Councillor’s Facebook graphic ramps up row over Black’s Head
DURING the discussion into comments made by some district councillors in relation to Ashbourne’s Black’s Head, it was pointed out by town councillor Ann Smith that Councillor Claire Raw had previously displayed a profile picture on her Facebook page that appeared to be overlaid with an interpretation of the flag of Sardinia, where, Cllr Smith told members, Cllr Raw has a second home.
The nation’s flag, she pointed out, features four black heads that symbolise Moors which, on the original flag, she says, bear a resemblance to Ashbourne’s controversial carving that has stood over St John Street for decades. She said: “What’s the difference between that and ours? “I’d like Cllr Raw to answer that.” The News Telegraph has also seen a copy of a letter reportedly being sent to Derbyshire Dales District Council’s chief executive and monitoring officer, appearing to make an official complaint over the image of the flag being posted on her social media page.
It called the images of “decapitated and blindfolded black heads” “grotesque and offensive”.
The letter, signed by district councillors Dermot Murphy and Stuart Lees, alleges that
Cllr Raw breached clause one of the Derbyshire Dales District Council and Local Government Association Model Councillor Code of Conduct by posting the image for a few days back in the summer.
The clause, they add in the letter, calls on councillors to treat members of the public with respect.
A passage in the letter reads: “It is very difficult indeed to think of anything more offensive, disrespectful and demeaning to members of the black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) communities within the Derbyshire Dales and beyond than the display of several blindfolded and severed black heads, the results of colonial and racist violence, on social media, in this case Cllr Raw’s Facebook page.”
The original flag of Sardinia does differ from the image posted on Cllr Raw’s Facebook page, in that the four heads that sit in the corners of the white flag, around a red cross, are characterised in a modern way, and do not feature the same detail of the modern flag.
The News Telegraph has asked Cllr Raw for a comment but we have not received a response.