When Marieha Hussain was arrested for a placard of a coconut tree with pictures of Rishi Sunak and Suella Braverman pasted on it, most people assumed it would come to nothing.
Satire in this country is still allowed, the last time I checked.
I’ve written many times in this column about the likes of former PM Sunak, ex-Home Secretaries Braverman, James ‘not so’ Cleverley, and Priti Patel, who would unplug your life-support machine to charge her phone.
All of them, across successive cabinets, weaponised their colour to legitimise reprehensible Tory policies, making life hell for Black and Brown people.
In non-white vernacular, such a person would be described as a “coconut”. As you might expect, it isn’t a pleasant term. It is cruel, barbed and unkind, designed to leave the recipient in no doubt as to how they are regarded by their own race.
Is it racist? No. Largely because it is a cultural critique within specific racial communities. Rarely will you see it used outside those groups. It doesn’t have anything like the history or impact as offensive terms such as the “N” word or the “P” word.
Nor does the term necessarily relate solely to politics. It could apply to any one of a number of areas within our society.
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Last week, however, the legal system showed their lack of understanding around it. Heavily pregnant Marieha was pursued to Westminster Magistrates’ Court where she was found to be not guilty.
She’d been on a pro-Palestine march last year. Pictures of her placard went viral on social media. But not as viral as news that police and the CPS were going after her.
The biggest irony here is that the institutional racism within both organisations is still to be addressed. The CPS accepted a charge of institutionalised racism 23 years ago, while Baroness Casey’s report from last year while Baroness Casey’s report from last year stated London’s Metropolitan Police is similarly infected.
The good news is that Marieha’s case was brought by the CPS under a Tory government that had been shown the door by a public tired of their attempts to divide.
The bad news is that the attempt to police free speech is a warning to us all – regardless of our politics – to be vigilant.