Hami Kurd's Response to 'At a Turning Point?' by Gary Craig 26/8/05 (2/2)

(1/2), (2/2).

Hami Kurd is a Kurdish-to-English language magazine and is written by normal working class Hull Kurds who have no position within the asylum industry to protect or promote. Our experience of Hull is that things have improved enormously here since the year 2000. The native people of Hull have been largely welcoming and friendly once they realised why we were here. Gary Craig sits in his office, unaware of the Kurds playing football with their British friends, going drinking on a night with their British friends, being involved in everyday community and family life with their British friends. Many of our people are now married into British families.

Gary Craig seems to know nothing of these people and their relationships within the community.

He uses old crime statistics, analyses them in his office at Hull University, and then tells us that Hull is full of racists. Should we use 1945 statistics relating to German attacks on British people or 1977 statistics to represent Irish attacks upon the British? This is not just negligent, it is dangerous. The BNP reading this document would see Hull as a great recruiting ground. Gary Craig has done none of us any favours. The Council receives huge criticism for its role in race relations in Hull but our experience of the Council is quite different. Whilst Gary Craig was conducting his predictably negative research, we were invited to voice our thoughts freely at many meetings by Hull City Council.

We have little complaint about the Council's direct efforts (Anna Whalen, Ria Toutountzi, Henry Avontuur, Sarah Gibson, and Linda Lo etc. have always been willing to listen to the Kurdish community and have always given us a great deal of respect) but, as Kurds who live in Hull, we have many complaints about some of the initiatives and organizations Gary Craig praises. Ironically they have all received funding from Hull City Council, the organization that Gary Craig criticizes!

We think the problem is that there is no future funding potential in positive research findings and the Hull Daily Mail article (and the research document itself) implied that more research was required. Ask certain people to take part in such a study and you will get the result you want. Ask those who stand to lose out if racism is not a big issue in Hull, and they will guide you to people who will tell you tales of racism as an everyday event.

This is not an accurate picture and it is painted by academics who do not live with us and people who have set themselves up as community leaders. We dispute the findings of this report and would advise Hull City Council not to waste any more public money on further misguided research when it could sensibly invest in research conducted by better informed, genuinely involved people.

We also carried out our own informal survey on Newland Avenue on 25th July, when we asked people from ethnic minorities who were passing by whether they had been asked their opinions on race relations in Hull by anyone over the last six months. Only two out of one hundred and three said they had and they could not say if they had been asked by Hull University or someone else. Again, how deeply can we trust the findings of Gary Craig's report? He did not consult the normal Kurds, so can we be sure he consulted the normal Jewish, Eastern European or African peoples?

www.hamikurd.com Copyright ©  Hami Kurd Magazine 2005

Articles - Concerned About Africa? A Chance to Help Hulls Twinned City

	Hull is twinned with Freetown in Sierra Leone, a city which is trying to become a Fair Trade city like York. Fairmade is a new business employing 25 people in Freetown; a place where everything, every day and every penny is a struggle. It's trying to do its bit to reduce the devastating poverty of the war torn West African country. Help Sierra Leone Read more...

Articles - On 'At a turning point? The state of race relations in Kingston upon Hull' a report by Prof G Craig, 26 July 05

	'What do you think about the state of race relations in Hull? Your chance to express your views. Professor Gary Craig has been commissioned to conduct an enquiry into the state of race relations in Hull'. Prof Craig issued this invitation through the local press and radio and Hull City Council departments and other Read more...

Articles - Teenage Kicks By Jim Higo

	In the same week that Teen sex is being targeted by the Tories (their plan is to reduce it, not to indulge in it), it is perhaps an unfortunate coincidence that they also unveil plans to ask former Chief Inspector of Schools Chris Woodhead to carry out a review of the National Read more...

Articles - Bingo In Mad By DJ Chris Plant

	Let me start with a few facts... Bingo: first began in Italy in 1530. France became interested in 1778. They played the game with a deck of cards. In the 1800's Educational Lotto games became popular. Bing Crosby got his name from being called Bingo: as a child. Read more...

Articles - Shall We Dance? UK Movie Premiere, Wednesday Feb 16th 2005, Leicester Square, London By Steve Rudd
	The weather might have been bitterly cold, but still the most entertaining Square in all of London was relatively packed for the UK movie premiere of Shall We Dance?, which was in aid of charity - and the Asia Tsunami appeal in particular. Shall We Dance? is the latest movie Read more...

Articles - Black and White By Jim Higo

	At last it's here! That eagerly awaited time when the celebs queue up to be seen and to be heard. The moment when Hollywood's finest come together amidst an array of anxious attire, desperate, designer dresses and hazardous hairdo's. Read more...

Articles, Paranormal - Messages At Christmas By Graham Lee

	There is a dilemma for every medium and it is this: when is it appropriate to pass on messages from spirit, and when is it best left alone? Many times I have been in a crowded room or on a train and I have been given hints of spirit information for the Read more...

Articles - Samaritans By Michelle Dee

	Late 2003 our editor wrote an article about the invaluable work done by the local branch of the Samaritans. The piece called, A Friend In Need , featured the then manager of the Hull branch Wendy. Since the article was written a new Read more...

Articles - About Crazy Shit By Joe Hakim

	So we stumble out of the horror of Christmas into the New Year, bleary-eyed and confused, with the nagging feeling we've missed something. I was working all through Christmas and New Year. Even though I spent New Year's Eve working, stood in Read more...

Articles, Paranormal - The Beast In The Basement By Graham Lee

	Every so often a paranormal investigation can uncover spirit beings which are not of human origin. As well as humans who have passed over, there are Angels, animal spirits, faeries, elementals, nature spirits and a whole host of inter-dimensional Read more...

Articles - True Stories - The Puzzle Nightmare By DJ Chris Plant
	One day when I was home alone, there was a knock at the front door. It was the postman with a parcel for me. I tore open the package and inside there was a black box. Inside the box there were some puzzle pieces. I didn't think Read more...

Articles, Paranormal - Young Master Willem By Graham Lee

	Of course it's not all monks, white ladies and monsters. Often times I find myself face to face with the spirits of children, the most memorable of which has so far been Young Master Willem. I ran into this cheeky little boy in a watermill Read more...

Articles, Paranormal - Lynched A Ghost By Graham Lee Photos By Ellen, Graham, Bev and Kaye.

	As part of my regular work I am involved in ghost hunts with a group called UK Haunted where we invite members of the public to join our all-night vigils in haunted locations. The latest of these events was held in a derelict manor house, Read more...

Articles - Pain is a Simple Word By Mr Pain in the Butt
	Like many words Pain has just four letters. It is short and easily just rolls off of the lips. Pain; Used to describe things ranging from a stubbed toe to a woman giving birth to her first born child - Pain! What a simple everyday word! To me Pain is all Read more...

Articles - Norman At Ninety By DJ Chris Plant
	As Sir Norman Wisdom approaches 90 years old. I pay tribute to the fine actor as I watch his films. My favourite Norman Wisdom film has to be On the Beat (1962). In On The Beat, Norman wants to be a policeman like his father was, Read more...

Articles - Endless Guitar Solos and the Real Reasons for Opposing Fox Hunting. By Mark Pollard

	I love progressive rock. Always have done. There; I've said it. You can stick your three-and-a-half minute blasts of pop music where the sun don't shine. If it sounds great, let it drag on for half an hour is what I say. Why play one note when Read more...