It seems they’ve caught the Malmö killer. News that they’ve apprehended and remanded a suspect in a criminal case spun as a immigrant-hating-serial killer has immigrant-looking people in Malmö saying they’re feeling safer. So I guess me and my black head o’ hair ought to feel smug as a bug in rug in Malmö. Most likely.
However, with electing into parliament an openly immigrant-unfriendly political party, Sweden Democrats (SD), and the controversy around this Malmö case and the way the police and media are handling it, we blatte, the black-headed immigrants (old fashioned svart skalle) are in the crossfire figuratively and literally (though perhaps not now with the alleged shooter behind bars.)
So where does that leave us non-Swedish looking types? I’ve somewhat intentionally left alone the discussion of the election of SD into parliament. I don’t understand the supposed “shock” expressed by many Swedes that they were voted in (they were polling over 4% –the threshold number to get seats) coming into the election and I am disappointed that Swedes haven’t figured out that if you want something to go away you can’t just ignore it. I have been trying to discuss the discrimination and latent (and mostly unintended) racism towards the non-Swedes for nearly 2 decades. The most common rebuttal is a denial that it could exist since most Swedes are kind-hearted and well-intentioned. I don’t refute that for an instant. But if you don’t want to address the spin-off effect, even as unintentional as can be, you will never be rid of it. So, I kind of feel it’s the same story just later on.
But there are even other newer developments within the Swedish society now. Swedish media has in general a tradition to not publish names and faces of suspects. In fact, convicted criminals also normally enjoy anonymity at the hands of the media (a huge debate in and of itself). However, now one of the main newspapers, Expressen (and The Local too) have released both.
One thing is for sure, the term “blatte” ain’t gonna be less used anytime soon. Sigh.
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