How is Bradford College tackling racism?
Racism has been a problem for a while now along with the many other problems that students have faced or witnessed during their time at Bradford College and want answers on how the issue is being tackled by the staff. I want to look at how common racial hate crimes are in Bradford College and how this compares to racial hate crimes reported across the district.
Bradford is a melting pot of segregated communities, poor educational offers and employment glass ceilings, a pattern which is repeated throughout the country. Bradford District has the largest proportion of people of Pakistani ethnic origin and is the 13th most deprived local authority in England. Bradford has also suffered for its place at the center of racially-influenced violence that flared up 20 years ago with week-long protests and marches by the National Front in the wake of the Bradford riots in 2001. ( Qasim M, 2024).
Even though I wanted to find statistics from the District, racial hate crime seems to be recorded together with other hate crimes in this region. For this reason I looked at the incidents of racism across the country.
I was interested in trends in reporting racial hate crimes across the last 10-15 years. How has stronger media campaigns and publicity effected reporting these crimes? People now have more platforms and improved reporting procedures so has the stigma attached to racial crimes improved or worsened?
In 2011-12, 35,944 people reported racial hate to the police. This figure has risen up over the years with the number of racial hate crime cases in 21-22 rising to 109,843. (UK Home Office 2024). This could be due to big media campaign’s such as Black Lives Matter and Take The Knee which have encouraged people to report these crimes to the police.
(UK Home Office, 2024 ).
Reporting Racial Hate Crime In Bradford College.
When it comes to students who have experienced this crime there any many teams and departments they can go to for assistance. As Bradford College has a zero tolerance policy for racism all staff have a duty to challenge and address any racially motivated hate. The departments that are the best place to go are: Your college course tutors, The safeguarding department, The security department and the college itself.
Reference List.
Mohammed Qasim was speaking to Jess Winterstein, Deputy Head of Media Relations at LSE. (2024) available at :https://www.lse.ac.uk/research/research-for-the-world/race-equity/young-muslim-and-criminal-how-poverty-racism-and-inequality-have-impacted-the-pakistani-community-in-bradford (accessed 27/02/24)
UK Home Office 2024. Crime & Law Enforcement. Available at :https://www.statista.com/statistics/624093/racist-incidents-in-england-and-wales (accessed 15/01/24).