Gotcha! Gypsy campaigner catches online racist
By MIKE DOHERTY
News reporter
Above: Shay Clipson, who took action against racist online comments. "I don't like cowardly people who hide behind pseudonyms," said Shay
AN online racist going under the name ‘OurLil’, who posted hate-fuelled comments about Gypsies and Travellers, has been caught by veteran Gypsy campaigner, Shay Clipson, and “disciplined” after an internal investigation by the commenter’s health service employer.
Mrs Clipson, who is a Trustee of the UK Association of Gypsy Women, decided to do something when one comment about an unauthorised encampment in the local area posted by ‘OurLil’ in July this year, on the online on the website ‘Your Grimsby’ read:
“scum bags the lot of them!!”; “Good riddance!!”; “With any luck they might tap into the substation and blow themselves to kingdom come!! Problem solved!” and “Ethnic ~cleansing??? More like dirtbag cleansing!! Get shot of the lot of the bloody low life’s”.
Mrs Clipson explains why she was prompted to take action: “There was so much hatred on all the local forums, most of it racist and aimed at the Traveller families being pushed from pillar to post.”She adds that N.E Lincolnshire Council, which covers the Grimsby area, has a “zero tolerance” policy towards Travellers without an authorized site and effectively “evicts and evicts and drives them out of the borough.” “I don’t like cowardly people who hide behind pseudonyms,” says Mrs Clipson, “and I like racist cowards even less.”
Annoyed at the comments and increasingly worried for the family’s safety as a “lynch mob mentality” grew on the Grimsby online forums, Mrs Clipson decided to find out who ‘OurLil’ was. Using online investigative techniques, Mrs Clipson tracked the commenter and managed to find information which revealed her true identity and occupation – as a paramedic!
This discovery worried Mrs Clipson even more. “Here was somebody who was paid through the public purse saying that they wanted to blow up Gypsy children,” says Mrs Clipson. “This kind of hatred and discrimination seemed rather misplaced in someone tasked with being a first response medic. They are meant to preserve life, not blow it up,” she adds. “Travellers living by the roadside can suffer accidents and become unwell and the emergency service is often their only option. The thought of ‘OurLil’ arriving at an incident involving a roadside Traveller family just filled me with horror,” she says.
Mrs Clipson complained to the Health Care service provider, and after a thorough investigation, the service took action. In a confidential document seen by the Travellers Times, the service provider confirmed that the comments posted under the user name ‘OurLill’ were made by one of their employees and agreed that the comments “could be considered racist, discriminatory and offensive.”
The document does not explain what action was taken towards ‘OurLil, but it does say that the poster faced “disciplinary action”. To stop it happening again, the documents continues, “managers” must “cascade this information to staff which in turn will reinforce their responsibility both in and out of work.” The document also asks managers to: “Include a message about the use of ‘Internet chat rooms’, Facebook and similar open web forums.”
“I don’t know if the person lost their job,” says Mrs Clipson. “Something tells me that this was not the case. If so, I hope they at least learnt a valuable lesson.” Meanwhile, Mrs Clipson has got a message of her own to racist online commenter’s in the Grimsby area – watch out; you're next!