, Judge Goldspring decided
someone who happened to be white or to convict the long-standing politician,
me. Despite my many years of public saying he didn’t believe her. In addition,
service the judge chose to believe my the tabloids used the acid threat as an
accuser,” she said on the day of her opening line and Ms Webbe was
conviction. suspended by the labour party.

She is not alone in her concerns about “This is not justice; rather, this case is
the underlying references to racial an example of someone being
injustice and the ‘bringing down of black discredited, dehumanised, and
women’ as described by a new campaign presented for us to subscribe to the
set up to support Claudia and change angry black woman, who is
the bias narrative that is – in their aggressively charged and ready to kill
opinion – designed to destroy her someone for a man. It’s disturbing, It’s
career and her personal reputation as a Claudia today, it could be you or your
high-profile black female politician. loved ones tomorrow! We need to stand
up to this injustice”.

Claudia Webbe is a British politician
who has served as a Member of The conviction has angered many peo-
Parliament for Leicester East since ple from local African, Caribbean, and
2019. Born in Leicester, she was a South Asian communities who have
councillor in the London Borough of come together to form the group
Islington until her resignation in March #friends4claudia after what they
2019, having served as its cabinet describe as an unjust sentence, based
member for environment and transport. on a conversation that has been blown
out of all proportion. And a situation that
Claudia has also served as an elected they describe as political and
Memberof the National Executive ‘dangerous’, the group aims to raise
Committee which is the administrative awareness about racial injustice for all
authority of the Labour Party that over- black women, and say this current case
sees the overall direction of the party is an example of how black women are
and the policy-making process. portrayed as angry, territorial and
aggressive to the point that even
The MP was accused of threatening so- Claudia’s public status was not enough
MAGAZINE // 12 had allegedly been pursuing Editor: Marceline Powell
called ‘love rival’ Michelle Merrit, who to impact on that stereotype. Instead,
she was convicted solely on the word of
a relationship with Ms Webb’s partner. her ‘victim’, a white woman. Continued...