"There was revulsion, she said. There was such an outpouring from people from all backgrounds who came and stood by us. [National Union of Mineworkers'] representatives came to demos. An elderly miner from Newcastle gave me a badge and said: Wear it with pride."
"We're not horrified that somebody can say these things any more, she said. And that means a worse thing can happen. The public's tolerance level of what is acceptable is changing. And that's worrying."
"So many people wrote to us [when Ahmed died] in sympathy, she added. Given the rhetoric that's around now, whether there would be the same reaction today, I can't say."
Selina Ullah reflects on the 1986 murder of her 13-year-old brother Ahmed Iqbal Ullah, a racist killing in a Greater Manchester school that became a watershed moment for anti-racism efforts. She recalls the widespread solidarity and cross-community support following his death, including from miners and people of all backgrounds. However, Ullah expresses deep concern that society is becoming desensitized to racist, Islamophobic, and homophobic comments, lowering public tolerance thresholds for what constitutes acceptable speech. She fears this normalization of hateful rhetoric creates conditions for escalating violence and questions whether the same outpouring of sympathy would occur if such a tragedy happened today, suggesting that decades of progress in community relations may be at risk.
#racism-and-hate-crimes #community-solidarity #desensitization-to-hate-speech #anti-racism-progress #social-tolerance
Read at www.theguardian.com
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