Dear Eddie, Thanks for the clarification that you provided on Goanet, of the Racism case in UK. I have been a bit concerned about this student. Especially as the guy mentioned that the police did nothing.
It is true that there are cases of verbal and physical abuse on the streets of UK, especially so in Birmingham. I have seen and heard recounts of these in the last few years of my stay here and a lot of them would involve alcohol. But I think this is the case in any place/country. There are ways to avoid confrontations like this and stay safe. The police here are quick on the scene and I have been amazed by this a couple of times. No University would like their international students to be at risk at any time. In Birmingham University, we have Student wardens (students themselves) visiting houses in Student areas to check that everything is all right. Student mentors do this job in University halls. There was a police conference sometime last year in Birmingham city centre involving some staff from Universities in West midlands and the West Midlands police. I volunteered to attend this as a student representative (the only one that time as it was during the UG exams). The police have been particularly concerned about the rise in crime concerning students. It is a well-known fact that students tend to have expensive and fancy items (mobile phones, lap tops, mp3 players etc) to pillage and are easy targets for muggers and burglars. Some of the conference highlights included hate crime, which could encompass anything from one's religion, gender, disability, or sexual orientation and ways that a victim or a witness could report these online. http://www.report-it.org.uk/ As a student mentor in University accommodation (and team leader subsequently), I had to explain to students how they could report any such occurrences anonymously (this would only result in crime statistics) or openly (this would result in further action). I would like to say that incidents like this do happen. It could be a hate crime related to any of the above-cited types. For eg. A physically handicapped white British girl was mocked at, in a neighbouring Bangladeshi Balti house by some of the waiters. They stared and even dared to ask her where she left the rest of her arms and legs. This made headlines in Redbrick (the University newspaper). But this was not reported as a hate crime, which it is. And consequently, there was no police action. Police do take action if one reports it. If they dont, it is up to the individual to report this inaction to the higher authorities. The system here is simple. There are police to police the police. So one can go higher up till justice prevails. I know that some international students shy away from reporting anything to the police. Id like to say to them that they should contribute to the help they expect to get. And with online reporting, one doesnt even have to go to the police station to do this. For Sunith and other wannabe UK students: Be safe. Use personal alarms (especially for girls) when travelling alone. These should be available free in the universities. They could also double as door or window alarms. There are other problems like drink spiking that one needs to be careful about as well. Do not leave your drink (tea, coffee, water or alcohol) unattended when out socializing with friends/acquaintances. You would be surprised how many of these spiking incidents have been reported in universities here. Try to live in an area of low crime record. There are Community Safety Assessments available online. http://www.birmingham-csp.org.uk/crimeanddisorder/strategicassessments http://www.birmingham-csp.org.uk/crimeanddisorder/docsfolder/citywidecsa/Birmingham%20Community%20Safety%20Assessment%20Final_San.pdf http://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/209393.pdf Take care of yourself. Find out how to, in your area. The police web sites and the international office at your university would give out more information about this. Lastly, I would like to say. These are only precautionary measures. Student life is a good experience. Dont let this incident deter you or bog you down. Take care and warm regards, ^_^ Jen ================================================ [Goanet] Goan victim of racism in the UK Eddie Fernandes eddie at fernandes.u-net.com Tue Aug 22 06:02:14 PDT 2006 I contacted South Shields Police soon after I read of the incident in the letter to the Herald. They police claim that they were at the scene within 5 minutes of it being reported to them. The victim was taken to the local police station where he received first aid. Evidently he had been attacked by two men. The victim was also shown photographs of possible suspects but he was unable to identify his attackers from them. The investigation is on-going. The police are studying close circuit images of the vicinity at the time and "are hopeful" of making arrests. They have undertaken to keep me briefed regarding any developments, if any, in the case. Eddie Fernandes --------------- Goan victim of racism in the UK. By E Pinto Excerpts: ... The boy was bashed by three white people outside the Chicester railway station, Southshields, Tyne and Wear in the evening The police on arrival weren't able to do anything,neither did they provide any first aid to the victim.In short this incident was totally ignored. For full text of the original letter see http://oheraldo.in/node/18058 ====================================================== *~Jen Birmingham UK http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VascokarsUnited/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IEIGLC/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GoanStudentsAbroad/ ====================================================================== __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! 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