'Coconut' Suella Braverman placard verdict shows grave threat to ethnic minority children

The recent developments of school teacher Marieha Hussain — who was on trial for a racially aggravated offence — has caused a debate as to whether terms such as coconut or c**n could be classed as harmless references within a conversation.

Ms Hussain held a placard during a pro-Palestine demonstration last year which referred to the former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and former Home Secretary Suella Braverman as coconuts, which is to say brown on the outside but white on the inside.

The fact is, certain political activists believe it’s justified for terms such as coconut to be used to call out those who share their ethnicity for not having similar political views to theirs.

Ms Hussain was found not guilty of a racially aggravated public offence on Friday, September 13. The verdict sends the wrong message to people of colour who are abused within the community. Terms such as coconut, c**n etc are deeply offensive and shouldn’t be viewed by any judge or legal representative as any form of satirical gesture.

If a white person used highly offensive terms about a black or Asian person, I’m sure the same judgement wouldn’t have been made. This case highlights more needs to be done with regards to educating people in the community not to attack or use tropes or slurs against one another.

These examples of so-called free speech extend beyond demonstrations. Respected academic Professor Kehinde Andrews is facing a criminal investigation for calling the right-wing commentator Calvin Robinson a "House n***o".

Personally I find it alarming to think someone could use those terms and think it's justified to get away with it. I was shocked to note that Professoer Andrews had used those terms simply to mock someone for just having an opinion. Using that term is not far from openly using the N-word.

For over a decade I have campaigned for the N-word not be used and outlined why the term shouldn’t be normalised. As someone who has experienced similar, mainly from disgruntled voices in the black community after appearing on ITV’s Good Morning Britain, I was shocked that nothing could be done. The police were powerless to act. Despite substantial evidence from social media posts I received support from only one media outlet which reported the abuse I experienced. At the time, it seemed justified to allow black people to use racist tropes against others in the community.

Five years on, things have changed significantly there are now powers for people to be prosecuted for these types. Many commentators such as Nels Abbey have voice concerns about freedom of speech. But he and others don’t see the damage this level of abuse can cause. It has nothing to do with free speech. It's about respecting an opposing view.

If similar things were said by someone of a different race or background then I’m sure Mr Abbey and the like would admit it’s wrong and those people should be challenged. What’s the difference if it's someone who is black calling another black person a house n***o, coconut or c**n? Double standards are at play here.

Martin Luther King will be turning in his grave at this type of racial prejudice being endorsed. It seems as if certain sections of the black community in the UK have allowed those terms to be normalised. In Friar Robinson's case the targets are black people who don't believe in the status quo and, like him, have an opposing view.

They are often stereotyped and criticised on social media with derogatory terms to question their "blackness". I have always questioned what this blackness is. In my book, this is simply black-on-black racism. Where are the pastors, community leaders, celebrities and others speaking out on this? Well, many are scared to call it what is is for fear they will be excluded from the community.

We could be entering muddy waters here, with the influx of tropes which seem to have been normalised. We need to have an honest, civil and detailed discussion to outline why these practices are dangerous and what threat they pose to the next generation. I hope we will never hear these terms used within the black community, or any community for that matter, ever again.

Edward Adoo is a broadcaster, writer and DJ.