Is York racist?

Before moving to York two years ago, Parminderjit Singh Nunwa lived in Sheffield. It's a big city, with all a big city's problems. But not once in his 13 years there, Parminderjit says, did he feel threatened because of the colour of his skin.

All that changed when he moved to York.

At first, it was nothing obvious. The occasional hard-eyed stare from young men trying to intimidate him; people pushing ahead of him in queues; verbal abuse and the 'Paki this' and 'Paki that' he just hadn't expected.

None of which prepared him for what happened a few days before Christmas last year.

He was walking home alone along Walmgate at about 2.30 in the morning.

"I'd had a really good night, been out with my mates after work, and I was feeling happy and good about things," he said.

"I was just walking down the road and there was another person on the opposite side. The next thing I remember there were these bright lights and I was lying flat on my back in the middle of the road with a deep cut in my nose."

Parminderjit has no doubt it was a racially-motivated attack.

"What other reason would there be for somebody to launch a random attack on a complete stranger?" he asks.

The injury has left him with a permanent scar on his nose: and a realisation that York probably isn't a place he wants to spend the rest of his life.

The 33-year-old assistant stage manager at the Grand Opera House says he has plenty of good, white friends here. "But I find I'm walking down the street now checking to see there's nowhere somebody could jump out. I make sure I don't walk near to alleyways and if I'm going out I go places where I'm known so if there is trouble I've got some back-up."

Parminderjit hopes to leave York soon - partly because of his work but partly, he says, because he doesn't feel comfortable here any more.

If he does leave, he won't be the first person from an ethnic minority to do so.

As the Evening Press reported earlier this month, a well-to-do Chinese family who moved here only a couple of months ago are already keen to leave, claiming they've been the victims of racial abuse from neighbours.

And Yvie Holder of the York Racial Equality Network told her organisation's annual meeting last week: "We all know people who have left York because of racist incidents here."

Police figures for racially-motivated crime in York make ugly reading. There were a total of 54 incidents recorded during the year to the end of May - and they included everything from threats to harassment, stone-throwing and assaults.There was a surge of incidents in the Etty Avenue area last summer - and then in April a spate of ugly attacks on Turkish victims following the killing of two Leeds United supporters by Turkish fans in Istanbul. There were ten race crimes in York that month - twice the normal level. At 54 cases a year, it could be argued the number of racially motivated crimes is small. But those incidents are happening in a city with a very small number of people from minority backgrounds. The York Racial Equality Network also believes many crimes are not being reported - and the official figures could be just part of the story.

Yvie Holder says that in the past much of her organisation's work has been done against a backdrop of denial and indifference - itself a kind of prejudice.

"York cannot continue to deny that racism exists here today, and that it affects many lives," she said.

"It doesn't matter whether you are a minister of the Church, an academic with an international reputation, whether you live in private accommodation or a council flat, whether you are a Muslim or a Christian, whether your skin is brown or white, you face racism here. It is no different from anywhere else."

It may be the case that in the past, there has been reluctance by some to recognise the reality of racist attitudes in York. There are signs, though, that - spurred by national pressure following cases such as that of Stephen Lawrence - the city is beginning to wake up.

Superintendent John Lacy of York Police admits there has in the past been 'some under-reporting of racial incidents' in the city because victims of racial harassment have not felt able to come forward. He is determined that should end. Police, along with other agencies such as the city council's education, housing and community services departments, the Racial Equality Network, the health authority and Victim Support, are working to create a climate of trust where people from minority groups who have been harassed, intimidated or assaulted know their claims will be taken seriously.

They met this week to thrash out a new racial harassment strategy to ensure that any and all complaints of racial harassment are followed up.

Police say they are determined to tackle racist crimes wherever and whenever they occur. Homophobia, racism and disrespect for any minority will not be tolerated, they say.

Detective Inspector Phil Metcalfe of York CID said racism was unacceptable, and where racial attacks happened, police would deal with them with the full weight of the law - as they would with any other assault. "We are concerned about all violent attacks, whatever the ethnic background of the victim," he said. "Such behaviour will not be tolerated. We would encourage anybody who has suffered discrimination or violence to report it to us."

That warning should not be taken lightly. New measures such as anti-social behaviour orders are available and can be used to crack down on young racists. Rory Barke, the city council's head of democratic services, says racist neighbours could also face eviction.

Until a climate is created, though, where the victims of racial harassment or assault feel able to trust the authorities, the full extent of the city's problem is unlikely to be known.

City educational development officer Shan Oakes admits racist attitudes go deep - and tackling them is not easy. It requires, she says, a 'major cultural change in attitudes'.

Part of the city's strategy for tackling racism involves a programme of training for the community as a whole as well as those working with minority groups in an attempt to change those attitudes.

It won't be easy, as Parminderjit Singh Nunwa can attest.

He says York seems to exist in a race-relations time-warp.

"Thirteen years in Sheffield and I had no problems," he said. "You come to York and it's like going back 25 years. You're worrying about the brick through the window or the firework in the letterbox again."

The time has come for that to change.

Picture: Parminderjit Singh after the unprovoked attack in York