Liam N. has gotten himself into trouble after telling a a sad, ugly tale about rape and potentially violent revenge fuelled by an equally ugly racism.

 According to Liam a friend of his told him she’d been raped. After learning the rapist was black he spent a week prowling the streets trying to do the right thing (to avenge this woman’s pain and degradation) by righteously beating up a black man (any black man would have done) in an act of justified, righteous revenge.

 It’s a matter of commonplace history that white men have a long history of assaulting and murdering black men and boys for merely looking at (let alone speaking to or even touching) any white female. 

 An awful example of this was the murder of 14year old Emmet Till by Roy Bryant in Mississippi, America, 1955. Roy Bryant decided to execute Young Till after being informed that the boy had flirted with his Carolyn Bryant when shopping at the Bryant store. Bryant and Carolyn’s simply aggrieved brother, J.W. Milam, abducted Young Till, beat him senseless, gouged out his eye, shot him in the head, and then disposed of him in the slow moving Tallahatchie River. 

 It is too easy to think of Young Till’s murder purely as an emotional, racist “I hate blacks” spur of the moment execution, when in fact his death was born out of a deeply racist culture that reached its apex in the notion of  “white honour”, the cherished belief that non-whites could be rightfully killed to defend white culture, white property, and, above all, white women.  

Nowadays the right-wing loves to associate honour killings with crazed Muslims” who have not adopted western values and thus pose a threat to the western civilisation, when in fact the numbers of black men who have been killed by white men defending their honour dwarves any similar acts by Muslims presently residing in the UK, Europe and the US. Between 1882-1968 in the US 3,446 blacks were lynched.  

 The Honour Based Violence Awareness Network defines honour killings as “murders that are carried in the name of protecting cultural beliefs or honour”. 

 A white man’s honour has been historically rooted in his fundamental ability to defend the honour and reputation of his wives, daughters and sisters, aka his chattel.

 Liam’s furious reaction to the assault upon his friend merely confirmed that the person who suffers the most when a white woman has been affronted is, of course, the white man who she belongs to. For how can he be a strong man, a man of honour, when he can’t even protect his own women from the lowest of the low? 

 If Liam had beat up a black man, he would surely have sabotaged his career and served time in prison. Yet his compulsion to do the right thing, to commit an act of “honourable” violence, was far more important to him than any monetary loss. 

 After listening to Liam’s story, I can understand why he was pissed, however I struggle to comprehend why he was  angry enough to beat an innocent stranger to a pulp? 

 Racism was obviously a huge trigger for Liam’s rage, but surely other factors must have been at play and  I can’t help feeling Liam is deliberately trying to obfuscate them.  

 I suspect the truth Liam has sought to deliberately blur lies in his careful use of the word “friend”. 

I don’t believe the woman was merely a friend. I believe she was Liam’s girlfriend. 

 It was Liam’s girlfriend who had been raped. And, just like Roy Bryant who beat Emmitt Till to death, Liam’s implacable adherence to a profoundly racist code of white honour meant he could not tolerate his girlfriend being violated by a black and still view himself as a man. 

 Many years on since he roamed the streets looking to pound a black into the ground it is Liam’s continued emotional and spiritual adherence to his “personal code of honour” that allows him to stoically accept the vituperative, vengeful anger he’s invited. 

 Why? 

Because Liam’s personal honour is composed of many different elements. Yes, racism is part of the wider constituent. And so is pride. As are ignorance and anger. Yet, in Liam’s own mind at least (and that’s ultimately all that matters to him) this honour he values so much also has a strong romantic basis.  

 As far as Liam is concerned he’s still doing the honourable thing by protecting the identity of the girlfriend he loved.

 If Liam had said a “girlfriend” of mine was attacked the media would have raked over his past relationships and tried to identity her. By saying she “passed away” he put his girlfriend’s identify beyond any impertinent questioning. 

 Doing the right thing by this mysterious girlfriend has clearly played a major role in Liam’s life. He must have cared for her deeply.