Rise in hate crime after Brexit vote to spur new campaign
AN anti-hate crime campaign could be launched after faith groups across the West Midlands said they believed there had been a rise in xenophobia and hate crimes since the Brexit vote.
The announcement was made in the West Midlands Mayor’s Faith Action Plan document.
The report, which studies the issue of faith in the West Midlands, was formulated following The Mayor and Faith Conference which took place last November.
The conference saw more than 400 people from across the West Midlands gather in the Great Hall at the University of Birmingham to discuss a series of topics related to the issue of religion in the region.
Four topics were discussed during the conference after being identified as key issues by an independent steering committee. They were the economy, homelessness, hate crime and leadership.
The issue of hate crime was discussed with Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson, with the report noting that :
There is concern within communities that Brexit has reinforced xenophobic attitudes and behaviours that have contributed to a rise in hate crime.
When talking about ‘who’ or which communities are affected by hate crime, the Sikh community feels it is often overlooked and has not been sufficiently addressed;
That we need to accept that it is reasonable for communities to gravitate towards familiarity and huddle. Rather than being fixated on literal ‘mixing’, we need to consider a more meaningful way to measure cohesion;
The impact of terrorism on communities is not as great as drugs and homelessness. It would be useful to address this in future discourse and offer proportional responses.
In response to findings made during The Mayor and Faith conference, the document sets out the possibility of an anti-hate crime campaign throughout the West Midlands, with particular focus on those crimes which take place on public transport.
The report states: “With the Police and Crime Commissioner, agree West Midlands actions, potentially including a schools and faith programme and anti-hate crime marketing and awareness campaign (similar to the “Kick it Out” anti-racism campaign in football started in the 1990s). Given the Mayor’s transport brief, this would focus especially on hate crime on public transport.”
Home Office statistics published last year showed that there had been a 12 per cent increase in the number of hate crimes recorded in the West Midlands over the 2016-2017 period versus the previous year – rising from 3,780 to 4,244.
Mayor Andy Street said: “Our faith communities and faith-based charities form one of the greatest – and often under-appreciated – sources of strength, vitality and resilience in our area. The region’s faith communities are part of the West Midlands we call home, but are also one of the ways the West Midlands is connected to the world.
“Working together is a must – both in terms of them helping us to achieve our collective aims – not least in terms of economic inclusion and combating homelessness - but also being a listening ear for their concerns and issues.”