Curb hatemongers

IT IS a sad fact that even in a city as pleasant and quietly prosperous as York, racial bigotry does exist. Usually, it is low-grade stuff: restaurant staff being abused; snide comments about immigrants and asylum seekers; the occasional bit of graffiti; the odd window being put through. It's nasty, petty, mean-minded and unforgiveable, and it makes the lives of its victims a misery.

But it's hopefully only a small minority of the city's population who are responsible, and it doesn't make York another Burnley, the Lancashire town and BNP stomping ground whose streets were ablaze less than three years ago with race riots.

Then along comes one of those nasty incidents that reminds us that racism in all its ugliness is, after all, alive and kicking in our city.

The mother of the 14-year-old boy who spoke to the Evening Press last week about the catalogue of racial abuse her son suffered at the hands of violent teenage yobs knows all about that.

Her son, who is of mixed race, had until recently experienced few problems since the family came to York from Wilmslow near Manchester six years ago. There was the occasional comment - he was once told to "get off the pavement, you black bastard" by a person his mother thinks was a tourist - but little to prepare the family for what happened earlier this year.

Then on Friday, February 13, he was told by one of his friends at Millthorpe School that there was a 'gang of Clifton lads' after him. His mum said he shouldn't worry about it - but on the following Monday he was attacked for the first time.

The attacks went on for a month. The boy was chased into school; punched and kicked during an attack in The Mount; and hit with a snooker cue in another attack in Blossom Street. He also received threatening calls on his mobile phone - and when his mother took the phone from him during one of the calls, she says she received a threat to kill her.

The attacks have now stopped: but they have left the family, who live in Holgate, questioning whether they really want to live in York after all.

It is the fact that there are so few people from a minority background in York that makes her son stand out, his mum says.

Wilmslow was a much more ethnically diverse place - as is Wood Green in London, a place the family often visits. In many ways, her son fits in better there, she says. "He makes jokes like 'mum, you be careful, because you're the minority here!'" she says. "But it does make you ask questions like 'is it better to live in an area that is perhaps financially a bit more deprived but more ethnically diverse? I'm beginning to feel now that it is better to live in an ethnically diverse area."

Her choice, you might say. But why should families from ethnic backgrounds be made to feel unwelcome in York simply because they are a little different?

Naseem Beebeejaun has a simple answer to those who suggest she and her family should 'go back home'. York, she says, is her home. She and her family came to the UK more than 30 years ago, after fleeing Uganda to escape Idi Amin.

In the decades since, they have set up a successful business in the city selling Indian food. The vast majority of people in York have been fantastic, she stresses. But there is still that small minority who continue to make their lives a misery.

Only recently, she says, the word 'Paki' was sprayed on her family's shop and a neighbouring shop. "Then they will turn around and say 'I'm not racist'!" she says. "I will say "I don't care what you think about me, but keep it to yourself! You don't know what I think about you, but I'm civilised enough to keep it to myself."

It's precisely the kind of simmering, half hidden racism suffered by families like the Beebeejauns that the British National Party tries to exploit.

One of the most worrying trends in York recently has been the way in which the BNP has been targeting the city, pushing leaflets through doors in several wards.

It is, admits city council leader Coun Steve Galloway, a cause for concern. "York is generally reasonably harmonious," he says. "The concern would be if these people start targeting any of the small ethnic minorities in the city and trying to blame them for all the ills of the world."

Which is, of course, exactly the kind of tactic the BNP and their like use. The mum of the 14-year-old Holgate boy who suffered the recent spate of racist attacks believes the BNP should be banned outright. Freedom of speech is all very well, she says - but it should not be allowed to be used as a weapon.

But is banning the BNP really the best way to tackle the racists?

According to Coun Galloway, one of the difficulties faced by minority groups in York is that they are so small: and can therefore easily feel isolated. "And they are more vulnerable because of it," he says.

Another problem, according to Hull Road Labour councillor David Wilde, is that many of the city's ethnic groups tend to keep themselves very much to themselves, and seem to make little attempt to integrate with the city's white majority. This creates barriers and perpetuates the kind of misunderstandings on which organisations like the BNP thrive.

Coun Wilde is keen to see more initiatives aimed at bridging the gap between minority groups and the city's majority population.

A good example of how this can be done, he says, is the Bull Lane Mosque in Tang Hall, which he says is to hold an open day this summer. "Young people will be invited to come along, and there will be some entertainment and things like that," he says.

Coun Galloway hopes to encourage more of York's minority groups to take part in similar activities, as part of the York City Pride campaign. Naseem Beebeejaun, who is a member of the Bull Lane mosque, is all for that.

"We have always done this kind of thing at Bull Lane," she says. "We invite people in, to show that we're not a hotbed of terrorists and so on." But there is only so much that members of minority groups can do to get themselves accepted, she says. "If you have been knocked so often, you learn to protect yourselves. This is where the mentality of keep yourself to yourself comes from."

The sad truth is that there will always be a small minority of bigots who refuse to accept anyone different, no matter how hard they try to fit in to a community. Which is why the police also have a part to play in tackling racism.

It is something about which York's new police chief, Supt Tim Madgwick, feels very strongly. "I find it abhorrent that anyone should peddle the race agenda," he says. The police in York will not hesitate to take action against anyone distributing leaflets that are racially inflammatory, or against anyone responsible for racial harassment or victimisation, he pledges.

Part of the problem for the police, however, is that they themselves have sometimes been accused of harassing people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Just this week Keith Hardy, a black man who says he was driven from York because of police harassment, won an out-of-court settlement against North Yorkshire Police following a three year battle. He was stopped by the police 22 times in three years.

Even the mother of the 14-year-old Holgate boy complains of the way he was dealt with by the police.

Not only did they fail to deal with his racial victimisation properly, she claims - they also have a history of targeting him themselves because he is black. "He has been stopped and searched five times in the space of six months," she says.

Supt Madgwick denies that his officers failed to take the boy's case seriously, pointing out that the police have actually apprehended someone in connection with the case.

"An offender is in the process of being dealt with for harassment and assault offences," he says. "We have passed the best evidence we can to the CPS, and they will then decide on the most appropriate charges to put."

But he accepts the police cannot afford to be complacent. Lessons have been learned from the Keith Hardy case, he insists.

"We have moved on, as a service and as an area." But any suggestion that any of his officers have been displaying racist attitudes or behaviour will be investigated, he pledges. "There is a balance. Individual officers have rights too," he says.

"But I will personally not tolerate racism among any of my officers."

Updated: 09:56 Thursday, March 25, 2004