Ruby,I appreciate your conversation with me on this. I see that he is hooligan but I know a lot of hooligans. Tommy is thinking and he is dealing with a real problem in the way natural to him. If you get a chance to look at the video of his conversation with Lord Pearson I think you will see the best of him. At the same time Lord Pearson tells him he’s a pretty naughty boy. The problem is that Tom is the flashpoint the lightning rod for things that should have been talked about a long time ago. It is concerning that he has a following that like himself are not used to resolving issues by outlining problems and then going hard at solutions. They get angry and seem to become aggressive. With no experience of community building he can only do part of the work: he is forcing the issue. But he must work with others like Lord Pearson who is bold like Tommy— but wiser. Pearson knows this business will go to violence if it is simply ignored.
Tommy seems a bit of a loose canon , good hearted but loose . But my sense is that he would be reasonable if he saw Parliament get serious about the need for frank dialogue and action. I hope he would not just want a fight.
Presently I am watching how Britain translates their right/left conversations into processes that can change the snafu that it and Europe is heading for with immigrants.
We are having problems in the US not so much with Islam at present . That may come but we are not as immigrant-saturated as the U.K.. In my opinion the United States is still dealing with a long-standing failure to work for assimilation with the children of African-American slaves. And we are reaping the whirlwind now. We don’t have a way to converse honestly. And the PC culture may have something to do with it.it is confusing.
I am watching Britain. So glad for you to be here.
I’ve thought of making a thread about the horror of prison life if you are white and thrown in with people who truly have been profiled thrown away.( prison is not a good place for Tommy. Not every Mudlim will feel open to him there l sm sure. Prisons are not character-building for men and women )
honest unflinching dialogue must happened we hope for people to live in peace