In October, the Migration Partnership Barnsley hosted 2 events to mark Hate Crime Awareness Week and Black History Month. Both events brought together people from diverse backgrounds, mainstream services, Local Authority, community organisations and the local authority reflected on issues relating to hate crime, community cohesion and racial justice.
The activities offered opportunities for community engagement, evaluative reflection and envisioning of a more hopeful future for our communities whereby hate crime, poverty, inequality, racial and social injustice would neither be routine, trivialised, or institutionalised. Foregrounding lived experiences, guest speakers and participants acknowledged the importance of public education, rethinking and resourcing community-led approaches to combat all forms of hate and discrimination, more investment in aspirational projects for young people, building leadership capacity in communities towards more diverse and inclusive decision making, creating pathways for local influencing by people with lived experience, tackling root causes of hate and other forms of structural injustice and better infrastructural support for vulnerable and marginalised communities.
Essentially, the events articulated a shared dream of a community re-imagining a bold, ambitious, and aspirational future that is more equitable, resilient, welcoming, inclusive, harmonious, and thriving. Migrant Action and its partners continue to play a vital role as convenor and facilitator of inclusive dialogues that centre people and communities of lived experience to inspire and shape transformational social change. This is critical for migrant justice.
