racist?

[brionon]

A policeman has been accused of Racism for saying ''I'll punch your Arab face'' to someone he'd just arrested. I don't excuse the officer but is it not Racist to think that the use of the word Arab is Racist ?

[buchanan]

It is when the person you are referring to isn't an arab and the policeman is being ignorant, lazy and rude by lumping someone of non-white appearance into an inaccurate catch all.

[IndieSinger]

But even if he were right about the man being an Arab, I think the point is more that he's felt it necessary to qualify the noun with an - unnecessary? - adjective. I know plenty of people who would take offence if, say, an African police(wo)man stopped a caucasian man, saying "I'll punch your white face."

[Lillabet]

It's not the word in isolation, the word itself is not racist and to describe someone as being of arabic ethnicity or appearance is not racist - it is about the context.

He is using the word arab in such a way that the message is that the face being arabic in appearance is part of the reason he wants to punch it.

Aside from the racial aspect threatening to assault someone in your custody is in itself a breach of his duty of care as a police officer. They can use force to restrain, but not to attack!

[brionon]

We all know it's wrong for an Officer to use unneccessary violence, in fact I said that I don't excuse the Officer. If someone says he's going to punch my English face I wouldn't take this as Racist and ,if I did I would be admitting that to be called English is a slur.

[Lillabet]

I think if someone said they were going to punch your stupid English face then yes they would be insulting you on the grounds of your race. This is because they would see 'english' as an insulting  / lesser / derogatory term. Recognising this does not and would not mean that you agreed with them for one second.

To say simply that if you don't pay attention to this sort of thing it won't harm you is the equivalent of 'sticks and stones may break my bones but names can never hurt me' when in fact most people would agree that verbal attacks can be very painful.

In my first answer I did not intend to imply in any way that you thought the police officer's behaviour was ok. I was just pointing out that even if we left all racial questions aside he should be investigated for the threats alone...

[Peter Pedant]

There is quite alot about this in the Sunday Papers. A transcipt of the conversation had been made from a cell-phone. There is a a lot more to it. The transcript bore out what the Turk/Kurd said and not the account of the police. The Turk was acquitted.

Th Turks and Kurds arent Arab by the way.