Maajid Nawaz explains the relevance quite concisely here:
I think you're missing the point of what I'm saying. I understand the issues raised on the clip.
The point I'm making is in relation to whether I'm willing to sign the petition. Were the tables turned and these gangs be largely white men abusing Asian girls, I would still sign it. My being willing to sign it has absolutely nothing to do with the race of the perpetrators.
The offences themselves and that they were seemingly covered up is the scandal... Not in and of itself that the offenders were mostly Pakistani and Bangladeshi. If the cover up was the other way round and white people were being protected despite being known to have committed these crimes, I'd be equally appalled.
I also would like to point out that whilst the majority of these grooming gangs are Asian (probably the reason for the cover up... PC at its worst), the converse is not true. The overwhelming majority of Asian men are not involved in such activity. It's still a small minority of Pakistani and Bangladeshi men overall.
We must be careful to strike the correct balance between being candid about the fact that there does seem to be a problem in that ethnic group, and it does need to be addressed, but that not all (in fact very few) of the Pakistani men in the country as a whole are guilty of anything.
There's approximately a million Pakistani and Bangladeshi men in the UK. Even if ten thousand of them (I'd suggest that's probably a massive overstatement) were involved in such gangs, it's 1%. That means that for every hundred Pakistani or Bangladeshi men, ninety-nine of them aren't guilty. We need to be clear that whilst it's a much bigger proportion than other ethnic groups, it's still a tiny proportion in absolute terms and that needs to be acknowledged. If we fall into the trap of assuming that they're all guilty of something, we're no better than the offenders who judge and target their victims by their race.
To sum up what I'm saying, we must not let PC get in the way of acknowledging and tackling these issues. It does appear to be a cultural problem amongst a certain ethnic group and that's absolutely not a justification for it to be swept under the carpet. With that said, it's no justification for the demonisation of an entire racial group. To treat all of that group like criminals because of the actions of a small minority would only further disenfranchise the perfectly innocent and decent members of that ethic group, which would probably make the problems worse, not better. What we need is for the huge majority of decent people in that group to want to take an active role in tackling the issue alongside the authorities... If they feel demonised and alienated, they'll be far less willing to work with a system that views them with suspicion based on their race alone.
It's a very complex issue and I don't have the answers... But I do know what the answer isn't.
