Description
"They used to hang them in Mississippi," Chris Ryley commented of a photo of dolls hanging from a wooden beam. The owner of a pub, who was defended by the Minister of the Interior after the police said his collection of poupées golli***, a fait référence à des lynchages américains et a publicié du contenu d'extreme droite sur Facebook. Chris Ryley and his wife previously refused council requests to remove the items from display at White Hart in Grays.
Essex Police are currently investigating a suspected hate crime, prompting an intervention from Suella Braverman saying she "shouldn't get involved in this kind of nonsense".
After a 'distressed' member of the public contacted police in February, Mr Ryley defended the dolls, writing on his public Facebook page: 'A sad face has ruled The White Hart once again stated 'A racist [sic] pub' due to the fact that we always have our Goully [sic] dolls on the shelf...some people really need to have a life.
The owner used the same Facebook page to post several photos of the dolls, including some hanging from a wooden beam.
"We got our golli***s yaaay," he wrote in a caption in March 2016. When his wife commented asking if the post was "legal lol [laughs]," Mr Ryley replied, "They used to hang out themselves in Mississippi years ago.
The US state of Mississippi experienced one of the highest numbers of lynchings, including hangings, against black people during the 19th and 20th centuries, according to the civil rights organization NAACP.
After turning down the local council's request to remove the dolls in 2018, Ryley posted another photo of them on Facebook, saying they had been reported to the police.
A Facebook post by pub owner Chris Ryley
"Our clients bring these items back from their travels," he wrote. "We have a lot of 'black customers' who have never complained."
Months earlier, Ryley shared several propaganda images created by the white nationalist group Generation Identity, which inspired the 2019 New Zealand mosque shooter.
"Time to stand up," captioned a Generation Identity poster: "Keep calm and stand up for your country."
Mr Ryley then shared a recruitment poster and a photo of the band members holding a banner over a bridge with the slogan: 'Defend London. Stop Islamization.
Other posts include footage of far-right political commentator Katie Hopkins discussing the Channel crossings and videos claiming that 'indigenous white British' are becoming a minority in the UK and that whites need a 'shelter'.
Ryley appeared to call for "white history month" and displayed the slogan "white lives matter" during the global response to the 2020 killing of George Floyd by US police.
In a Facebook post from July last year, he took aim at "transgender people, gay people, people who don't know what they are" and "illegal immigrants."
Mr. Ryley also posted this slogan on his social media.
Mr Ryley, who currently lives in Turkey, seemed to wrongly suggest that Rishi Sunak was a Muslim, asking: “Have the entire British population agreed to live under a Muslim regime?
When asked about Ryley's Facebook posts and references to lynching and identity generation, she said: "I don't know anything about that, you should ask my husband, but I can assure you that my husband and I are not racist in absolute". Absolutely.
“We run under India Inns, Grays Limited, we had an Indian partner before he died in a car accident. We do Indian weddings, many cultures come to our pub and none of them would say that we are rude to them or anything, we welcome everyone.
“To me, we are all people and my husband feels the same. As for the gollies, they are dolls, they are just dolls, dolls from childhood. I would love to get my dolls back.
The Golli*** are based on a fictional black character who appeared in children's books at the end of the 19th century.
The dolls featured in another Facebook post from the owner of White Hart
They became popular in Britain in the 1970s, but are now seen as a racist caricature of black people.
Ms Ryley said she was grateful for the Home Secretary's intervention, adding: "He's right, he's absolutely right." These are in our past and it's only young people who complain... it's absolutely silly.
The owner returned to display the golli dolls*** from her remaining collection, but added a sign on the pub door reading: "We have some golly dolls on display on the inside of our shelves." If you feel offended. Please don't come in.
Essex Police say they received a hate crime charge on February 24, when a member of the public said he was upset after visiting The White Hart.
The force is investigating under the Public Order Act, which covers threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour, and part of the Crimes and Disorders Act which includes public order offenses aggravated by race.
“We have regularly discussed developments in this case with the Crown Prosecution Service and on April 4 five officers attended a location near Argent Street in Grays and seized a number of items as part of this investigation,” a press release added. .
"No one has been arrested or charged in connection with the investigation and our investigations are ongoing. The force is proud of the work we do to prevent crime, tackle offenders and build trust in all of our communities."
The force said it had not been contacted directly by the Home Secretary about the investigation, adding: "We maintain an operational independence from the Home Office which ensures that each investigation is carried out without fear or favoritism."
When asked about Ryley's social media posts, a Braverman spokeswoman said her intervention was unrelated to his earlier comments and was only related to the seizure of the dolls.
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