Women's group fear racist attacks after Jeremy Clarkson's Meghan Markle comments
A group representing women in the Black Country has spoken of its dismay at comments made by Jeremy Clarkson, saying they fear it will incite violence.
Walsall Black Sisters Collective said comments made by the former Top Gear presenter about Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, amounted to incitement to hatred and that it has left its members "deeply disturbed" for their safety.
Clarkson's column in The Sun has so far attracted more than 20,000 complaints to the press regulator IPSO.
Since its publication the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? presenter said he was "horrified" after "causing so much hurt". The newspaper has now apologised and removed the column from its website, saying it was "sincerely sorry" and it realised that "with free expression comes responsibility".
In a statement to the Express & Star, the Wednesbury Road group said the column's sentiments showed "consciously or unconsciously" what Clarkson would want to happen to the Duchess and vindication for the Sussexes in their complaints about their media treatment.
The statement said: "The Duchess is not a murderer, a paedophile or a criminal, but she is an intelligent beautiful woman of colour, who The Sun, as an independent press organisation, needs to protect from the micro-abuse."
"By publishing the article or column by Jeremy Clarkson where he states he dreams of the Duchess of Sussex being made to walk naked and humiliated with excrement being thrown at her in public, The Sun has deeply disturbed a number of women on behalf of whom we complain.
"This is a form and a level of abuse and violence that we never thought would be facilitated, enabled and promoted by a national publication. It has for the first time in our lifetime caused us to fear for other black women, our friends daughters and our own female relatives.
"Many black people know what's happening and Clarkson with the help of The Sun, whether conscious or unconscious, has incited hate and fear for a people who have done nothing wrong.
"This is a very dangerous situation that you as an organisation need to arrest. Fear creates and enhances serious irrational behaviour. We fear for others and ourselves but we also fear for Mr Clarkson. We hope serious action is taken."
It welcomed a move by a cross-party group of more than 60 MPs who have written to Sun editor Victoria Newton to condemn “in the strongest terms” the article, describing it as “hateful” and contributing to an “unacceptable climate of hatred and violence”.
The award-winning collective started life in the 1980s to tackle unemployment issues facing young black women and subsequently grew into a thriving organisation with its focus shifting to issues affecting all communities, including education, mental health and senior citizen programmes.
