Trolls complain about Doreen Lawrence’s elevation to the peerage
Yesterday, we added the newly ennobled Baroness Lawrence OBE to our roll call of campaigners. Today, we’ve been inundated by tweets from those who disapprove of this move.
Doreen Lawrence’s son, Stephen, was barbarically murdered in 1993 by racist thugs. Instead of retreating into despair and bitterness, Lawrence put her energy to good use and founded the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust to promote a positive community legacy in her son’s name. She has also served on panels within the Home Office and the Police Service and is a member of the board and council of Liberty and a patron of Stop Hate UK. She is a lady who has done a world of good and for that reason awarding her a title was the right thing to do.
Amongst those who wrote to us objecting to Lawrence becoming a working peer were Twitter users RightSideNews – who told us that the award of the honour is “beneath contempt” – and Paulie Pow –who argued in support of the English Defence League co-founder Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (AKA “Tommy Robinson”) entering the House also.
Both RightSideNews and Paulie Pow have especially unpleasant Twitter handles. On the former, an image of The Queen with a black eye is displayed alongside a “no one is safe from Sharia Law” message whilst Oxford based Pow’s includes an image of a heavily tattooed individual clutching a dog.
Sadly, this kind of activity is illustrative that racism and hatred is still alive and prospering in Britain. Baroness Lawrence, however, will no doubt use her new position to continue to combat it to her best of her ability. We wish her all the very best and salute her.
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