A Man Like Mobeen

As America descends into hate-fueled, border-wall,  concentration camp fascism, the racism, homophobia, and Islamophobia that we thought espoused by only a few loonies suddenly supported by half the population, it's easy to forget that hate is rising elsewhere in the world.  Britain has its own alt-right, its own isolationism, its own "Make Britain Great Again!" slogans  A Man Like Mobeen reminds us.










Mobeen (Guz Khan, center ) is a young man of Pakistani ancestry living in the small Small Heath neighborhood of Birmingham, which has been described by racist Fox news as "a no-go zone for non-Muslims."

He and his two buds, Nate (Tolu Ogumenfun,right) and Eight (Tez Ilyas, left) were previously small-time drug dealers, but they are trying to go straight so that Mobeen can be a proper role model for his 15-year old sister, Aqsa (Duaa Karim).

In eight episodes, they encounter:
1. Police targeting.  Eight is arrested on description of an "Asian male in track suit bottoms" selling drugs to kids.

2. Bullying.  When Aqsa is suspended from school for fighting back against bullies, Mobeen wonders if she needs a mother's touch in her life.

3. An alt-right demonstration.  Mobeen is arrested and placed in the same paddy wagon as alt-right leader Robbie Worthington (Jason Maza, top photo).

4. Knife violence.  While trying to protect Aqsa from an upcoming knife fight at her school prom, Mobeen is arrested yet again.

5. Microaggressions.  During the interminable wait at A&E (Britain's health care system), Mobeen encounters an "I'm not a racist, but..."  chap. Actually, it stops being a microaggression very quickly.   Hint: Don't insult the doctor who is about to treat you.

Beefcake:  None to speak of.

Gay characters:  None specified, except for maybe a guy at A&E who is bidding in an online auction on a plaster cast of Daniel Radcliffe's penis.

But Mobeen expresses heterosexual interest in only two episodes, and his buds only refer to it vaguely, once.  They all can be read as gay.