As the attacker punched his teenage victim in the head at Liberation Station, he was surrounded by a gang who warned that Jersey was ‘their Island’. The visitor was left with a partially paralysed face.
This was a hate crime fuelled by small-minded ignorance of the sort that can do serious damage to Jersey’s reputation. It was as disgraceful as it is pathetic.
More worrying still, this was not the first time that foreign students have been the victims of attacks with an apparent racist dimension. Four years ago, two French teenagers were viciously attacked by a gang of local girls who told them to ‘go back to France’. On another occasion, a group from an Austrian school was chased through the streets of town, something which led the visiting teachers to vow never to return to Jersey.
The disgust expressed in this newspaper by St Helier Simon Crowcroft at these attacks is echoed by every right-thinking member of our community.
In some perverse and misguided way, the idiotic thugs might believe that they are projecting a strong and proud sense of Island identity. They could not be more wrong.
Rarely has national pride hit such a high as it did during the London Olympics. That sense of Britishness – welcoming, positive and confident – was founded on home-grown excellence and the embrace of diversity which the games celebrate.
With the 2015 Jersey (Nat West??) Island Games just around the corner, we must ask what can be done to address negative attitudes towards foreign guests who are so essential to the Island economy.
As Mr Crowcroft said, violent incidents, although rare, can do ‘incalculable damage’ to our tourism industry which promotes Jersey as the safe and friendly place it certainly is.
Every Islander has a duty to fight baseless prejudice. Education at school and in the home should promote tolerance and acceptance.
We must also ask how we deal with those who let the Island down so badly. The 16-year-old responsible for the latest attack was sentenced to 120 hours’ community service and 12 months’ probation, but could not by law be identified because of his age.
Has the time not come when we should consider naming and shaming teenagers who do the Island such damage?
