20/10/2021
Many media outlets, including LGBTQIA ones such as Pink News, black community newspapers, and mainstream television have all reported on the stark rise in hate crimes against all minorities in the last couple of years. Vice Magazine noted that Police statistics indicate that anti-gay hate crimes had risen by two hundred and ten per cent since the vote on Brexit in 2016, whilst anti-trans crimes had jumped three hundred and thirty-two per cent. Anti-semitic, anti-Muslim, and anti-Chinese crimes have also rocketed, with ITV News transmitting disturbing footage of angry white heterosexuals screaming abuse at an Asian businessman in what should have been the safety of his own shop. Meanwhile, the black British newspaper The Voice said that only this weekend, a London memorial to the Windrush Generation had again been vandalised with what is speculated to have been a high velocity weapon, an act described by the installation's designer as one of white supremacist “cultural terrorism”. There has been enormous speculation online as to what is responsible for the surge in hate crimes. Some people believe that the conversation over Brexit has poisoned debate and empowered angry white people everywhere, others believe that this is a backlash against the profound ground made by minority groups over the last fifty years. The official Police line is that more people are confident in reporting hate crimes, but LGBTQIA anti-violence project Galop points out that ninety per cent of hate crimes against our communities still go unreported. How to respond to hate crime has also been widely discussed. Some people advocate free self defence classes for minorities. Others say that change comes through education. One opinion we saw expressed even said that as with the Pink Pistols group in America, LGBTQIA people should train, gain a gun license and be ready to use it in self defence. A UK Home Office spokesperson told reporters: “Hate crimes are completely unacceptable and those who commit these hateful attacks should feel the full force of the law”. The discussions continue on many community messageboards.
