Boston, Racism & Ignorance
04 September, 2006
August the 19th must have been hell for Boston's local government. Respected national newspapers such as The Telegraph, The Times and The Guardian published articles about a 'controversial' film "I Hate Boston and Boston Hates Me" made as part of the publicly funded Beacon Art Project. This film created by Jordan Baseman supposedly exposes widespread racism in the town of Boston through interviews with a female Portuguese migrant. I say 'supposedly' due to the extreme lack of people that have been allowed to view the film.Many local authorities would appreciate this opportunity to have their eyes opened to local issues and troubles. However, Boston have typically taken to sanctuary in ignorance. Boston Borough Council has apparently written to the newspapers concerned to protest about the publishing of the story. In a letter to the Boston Target newspaper, Councillors Paul Kenny and Andrew Bakewell wrote "The only time the national papers are interested in the town is to talk about migrant workers and racism".
The councillors have shown serious naivety in thinking the town has anything more special for the national newspapers to take interest in. Immigration is a burning issue within the town, throughout the country and in Europe as a whole. It is a national and international issue. Somehow the introduction of 'wheelie bins' and the theft of a cabbage just do not compare.
It was promising to read the councillors concern over the welfare of the Portuguese female. The unnamed woman and her seven year old daughter have suffered episodes of racial abuse from locals. Councillors Kenny and Bakewell showed a united front by saying that it was "...important that her views are heard and responded to". Mr Steven Wyatt of the English Democrats indeed responded, in a letter to the Boston Target the following week saying; "I don't want to live in a town built on diversity", "Let me give the lady in question a solution to her problems... go back. I don't expect you will be missed."
Unlike Mr Wyatt, more civilised people would agree that the woman's views should be heard, and problems of racism and abuse should be exposed and dealt with. It is surely pointless to ignore a situation and hope problems will disappear. In June 2006 The Lincolnshire Echo published an article relating to the results of a survey by South Holland District Council. In the survey one third of people in Lincolnshire said they do not like migrant workers, and a percentage openly admit physically attacking them. In the article, Lincolnshire Police's race and diversity officer; Chief Inspector Paul Elliott states:
"The number of recorded attacks against migrant workers is very low, but we strongly suspect that most migrants don't report any abuse or harassment they experience, in fact 60 per cent of them don't know how to report a crime and 40 per cent don't know that the emergency number is 999."
With this disturbing lack of unreported attacks, it is understandable that Councillors Kenny and Bakewell would see it 'important' that the woman's "...views are heard and responded to." and it is probably for this reason that Boston Borough Council are one of the main funders of the film project.
So it comes as some surprise that this woman's views will now NOT be heard due to the scrapping of the film. Strangely, Nicola Streeton; manager of the Beacon Project previously told the Boston Target there was no question of the video being withdrawn. It would be wrong of me to suggest that the council had put pressure on the project to pull the film by withdrawing funding. After all, Rev David de Verny suggests in relation to the Boston Borough Council "Nobody does anything here".
The Times article states that the local authority "...was censured by the Audit Commission in 2003 for failing to show leadership on migrant issues", and it appears nothing has changed since then. In 2004 a serious riot left much of the town centre burned and broken, a riot attributed to racial tensions amplified by BNP involvement. Almost every weekend since has seen small scale fighting between local wayward youths and migrant workers. It is now common in Boston Lincolnshire to hear the word 'foreigner' spat out with hatred and xenophobia. Failure to act once again curses this town with a problem that will only escalate. The scrapping of this film stinks of the censorship and book burning of Nazi Germany; it is an attempt to control and pacify those that believe in freedom and respect for our fellow human beings.
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4 Comments:
If not then they should be careful how they spout the word 'ignorance' as much of what is said is, in itself, pure hyperbole.
I am a Boston born and bred Brit who uses such places as the Volunteer and Wodka Bar, a restaurant and bar owned by migrants and a place people of different races can mingle in harmony. Oh, but you only want to concentrate on the bad stuff to exemplify your point.
Yes, the BNP did play a part in the riots of 2004 but, no, those BNP members were not from Boston. They were shipped in from Birmingham, Nottingham and the north to sit in town pubs and stir up racial tensions by leading the stupid, drunk teenagers in town into a booze-fuelled frenzy by playing on international emotions on the day that England lost to France in the European Championships - the ignorant leading the ignorant and a far cry from the average Bostonian's thoughts.
It wasn't the migrant population that was attacked that night but, in fact the police and the Turkish community who have been long-standing residents in the town and have nothing to do with those who have arrived since the EU opened this free-working-market policy.
Sadly, the BNP got their headlines that night. Even sadder is the fact the author here panders to that.
The point of the post is: if every time someone mentions they have been a victim to racism, they get shouted down and told to shut up and leave if they don't like it - the problem will only get worse.
I have since learned from contact with Jordan Baseman that the female concerned has become frightened of the consequences of this short film that hasn't even been shown.
The local council and media have been up in arms over the suggestion that racism is a problem in Boston. Not at any time have they considered maybe we have a problem and need to address it.
Also, the migrant population WAS a target of the riot, since The Volunteer was also attacked - just like it does on a regular basis. The Turkish community were indeed targeted. I assume the intent was to go and attack the nearest 'foreigners'. Does this not suggest an element of racism? England had not been playing Turkey after all. As for drunken teenagers; people old enough to know better were also involved.
I think it is pretty discraceful that victims are not allowed to have a voice. Ignoring the cancer of racism does not make it go away.
However, I must still point out that you only show one side of the argument.
The local media may, indeed, be in uproar about defending the town as non-racist because they are defending the majority of townsfolk who are average non-racist people.
You also fail to mention the town's other paper which, rightly or wrongly, devoted a good number of pages to news within the Portuguese community. Isn't this a kind welcome that migrant workers who live elsewhere certainly aren't recieving? Why was this point omitted? please look at the bigger picture.
It is this being tarred with the same brush approach you take that doesn't make things any better - kids in Boston (who now go to school with the children of migrants) will grow up being told they are nothing but racists.. This attitude will only help them to live up to the hype and this is something we do not want.
I'm sure the lady in the film is scared of an attack. I admire her for speaking out but do you remember a film on BBC a few years ago called Saturday's Alright for Fighting? It was an over-edited attempt to make Boston look like a mindless backwater and it succeeeded. People who made comments on there actually did recieve reprise attacks - it's not a race issue you talk of but an issue of miseducation and, sadly, human nature and the need for revenge.
Your comment about 'people who are old enough to know better' being involved in the riot! Well, yes, sadly one chap involved also has his passport taken away every time England play football abroad. Not a nice man but the type of person you have in every town, I'm afraid. Many others were, as I said, shipped in from other places with the briefing of doing nothing other than causing trouble and whipping up tension.
Why don't you mention the Ship Inn FC - a Sunday League football team that includes eight different nationalities in its side? There are other migrants playing sport in the area harmoniously and you fail to mention this. Boston Town currently has a Hungarian on its books... mention that!
At the last count there were 80,000 Portuguese migrants living between Kings Lynn and Lincoln and there are no counts available for the Eastern European workers at present.
These people have as much right to be here as me and I hope they can all make good lives for their families but, tell me, are you on the property ladder? Can you buy a house right now or do you keep getting gazumped by people buying to make profit by packing a home with migrant workers?
can you get factory work these days or is cheap labour taking away your chance of earning a living?
Yes, I know these are cliched arguments but still they are salient points which will whip up resentment to people who are trying to make life better for themselves. I don't say these opinions are correct but they do exist.
Do you see the amount of foreign nationals in newspapers at present for court appearances for drink driving or fighting or theft?
I'm not saying that migrant workers are all thieves or drunks but I will say that of those who move here we have a real cross section - nice, friendly families and bad eggs.
Maybe the racist idiots of Boston are choosing to pick up on those migrants with indescretions and are stupidly prejudicing a whole community... but isn't that just the same as what you are doing to the people of Boston with this blog?
I am in no way saying that Boston in its entirety is racist, otherwise I would be labelling myself in that way. What we are talking about is a dangerous element, and also a trend/culture that could get out of hand.
We are seeing a time when people can say, "bloody foreigners, send 'em all back" and not feel in anyway racist or xenophobic. The worst conversations come from those who begin with "I'm not racist but..."
These same people can often glibly brag about sons or daughters who are working abroad and making masses of cash, yet would surely be shocked if their offspring were the subject of similar hate.
I did not mention the Boston Standard due to their relative silence on the subject. They seem to steer away from anything controversial. I agree that they could be seen to be welcoming the migrant community - although I am sure their motivation is more to do with spotting an opportunity for better advertising revenue. We must always keep in mind these papers employ more advertising representatives than reporters.
You mention the Saturday's Alright for Fighting programme that was "an over-edited attempt to make Boston look like a mindless backwater". unfortunately it doesn't take a great deal of effort or editing to achieve that impression.
This is not to say that everyone in Boston is an inbred mindless idiot. The problem is, that particular minority are a dominant force in the town. Fists and shouting always seem to get you to the front of the queue for attention.
You mention about school children potentially feeling like they are instantly branded as racist. In the Times article that I linked to, Rev. David de Verny mentions how a primary school organised a Portuguese Day for education and awareness purposes. He said; "They were going to have Portuguese food, music and dance. So what happened? Scores of parents withdrew their kids for the day".
What hope do these kids have, with parents like that? The problem is not them being branded racist, but being shown the way by their bigoted parents.
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