Islamophobia Awareness Month 2020 at Bradford College

During Islamophobia Awareness Month 2020 MEND Yorkshire was invited to present ‘The Causes and Cures of Islamophobia’ to students at Bradford College. The presentation aimed at educating students on what Islamophobia looks like in the U.K. and how we can define Islamophobia. After this overview the presentation offered various causes of Islamophobia that MEND and others have identified, following this a few examples of successful cases of tackling Islamophobia were explained to the students as well as other suggestions on how we can tackle the issue of Islamophobia as individuals and communities. The presentation also highlighted to the students how Islamophobia can escalate from negative and islamophobic stereotyping in the media to work place discrimination and playground bullying, and then to hate crimes as well as serious incidents such as Christchurch in 2019.

Aside from this presentation, Bradford College is also hosting the Islamophobia Awareness exhibition both on campus and virtually. Students were able to see the exhibition on campus if they were there in person, and they were also able to access the online exhibition via the College’s Moodle page. The exhibition is a hugely informative and insightful tool for understanding Muslim experiences and contributions in the U.K., with Muslims only making up approximately 5-6% of the population in this country, many do not know what it means to be Muslim or much about Islam for that matter. This exhibition can be used to open conversations between both Muslim and non-Muslim communities and is a great opportunity to learn about the former.

MEND Yorkshire warmly thanks Bradford College for their continued support during the Islamophobia Awareness Month campaign over the past 4 years and their commitment to educate students on Islamophobia. We look forward to our continued partnership.