STANDING FIRM IN THE FACE OF HATE
AS WE LAUNCH THE NO2H8 CRIME AWARDS 2018, ROS WYNNE-JONES EXPLAINS WHY WE SHOULD HONOUR THOSE FIGHTING HATE AND DIVISION
THIS week started with the image of a young Muslim bus driver surrounded by a far-right hate mob. It ended with a man’s conviction for “preparing an act of terrorism” by plotting to kill the Labour MP Rosie Cooper, and a high-profile police report that says there is a “real possibility” hate crime will spike after Brexit.
Today, we launch the No2H8 Crime Awards 2018 – which honours those on the frontline of fighting hate and division. Nominations open today for the Daily Mirror-backed awards – and will close on August 10.
“We need to celebrate this distinctive characteristic of our country and also motivate people to be upstanders for others if they are targeted with hatred and bigotry,” says the Chair of the No2H8 Crime Awards, Richard Benson OBE.
“We look forward to delivering our largest No2H8 Crime Awards in 2018, we go from strength to strength.”
Police record one hate crime every seven minutes around England and Wales. That’s 80,393 hate crimes recorded by police in 2016-17. This was a 29% jump on the 62,518 the year before – the steepest year-onyear increase since the Home Office began collecting the figures in 2011-12.
Meanwhile, the report into hate crime from Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS), ordered by former Home Secretary Amber Rudd, makes grim reading.
The inspectorate said hate crimes had spiked after events such as terrorist attacks and during the Brexit campaign, and then after the vote to leave the EU in June 2016.
“We have shown in our report that incidents of hate crime ‘spike’ after national events,” said the report. “So there is a real possibility that there will be a similar increase in reports in 2019 if, as is anticipated by the government, the United Kingdom formally leaves the European Union.”
The third No2H8 Crime Awards will take place on Thursday, September 13, honouring those who stand against hatred, prejudice and intolerance. Nominations are open
now and anyone can nominate someone who has challenged hatred throughout the country, made a positive impact in their community or stood up to prejudice and intolerance.
Previous winners include Dr Nasser Kurdy who was stabbed in the neck outside Altrincham mosque in September 2017 and helped those injured in the Manchester Arena bomb and Jack Stanley from ‘Educating Manchester’, who comforted and made friends with Syrian refugee Rani Assad who was bullied at school.
But if there is a single symbol of someone standing firmly against hate in troubled times, it was the driver of the number 9 London bus to Hammersmith on Sunday.
Somehow despite far-right activists stopping the bus in a threatening manner, the young Muslim woman in a headscarf in the driving seat, stayed calm and even smiled.
Even when her passengers were rescued, she refused to abandon the bus.
Here, London Mayor Sadiq Khan pays tribute to her, while Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, recalls the extraordinary spirit of a city, that despite the worst kind of atrocity – an attack on children at a pop concert – refused to give into hate.