No Place for Hate Crime in Wandsworth
Roehampton event marks Hate Crime Awareness Week
It is Hate Crime Awareness Week this week, with the aim of raising awareness of all forms of hate crimes across the UK, and promoting social inclusion.
Everyone is welcome this Saturday 21st October from 1pm-4pm to a fun, family event at the Dara Club, Minstead Gardens in Roehampton (SW15 4EB), to mark this important week and bring people together.
The event is supported by the Metropolitan Police and the local Council, and is free to all, with no tickets or pre-booking required. There will be lots of craft activities, a bouncy castle and other games for children, with fabulous food available. (Proceeds from charges for food will be going to help the Roehampton Cultural Centre which is seeking community space).
Zahra Ali, Chair of the Roehampton Cultural Centre, and one of the key organisers of the event: “Everyone is welcome this weekend. We know that hate crime exists in every community. It can involve anything from so-called simple graffiti to brutal murder. For us at RCC, any crime against a human being is wrong, and we support and welcome everyone in our area to live safely and in harmony together”.
Fleur Anderson with Ms Zahra Ali, Chair of the Roehampton Cultural Centre at the first Roehampton Community Iftar in June 2018
Fleur Anderson, Labour’s Parliamentary Candidate for Putney, Southfields and Roehampton said: “This will be a wonderful event for everyone, do come along. Knife crime is a big worry for local young people and parents. By coming to this event we can all do something very positive, raise awareness and have an enjoyable day out. I look forward to going along and supporting RCC in bringing the community together”.
Abs Haque, Vice Chair of the Metropolitan Police, attending the event on behalf of the Inclusion, Engagement and Recruitment team at the Met, explains; “Hate Crime is any crime motivated by hostility or prejudice against a person’s perceived race, faith, sexual orientation, disability, gender identity, or any other perceived difference. It doesn’t always include physical violence. Someone using offensive language towards you or harassing you because of who you are, or who they think you are, is also a crime. The same goes for someone posting abusive or offensive messages about you online. If it happens to you, you might be tempted to shrug it off. But if you tell us, we can investigate and stop it from getting worse - either for you or someone else”.
Hate Crime Awareness Week is a national project managed by Stop Hate UK, a campaigning charity which was first established in 1995 as a service for victims of racial harassment following the murder of Stephen Lawrence and its patron is Baroness Doreen Lawrence of Clarendon OBE. The remit of the group was formally extended in 2007 to support those affected by all forms of hate crimes, and now includes a number of dedicated help lines e.g. for victims of LGBTQ+ hate crime and Learning Disability hate crime. The group’s Hate Crime campaigning includes projects on community cohesion, youth engagement, stop and search consultancy, scrutiny panels, reporting centres, advocacy, casework and research. It also supports witnesses to hate crimes, who can be very affected by what they see and the criminal justice process.
Roehampton & Putney Heath Councillor, Claire Gilbert, who will be at the event told this website: “We have a wonderfully diverse population in Wandsworth, where we value all individuals, communities and cultures, and welcome and celebrate their contribution to all our lives. We are celebrating Black History Month right now, which is such an important part of the calendar in our schools, and this week is also a key part of recognising the experiences of all in our community. There’s no place for hate in Wandsworth”.
If you have been targeted by hate crime, and you prefer not to report this directly to the police, you can report it to a third party such as CrimeStoppers UK (telephone 0800 555 111) or Stop Hate UK (telephone 0800 138 162 or online www.stophateuk.org/report-hate-crime).
October 16, 2019