Woman guilty of 'racist' Snap Dogg rap lyric Instagram post

[antijoke]

So here is another daily dose of outrage....

A teenager who posted rap lyrics which included racist language on Instagram has been found guilty of sending a grossly offensive message.

Chelsea Russell, 19, from Liverpool posted the lyric from Snap Dogg's I'm Trippin' to pay tribute to a boy who died in a road crash, a court heard.

Russell argued it was not offensive, but was handed a community order.

Prosecutors said her sentence was increased from a fine to a community order "as it was a hate crime".

She was charged after Merseyside Police were anonymously sent a screenshot of her update.

Lol, tagged and community service for posting a song lyric online.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-43816921

 

[antijoke]

Same. If it was literally a lyric quote.

Apparently the lyric was "‘kill a snitch n**** and rob a rich n****.’" and was in her insta bio too.

 

[antijoke]

There's also this

Angela Conlan, prosecuting, told the court that the words were posted to the bio section of Russell’s Instagram account, and then reported to police last year.

The content was then passed to Constable Dominique Walker, who is based within a specialist police hate crime unit.

The court heard that Ms Walker was the sister of Anthony Walker, who was the victim of a notorious race hate murder on Merseyside.

PC Walker told the court that she found the words on Russell’s Instagram account grossly offensive.

She said: “As a black woman I found the words offensive and upsetting. The words are offensive to both black and white people.”

PC Walker also asked Carole Clarke, defending, not to use the word n**** in the court because she found it so offensive.

Ms Clarke argued that the meaning of the ‘n’ word had changed over time because it had been popularised by hugely successful and popular rap artists such as Jay-Z, Eminem and Kanye West.

But PC Walker said that the ‘n word’ was always offensive, whether used by white or black people. She also said that it did not matter how the word was spelt.

https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/woman-who-posted-rap-lyrics-14543694

 

[antijoke]

You're being deliberately stupid, I realise.

but I've been consistent - it's about context. A very famous song's very famous lyrics might carry their context with them, since it's recognised by most for what it is - a quote. Without that context, you're just left with an offensive statement.

So you are OK with people getting punished by the law for just posting a lyric on social media?

 

[antijoke]

I'm not entirely, no. But I can understand why you might be. Especially posting what she did on a tribute to a dead kid.

How can you understand why you might be punished by the law?

It's ridiculous!

 

[antijoke]

No no. The whole point of racial equality is all races are equal. This means all laws and judgements apply equally to all races. Either a word is offensive or it is not. It is not offensive just because someone of a different race says it.

I know where Sonny is coming from black people have taken ownership of the word, it's not as simple as the C word being offensive.

But the point of this case is that a black police officer thinks the word is offensive whoever says it, I think this would require a blanket approach that if a black person posted the same lyrics on social media they would get screwed as well.

Either way, it's still very stupid.

 

[antijoke]

I think if she was black then this wouldn't have even been investigated, yes

Maybe, maybe not. The officer who took offence at this states it doesn’t matter what colour your skin is, the word is offensive.

Whether they would only get charged with posting offensive things and not be upgraded to a hate crime who knows

 

[antijoke]

How can quotation be racist? If a historian references mein kampf does that mean he is guilty of antisemitism?

The thought police would probably want a word just to make sure.