MEND Collaborates with Bradford College During Hate Crime Awareness Week 2020

During National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2020 (October 10^th– October 17^th) MEND’s Yorkshire and Humber Regional Managers delivered presentations centred on Islamophobia to students at Bradford College. In each session, MEND’s ‘Causes and Cures of Islamophobia’ presentation was delivered to the students online.

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. Throughout this presentation there were various examples and incidents of hate crimes that were specifically Islamophobic, for example the Zaynab Hussain case in Leicester, in which MEND supported the victim and her family in getting their story told.

The Yorkshire and Humber team would like to thank Bradford College and their students for the efforts and willingness they have shown to educate themselves about Islamophobia. This is the first step to effectively deal with the issue of Islamophobia and we commend Bradford College for inviting MEND to be part of their activities for Hate Crime Awareness Week.