What we did to Mahmuda Khatun

She was written up by the tabloids as a 30 day bloodthirsty bride. But what does the Khatun case really tell us about how Britain views women of colour?

Mahmuda Khutan murdered her husband with a single stab wound to the chest while he was watching television. You know that part of the story. But you probably don’t know Mahmuda.

I know many Mahmudas. I know their histories, the way their faces crease behind sheets of tissues and bottled up tears, I know the NHS leaflets they hide in their abayas on safe sex and family planning. I know the way they flee their husbands in the middle of the night to the safety of divorced aunts, I know the way they press ice against their bruises and welts, I know the way they pray for hours in the mosque for their parents to agree to one more year of school, one more year of college, one more year unmarried and learning, thriving, dreaming. I know how empty desks look at the end of each summer term in year 11, with so many bright young women gone forever. I know the loveless, lonely marriages. I know that desperation. I know that story. We might not talk about it in Britain, but we all know that story.

I’m not saying it’s okay that Mahmuda Khatun killed her husband. I’m not saying that his family aren’t right…