Hate Crime

I wish to give an example of how racial harassment can work both ways. This affected close relatives of mine who were made to feel very vulnerable and isolated, and unlike minority ethnic groups did not have an array of organisations ready and willing to come to their aid.

It concerns my Aunt and Uncle who lived in North Belfast. They bought their house with a mortgage soon after they were married in 1965 and after doing a lot of work had it looking lovely. They were well settled in the area and had many close friends, and hoped to spend the rest of their days there.

In the late 1990's,soon after the cease fire, a Pakistani family moved into the street. From then on every property that became vacant was either rented or bought by Pakistanis. A lot of their neighbours who rented their homes began to move away and eventually the immigrants obtained the houses on either side of my Aunt and Uncle.

The houses were quite big with 5 bedrooms, but even so became over-crowded with about three large families living in each, which created an awful lot of noise. Their children were badly behaved with no parental control. It was not long before windows started getting broken and my Uncle's car, on the rare occasion it could be parked near-by, was damaged.

They felt very abandoned, after having endured 30 years of sectarian troubles they had been looking forward to some peace. Politicians who had been very quick to speak out against sectarian incidents were strangely silent, the Police were no help and the Christian Ministers as usual were only sympathetic to the immigrants.

Although they loved their home they could not tolerate conditions any longer. They had only one daughter who was married and away. They saw themselves as second class citizens, so reluctantly sold for whatever money they were offered and moved.

I would like my Aunt to be able to recount these experiences herself but sadly she died suddently of a heart attack just three months after moving into her new home. Her Doctor said stress had been a contributary factor. She was 59 years of age. My Uncle never fully recovered from her death and is resident in a Care Home.

Looking back I can now realize how badly they must have felt, esp when I hear all the talk about alledged harassment of ethnic minorities, and I know it is not all one sided. In fact immigrants are lucky as this web site lists about 30 "useful organisations" most, if not all, of which are aimed at helping minotity communities.

Feeling that one has been unfairly treated breeds resentment, and it is not unnatural that some people want to fight back,

There is still time for you to have your say but this consultation is run chiefly by you, the participants, so please make sure you take advantage of this opportunity to feed your thoughts directly into the Committee’s official inquiry.

Ever since I was a child growing up in Northern Ireland I have known it wasn't going to be easy but nothing has ever prepared me for the prejudice and hate I have had to face for being gay. Many heterosexual men feel that they have a right to punish you verbally or physically, the women sometimes speak to you like you are mentally retarded and think you find it hard to understand the English language and everyone feels that they can freely come up to you even though you have never met them before in your life and say what they think about your lifestyle, clothes, mannerisms etc. What is wrong with people in this country? As an intelligent Gay man holding down a job why can heterosexual people never have a normal conversation without it turning into a patronizing speech. One woman approached me in a gay bar and began telling me how it would “hurt her heart” if her son said he was Gay and she would rather he told her he was a murderer. This is one of the main reasons for segregation and why Gay bars exist. When will it go away?

I would like an opportunity to reply to VinceBelfast's comments on my posting of 24/9/04.

he says my views are like those heard in England in the 1960's, but if the indigenous populations had taken a stand against mass immigration then parts of mainland cities would not now be no-go areas for whites. he mentions 30 years of paramilitary gangs, surely we have had enough! Why invite more? We don't need to import Yardies, Triads and Asian Gangs.

he says there is need for vigorous immigration laws. The fact that there is not yet any sign of these being put in place is a big part of the problem.

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Edwin, in his comment on my earlier posting mentions Filipino nurses.

My sister is a care assistant and works with many Filipino nurses. Her and many of her colleagues would love to become nurses, but they are not given the opportunity to train. If entry to this profession was made slightly easier, many of our local people would be glad of the opportunity to become nurses and thus not deprive the people of the Phillipines of much needed nursing care.

My sister has talked with many of these Filipino nurses and the majority intend to settle here permanently and have already installed their partners, children and aged parents in this country.

Regarding Moy Park, I don't know for sure if there is full employment in Dungannon or not, but if that chicken factory ever closed down we'd be left with a large number of Portugese workers & their extended families claiming Housing benefit, Income support, etc as I don't think they would return to their homeland either.

My girlfriend and I were both born and bred in Northern Ireland and had no interest in Politics, Religion, or Race until October,2002, when we went to work in Oldham. What we saw there really opened our eyes and made us very fearful for the future of this provence.

My work as a TV Engineer took me all over the district. I talked to white pensioners, some of them World War 2 veterans, who are reluctantly having to move from the homes they have occupied for many years, because they are being persecuted by the children of Pakastini families whio are moving in as soon as a house becomes vacant.

Young couples complain of their children being bullied at school and taunted because they are white. Many of the schools have only two or three white children in each class.

White people are afraid to enter many districts at night and some areas even can be dangerous in the day time. Those who are in a position to do so say they are considering emmigrating.

My firm's van was criminally damaged on three occasions in broad day-light. I reported it but the police were just not interested. My girlfriend worked in a shop and was often called "white bitch", "white scum" etc. Had a white person abused an immigrant like that they would have been prosecuted, yet her colleagues told there was no point in even reporting it.

I have seen grafitti "You have your Queen but we have Your country" also "Nowhites after 6 pm" and they really meant it.

We were glad to return to Belfast in March 2004. When I thought about it all, just how much immigration had increased here since the peace agreement, it made me realise this province could easily become another Oldham in a few years time.

Personally, I am not a violent person, but I am not the only one who sees what is happening and the government seems to be encouraging immigration. I can realise why some people want to defend their homeland as we have to look to our children's future.

Northern Ireland has experienced a number of high profile incidents of Hate Crime in recent months. All such crimes are deplorable, but the Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People is especially appalled that children and young people have become targets for such crime.

We must also remember that away from the headlines incidents of Hate Crime blight the lives of families through low-level intimidation and pervading sense of threat.

The Northern Ireland Commissioner for Children and Young People is particularly concerned to note that there are Hate Crimes being carried out by young people. We believe that a wider strategy needs to be considered to tackle an issue that has set young people against young people; a strategy that encourages respect, understanding and friendship.

It is a sad fact that NI is a fairly narrow minded and intolerant place to live. Even the silent majority who have barely been touched by the troubles harbour resentment towards those obviously different from them....some of that is genuine ignorance...some of it an inate fear/ mistrust of anyone who is different. This is especially so if morals are involved...something that the 'christian teachings' so prevalent in NI culture conflict with it...ie different cultures ..religions....lifestyles. Beyond this we have generations of working class... u/e folk.....living in areas afflicted by paramilitaries and that culture ....now they turn against others different from them selves because the old enemy is less politically correct to challenge.Racist crime is an easy target for them.....colour is obvious to them......and since the gay community is more obvious( out) now too....with clubs....and a growing gay community in Belfast and L'derry/Derry they are easy targets too.

Yes I feel paramilitary groups let their youth wings blood themselves on these obvious targets...thats how they keep them keen and loyal....empower them. Equally individuals...drunk can randomly and opportunistically....commit acts of stupid violence and damage.

Of course with publicity( re no of incidents, and the need to report them) and active support groups reporting is going to increase especially if there is a third party protocol in place.

As for the 'crime'....actions/words which cause or clearly intend to( reasonable man criteria) create fear in another based on their racial /sexual orientation..etc background ...need to be actioned and classified.....there are already Public Order offences....just need the will power to enforce and encourage the confidence in the system for the victim!!!!!