Politicians, media & cops try to blame music for crime
The ignorant racist stereotypes have been coming thick and fast the last couple of weeks ….
Racism and Nazi activity is on the increase. You may or may not have heard about the murder of Oldham taxi-driver Israr Hussein, on 27 December.
(more info here)
Israr was murdered in a vile racist attack directly encouraged by the presence of the BNP in the town, whipping up race hatred. The scapegoating of asylum seekers by the government and the media has continued - and is set to get even worse with moral panics over the war on terrorism, Iraq, and crime being whipped up.
This week, government ministers and large sections of the media have disgracefully used the tragic deaths of Charlene Ellis and Letisha Shakespeare in Birmingham to make racist comments about garage and rap music, “Yardie” gangsters and “gun culture”. (More about the attacks on our music on here soon)
To cap it all David Blunkett immediately introduced a visa requirement for Jamaicans to enter the UK.
Their message is clear - black people (and black music) and immigrants are responsible for what are supposedly Britain’s biggest problems - guns, drugs, crime and terrorism. Why hasn’t there been a massive press and government outcry over racist violence like Israr Hussein’s murder in the same way?
The likes of the BNP are lapping all this up, claiming it proves their disgusting racist ideas are right. But all this is also making many many of us very angry, and even more determined to stand up to the racists and defend our multicultural society and our music and culture from these attacks.
That’s why the Love Music Hate Racism campaign has to be stepped up now. If you’re fed up with what’s going on we urge you to get involved now and help us create a wave of positive, united, anti-racist music events to happen across the country.
It’s easy to get involved. Putting on an event is easy! Why not contact local bands or DJs and book a venue for a LMHR gig or clubnight in your town? We can help with contacting artists or with advice and guidance on how to put on a successful music event.
We also need help with flyering and LMHR/ANL stalls - please get in touch if you fancy getting into top gigs and clubnights for free - in return for a bit of LMHR work of course.
