A Scottish councillor has refused to back down after being suspended by the Labour Party when her proposal to ask a question about racist attacks on White children and teachers in Glasgow schools led to a media pile-on.
Audrey Dempsey, the founder of a charity which helps families in need and councillor for the ward of Springburn and Robroyston, described the suspension and resulting coverage as “character assassination”, saying she had simply wanted to ask an honest question.
Ms Dempsey’s request for a meeting of the Labour group on Glasgow City council read: “To ask the relevant convener if they are aware of the rising racist attacks on White children and teachers in our schools and how do they plan to tackle this?”
But the question was leaked to The Herald, leading to criticism from her own party who said her opposition to anti-White racism “was not reflective of the view of the Scottish Labour Party”. She was then suspended by email pending an investigation.
The conservative Scottish National Party also chimed in, saying it was “utterly abhorrent to single out children from a black and ethnic minority background with questioning such as this”.
But Ms Dempsey said she was “very aware of incidents where racist abuse against white children and teachers is happening”, and told the Glasgow Times she had been “slaughtered and crucified” for raising concerns about the equal treatment of children.
“These situations have been raised with me. It is not just my word,” she said.
“I have had parents and grandparents telling me. We need to treat all kids the same, only then will we realise equality is a practice not just a word.
“I’ve been on the council for two years now and I haven’t seen any progress on equality.”
Since her question was leaked to the Scottish corporate press Ms Dempsey has the subject of negative stories in several media outlets.
The National described her social media posts as “offensive”, including one saying that asylum seekers get priority over native Scots, and combed through her X likes, objecting to her opposition to anti-White racism and the burqa, while the BBC commented that Ms Dempsey “did not provide statistical evidence for [her] claim”.
Springburn in Ms Dempsey’s ward is home to 11% of Glasgow’s African population.
Glasgow’s White population fell from 96.75% in 1991 to 88.5% in 2011. The ethnicity results from the 2022 Census are yet to be released.
But according to the 2020 Scottish Government Pupil Census, just 65.1% of primary school students in the city were White.
Noticer News contacted Ms Dempsey for comment.
