BIRMINGHAM: Having witnessed events in Birmingham over the past few days, I see an alarming picture emerging. Not only have there been two deaths, scores of people injured and property damaged, but I have been taken aback at the breathtaking irresponsibility of some community representatives. Instead of calming the situation, they have inflamed it.
It is important to be conscious of the impact of language and scrupulous about verifying facts. Where there are acknowledged to be ‘simmering tensions’ in an area, the responsibility is even greater on community leaders to exercise care. Yet if one traces events to the trigger of the weekend riots — the alleged rape of a Jamaican girl by Asian men — the opposite has been the case.
Despite now admitting he had no proof or facts, DJ Warren G aired the allegation on his radio talkshow last Tuesday, going as far as to organize a demonstration outside the shop where the alleged rape was said to have taken place. The message that went round the community was one of a black woman needing to be protected against ‘Asians’ rather than individual criminals. At a second demonstration on Saturday, community representatives were calling for Asian shops to be boycotted.
Both communities suddenly felt they were under attack from the other. Businesses were attacked and hundreds of youths took to the streets to ‘protect their’ communities. It was clear even at community representatives’ meetings on Sunday that emotions were dangerously out of control. Many were unable to comprehend that people from both communities shared similar feelings of vulnerability and fear.
There is a vacuum in local Asian leadership. And while many from the African-Caribbean community were determined the situation be contained, a small but vocal group seemed more interested in repeating inflammatory warnings of a ‘race war’. Resentment was present before the alleged rape. There has been a widespread perception among the African-Caribbean community that Asians are doing well at their expense, and rumours that Asians receive more public funding. If public funding grants in north-west Birmingham are examined, African-Caribbean projects have received the largest proportion. Millions have been invested in helping black enterprise and training projects.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service
