28-year-old Sabina Nessa was attacked and killed in south-east London park on September 17. She was attacked as she walked from her home on Estelle Road to meet her friend in South East London, at 20:30 local time.
The next morning, her body was found near a walkway in the park. It took the British media days to notice an innocent woman was murdered in the middle of London city.
A post-mortem examination carried out on Monday was found to be inconclusive. Police launched a murder inquiry and arrested a suspect but released him after a little investigation.
Now imagine, Sabina Nessa was a white-privileged girl murdered on way to meet her friend. Had the police and the media response been the same if Sabina Nessa was not a woman of color?
Unfortunately, one does not have to look far in the past to find the answer. Sarah Everard, a 33-year-old marketing executive, had disappeared in South London, England as she was walking home from a friend’s house on the evening of 3 March 2021.
On 9 March 2021, Wayne Couzens, a Metropolitan Police officer was arrested on suspicion of Everard’s kidnapping and murder. On 10 March, her remains were discovered and the murderer was charged only two days later.
In the first week after Everard’s death, there were twice as many posts on Facebook and 50% more interactions with those posts as compared to posts on Nessa’s murder. 225,000 people reacted to a post about Everard in the seven days immediately after her death, only 148,000 have responded to the news of Nessa’s death.
Without any doubt Sarah was an innocent victim and deserved justice but doesn’t Sabina Nessa at least deserve coverage? Both the outrage and swiftness of justice is simply remarkable when white lives are at stakes.
Following Sabina’s murder, a community group has distributed information sheets advising women on how to protect themselves at night. The Royal Greenwich Safer Spaces team is distributing personal alarms to women and vulnerable residents. The advice, printed on a sheet from the Met Police website, also includes suggestions that passers-by should face traffic and have their jewelry hidden.
The Police claims to fully involved in the case while hundreds attended a vigil in London for the 28 year-old teacher. After releasing the sole suspect in Nessa’s murder, police is advising people to stay in the “spotlight” while the murderer continues to roam free.
Nessa was a kind soul and an exceptional teacher at a Primary School in Catford. But unfortunately either she wasn’t “white enough” or “too Muslim” to draw attention of media and law enforcement.
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