Community group tackles Antrim's shocking racism levels
By Jonathan McCambridge and Emily Moulton (Sunday Life)
22nd March 2006
An Antrim community group has become the first in Northern Ireland to declare war on the racist thugs who are terrorising migrant communities across the borough.
Springfarm and District Community Association has unveiled a detailed document designed to halt the relentless growth in hate crime in one of the most racist towns in the province.
New figures reveal in the five years from 2001 there were 881 racial attacks in Northern Ireland, with a shocking 20% taking place in Antrim.
With that number accelerating, the Springfarm Association sought funding from the Community Relations Council and enlisted the services of a top team of English consultants to lead the trail-blazing scheme.
Arlington Trapman, who worked closely with the Damilola Taylor Trust, set up after the 10-year-old schoolboy died in a brutal race attack in November 2000, oversaw the seven-month project and became a regular visitor to the town.
His findings were published yesterday at a launch coinciding with the start of Community Relations Week.
The final report is a searing indictment of the lack of support for migrant workers struggling to start a new life in the province.
While it centres on Springfarm, Antrim's most ethnically diverse estate, the authors believe that it highlights a much wider malaise.
Seamus Davis, chairman of Antrim Community Forum, the Community Partnership and the Springfarm Association, believes the report provides some "very timely food for thought".
"In many ways it speaks for itself and I believe it is a starting point to removing the cancer of racism from this community," he said.
"With more and more people arriving each month, this is an issue which will not simply go away."
22nd March 2006
An Antrim community group has become the first in Northern Ireland to declare war on the racist thugs who are terrorising migrant communities across the borough.
Springfarm and District Community Association has unveiled a detailed document designed to halt the relentless growth in hate crime in one of the most racist towns in the province.
New figures reveal in the five years from 2001 there were 881 racial attacks in Northern Ireland, with a shocking 20% taking place in Antrim.
With that number accelerating, the Springfarm Association sought funding from the Community Relations Council and enlisted the services of a top team of English consultants to lead the trail-blazing scheme.
Arlington Trapman, who worked closely with the Damilola Taylor Trust, set up after the 10-year-old schoolboy died in a brutal race attack in November 2000, oversaw the seven-month project and became a regular visitor to the town.
His findings were published yesterday at a launch coinciding with the start of Community Relations Week.
The final report is a searing indictment of the lack of support for migrant workers struggling to start a new life in the province.
While it centres on Springfarm, Antrim's most ethnically diverse estate, the authors believe that it highlights a much wider malaise.
Seamus Davis, chairman of Antrim Community Forum, the Community Partnership and the Springfarm Association, believes the report provides some "very timely food for thought".
"In many ways it speaks for itself and I believe it is a starting point to removing the cancer of racism from this community," he said.
"With more and more people arriving each month, this is an issue which will not simply go away."
posted by garrettmullan
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