wfn.org | British Methodists respond to the politics of race hatred

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

July 13, 2001  News media contact: Linda Bloom·(212)870-3803·New York
10-21-71B{313}

By Kathleen LaCamera*

BRADFORD, England (UMNS)-- The Rev. Geoff Reid had just returned home from
an Anti-Nazi League rally in the northern English town of Bradford when he
saw smoke rising from the city center.

He was surprised because he thought the Saturday afternoon rally protesting
the "race-hate" politics of the far right British National Party (BNP) had
proceeded peacefully. 

Reid, who runs the Methodist Church's Touchstone Centre, specializing in
interfaith and urban ministry, decided to head back into town. What he found
there were crowds of mostly Pakistani youths battling police on horseback
and on foot in full riot gear. He also found small groups of neighbors,
white, Afro-Caribbean and Pakistani gathered on street corners and in bus
shelters supporting one another in the midst of the violence. 

Reid told United Methodist News Service he was really "impressed with the
solidarity of the residents" in the face circumstances which might have
caused others to turn on each other. During one really "hairy" moment Reid
described how he and others with him dived behind a fence and pushed into
someone's house as petrol bombs and Molotov cocktails were being thrown. 

"I don't know whose house it was, but there was no question that we all were
going in there," he added. 

The night of violence and destruction on July 7 resulted in two people being
stabbed, more than 200 police officers injured, and 55 arrested. The riot
appears to have started when a group of white men leaving a pub shouted
racially abusive language at a group of Asian youths.

This incident is just the latest in a summer of unrest that has involved
clashes between Pakistani and white communities in some of northern
England's most deprived areas. 

In Oldham, where the BNP captured 14 percent of the votes in recent national
elections, riots began in May after whites attacked Pakistani homes. The
former British Methodist President, the Rev. Inderjit Bhogal, was quick to
respond with letters of support to local churches and a visit to Oldham's
mayor. He urged both political and church leaders to engage in a multifaith
effort to fight growing prejudice and race hatred. 

Bhogal's meeting with the town's Muslim deputy mayor, Rhiaz Ahmad, had to be
cancelled after Ahmad's house was fire bombed a few days earlier and he and
his family were moved to a "place of safety." Bhogal expressed his horror at
the attack and urged every Methodist to "have the courage to speak out where
racial or religious hatred is expressed." 

The Rev. Paul Flowers, superintendent minister in the Bradford area, said
that the disaffection that led to riots in Oldham and Bradford is nothing
new.  Flowers explained that entire groups of white and Pakistani youths
literally have nothing to do.

Bradford, like other northern towns where trouble has broken out this
summer, was once a thriving mill town. In the 1950s and 1960s there was more
than enough work for both locals and newly arrived immigrants from the
Indian subcontinent. But now the mills are closed and unemployment  runs as
high as 30-50 percent in some of severest pockets of deprivation. Second and
third generation British-born children of these immigrants want something
better and so do their white counterparts who see their Pakistani neighbors
as a threat to what little opportunity is left. 

"The political apathy and disaffection is a breeding ground for the BNP . .
. Asian youngsters (who feel threatened) have felt a need to respond in a
number of inappropriate ways," said Flowers. 

At an interfaith Sunday evening service following the riots, members of
Flower's Lidget Methodist Church were asked to take a lighted candle from
the alter and bring it to a neighbor from a different race or faith. 

"People had a feeling of sad acceptance about what had happened but were
still hopeful," said Flowers.

The British government has called for conversations between faith
communities and government officials to explore ways of  bridging  racial,
cultural and religious divides that have contributed to recent events.
Naboth Muchopa, the Methodist Church's secretary for racial justice, sees a
real role for people of all faiths in promoting good race relations. 

"As people of faith we believe in life, in the dignity of the human being,"
he said. "Let's begin with dialogue . . . People are already meeting in
interfaith gatherings. We must be prepared to put resources where
difficulties are, help those who need help and say we stand along side you,
we want to help. We don't accept fear as a part of life."

Only a week before riots broke out in Bradford, local Christians, Hindus,
Muslims and Buddhists held their annual interfaith Walk for Friendship in
which participants visited each other's places of worship and enjoyed the
distinctive hospitality of different religious traditions. Though saddened
by events in Bradford and other northern cities, participants said the
unrest has only strengthened their resolve to work together.

The Rev. Susan Bates believes it will be hard to rebuild relationships that
have been eroded. Her parish, Trinity Methodist Church, is in the area most
affected by the Bradford riots. But Bates also said it is a mistake to feel
solutions are necessarily complicated.

"My honest belief is that the answers are simple. It is as easy to live with
somebody as to not to. It is as easy to love them as to hate them. It's
about basic respect for people, not about necessarily liking them, but
respecting who they are and what they do. That's something we can teach and
do."  
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*LaCamera is a UMNS correspondent based in England.

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United Methodist News Service
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