Dear Lucy Powell MP,
You think Pakistani rape gangs are a “dog whistle”?
Well, I was sexually abused from 5 years old.
And it’s politicians like you that are the reason little girls like me are still being raped, exploited and murdered across the country.
In my hometown, those in power dismissed victims as troublemakers, paki shaggers and white slags.
They shamed and intimidated little girls like me into silence. They accused us of lying, or putting ourselves in risky situations, or even wanting to be raped.
They stood by and did nothing while young girls were being brutally abused.
And, as many other girls systematically groomed in Telford have testified, I was made to feel as though I was to blame. The system criminalised the victims, rather than going after the perpetrators.
I remember being asked by a detective whether I “consented” at any point to sexual activity, and told by a social worker that “my actions had led me to where I was today”.
All the while the Labour-led council tried to block an independent inquiry into CSE for years and their Council Leader (now the MP for Telford), along with 10 other powerful local men, even wrote a letter to the Home Secretary saying they felt an inquiry would unnecessary.
In Rotherham, Rochdale and elsewhere, victims were continually swept aside by those in positions of power, as if they chose this lifestyle. The attitudes that social workers, local services, authorities had towards children was so skewed, and so deeply unprofessional.
It broke me.
And I spent years in silence because I thought I would somehow be judged or penalised for the abuse I had suffered. Because I had been conditioned to feel like I was somehow responsible for my own victimisation.
The Telford scandal made headlines when it broke in 2015, then again when the Crowther Report was released in 2022. Yet, The news cycle moved on far too quickly.
This isn’t a 60-second-and-then-done issue. For change to occur, there needs to be constant attention brought to this issue because, otherwise, silence and ignorance only serves to support the predators and the paedophiles.
This is a crime that thrives on misinformation, on fears of “racism” and a lack of awareness, and on being swept under the rug.
They rely on girls not being taken seriously, the media not caring and the police not taking any action to investigate.
These are not crimes of the past. Kids are still being exploited, groomed, raped and even murdered in council estates like mine. It isn’t enough to have empty words and hollow promises.
CSE is not a “dog whistle”.
It is a national epidemic.
But those in power like Lucy Powell refuse to address that fact for fear of being forced to confront their decades-long failure to protect young girls from abuse.
It’s easier to ignore victims, especially when they come from communities, social classes or demographics that are already disenfranchised in Britain. And for those who do speak out, it feels like you are screaming at a brick wall that would rather label you as the problem than take you seriously.
Our trauma isn’t a “dog-whistle” or a “trumpet” to blow against the Labour Party.
It is the harrowing reality of the institutional blindness and contempt that allowed little girls to be sacrificed at the altar of political correctness, while politicians sneered and branded us troublemakers and attention-seekers for daring to want justice.
Shame on Lucy Powell.
Shame on Labour.
Shame on all of them.