By Kisean Joseph
An Antiguan woman living in the United Kingdom says she’s afraid for her safety amid racially-charged riots sparked by the murders of three children in a knife attack.
Bebe King, six, Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, and Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, died after a knifeman entered a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport, near Liverpool, on July 29. Ten others were seriously injured.
Misinformation that the killer was a Muslim immigrant was quickly spread online. It later emerged that 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana was British-born but the rumours incited riots in several areas of England by far-right protestors who targeted mosques and hotels housing asylum-seekers.
The tension has created widespread fear and confusion among immigrants and ethnic minorities, including Antiguans like Sherryann Francis.
“I am feeling very anxious because I am not sure where they will attack next,” Francis, who has been living in the UK for 35 years, told the Daily Observer.
“The family is a bit fearful about what they’ve seen on the news and what’s happening so I have to reassure them daily; it’s about checking in and just letting everybody know that I’m okay. I get home from work, and once I’m in, I’m in.”
Francis, who lives in Tottenham, London, said this is the first time she has encountered racial unrest in the UK on such a large scale.
“I get angry because I just feel like all of this is in the name of what? These families that are grieving for their children and their loved ones, what legacy are you leaving for them in this period?
“All they’re going to remember is the time when we had all these riots everywhere, in every city there was a riot,” Francis said.
Francis grew up in Herbert’s Estate, where her parents still live, before moving to England to study.
A qualified midwife for the last 16 years, she now works full-time as a midwifery manager for Britain’s National Health Service (NHS).
The riots are the worst England has seen since the summer of 2011 when unrest erupted following the police killing of 29-year-old Black British man Mark Duggan.
“I just feel like why should I be fearful when I’m leaving my house every day to go to work to earn a living? That for me just doesn’t feel right,” Francis continued.
“Tottenham has a big BAME [Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic] community; you just worry, is Tottenham going to be the next place they turn up and attack?
“However, one this is all done, trust me, all of that anxiety will just disappear and we will just go back to normal,” Francis added.
In response to the far-right rioters, tens of thousands of antiracist protestors have filled the streets of major cities across England in a show of solidarity for immigrants and refugees.
