3 minute read
In October, I was lucky enough to sit on the panel of Manchester Pride’s Community Session focused on Hate Crime Awareness. I’ve been supporting our team in our anti-hate crime campaign ‘I Choose Kindness’, and I’ve learned the basics of hate crime awareness and reporting from this, but I’m by no means an expert on the topic, and so hosting the panel with two experts in their own right was really enlightening. The panel was attended by Jenny Talor and Jide Macauley, who offered unique perspectives on hate crime and taught me a lot. Here's what I learned, and what we can all take away from it.
There could be a number of reasons why someone wouldn’t want to report a hate crime to the police: a lack of trust in the prosecution system; little confidence in your memory of the incident; or simply because you don’t want to. Whilst it’s good to report through the official police channels to try and find the offender of a hate incident, reporting through third parties is just as important because all the reports will (anonymously) be sent on to Manchester City Council—and people like Jenny—who can then advise where best to implement preventive measures such as CCTV, police patrols and more. This will reduce the chances of anyone else experiencing a similar incident in the same area.
Hate crime is complex as it is, but this is amplified for those who have intersectional identities. Reverend Jide Macauley spoke of his own experience growing up in a religious family and experiencing hate at the hands of family members. To report a homophobic hate crime whilst in the closet would have resulted in being outed to his family, and would have had a severe impact on his personal circumstances. Many young LGBTQ+ people growing up in households that aren’t accepting of queer identities may suffer with the same barriers; to report would be an admission of their identity, taking away their stability and potentially resulting in homelessness, which is a huge issue for LGBTQ+ young people already.
It’s easy to brush off hate speech and harassment online, by either ignoring it or using in-platform tools to deal with the perpetrators. In reality, a lot of the hate we see online–whether that’s in comments on someone else’s post, posts someone has made on their own profile, or indeed in our DM’s–actually constitutes a hate crime. It’s always worth reporting online abuse if you think it’s targeted due to someone’s protected characteristics, and the police can deal with them accordingly - there are specific prosecution guidelines for online hate crimes.
The biggest barrier to marginalised communities not reporting hate crimes and not knowing how to respond to them is down to a lack of education and awareness. There are things many of us will have experienced that we may not see as a hate crime. This is why Manchester Pride has chosen to focus the ‘I Choose Kindness’ campaign on education and compassion, encouraging allies and LGBTQ+ people alike to choose kindness in raising awareness on hate.
A lot of us like to think of ourselves as having a bit of a hero streak - but when we hear something being shouted in the street or someone being harassed, it can often feel intimidating and perhaps even triggering, and we therefore avoid getting involved or helping the victim. I learned some really helpful tips on how to react to hate crimes at the Community Session - spanning all the way from directly getting involved to disrupt an altercation, to not getting involved at all, but still helping in another way. Here are the 6 D’s of reacting to hate crime:
Jenny Taylor is a Hate Crime Policy Officer at Manchester City Council.
Revd. Jide Macauley is a Pastor and HIV+ Activist.
I Choose Kindness is Manchester Pride's campaign to end hate crime for good.
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