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Following the riots of summer 2024, researchers at Newcastle University worked with the North East Anti-Racism Coalition to better understand people's experiences of racism across the region. A new survey reveals the scale of the challenge and highlights where action is needed.
Professor Peter Hopkins from our School of Geography, Politics and Sociology and Professor Heather Smith from our School of Education, Communication and Language Sciences reflect on this collaborative work to explore the changing nature and extent of racism in the North East of England.
Contents:
- The riots of summer 2024
- The North East Anti-Racism Coalition (NEARC)
- Exposing racism in the North East
- Promoting antiracism
The riots of summer 2024
Across several cities in England and Belfast, riots occurred from 30th July to 7th August 2024.
These riots took place immediately after three girls were murdered at a dance class in Southport on 29th July 2024. False claims that the killer was a Muslim asylum seeker spread quickly through social media with unrest and disorder of some form taking place across 27 towns and cities.
Many different places were targeted including hotels that the UK Government were using to house asylum seekers, mosques, and streets and shops associated with ethnic and religious minority groups.
There were riots and disorder in several places across the North East including Sunderland and Middlesbrough. Although some places did not experience this, the fear and anxiety about them becoming the target of the next outburst of violence was felt deeply by many people belonging to minority groups.
The North East Anti-Racism Coalition (NEARC)
Following the riots of summer 2024, Ngozi Lyn Cole, came together with who would become the founders of the North East Anti-Racism Coalition (NEARC). Their aim was to ‘make the North East a region that actively opposes racism, and hatred based on religious identity’.
NEARC is now established as a registered charity.
“NEARC is a broad coalition of volunteers who work together towards a fairer anti-racist North East. We have a campaign called ‘Become the Bridge’ where organisations and agencies come together to take meaningful action to address racism. We also now have full charity status which is testament to all the hard work of those who are a part of our movement” - Ngozi Lyn Cole
Exposing racism in the North East
NEARC approached Newcastle University to help them use research to inform their work. We joined with Amar Elaydi and Renzo Szkwarok to undertake a survey across the North East, and inviting written evidence from organisations and agencies across the region.
There were 639 responses to the survey from across all postcode areas of the North East, with a mixture of age groups from teenagers through to some in their early 80s.
51% of the respondents identified as white British, 20% as Black, 15% as Asian, 3% as Arab and 5% as mixed race. We found that most racist incidents took place in the street (62%), in a shop, restaurant, or pub (43%), and on public transport (33%). Half the respondents had experienced racism at work, 26% at school, and 13% at college or university.
The main findings of the survey present some concerning findings:
- 78% of those who completed the survey felt that racism was either an everyday or regular issue
- 69% felt that racism was getting worse
- 54% of respondents had directly experienced racism and this included verbal abuse (85%), physical abuse (24%), and/or racism on social media (30%). 19% recorded damage to buildings and property
- 73% of respondents had family members, friends or colleagues who had experienced racism, and the most common form this took was verbal abuse (92%), on social media (37%) and/or physical abuse (30%)
- 44% of respondents had a fear of experiencing racism, and 44% had altered their behaviours because of experiencing racism or due to a fear of experiencing it
- 73% felt that racism had an impact on educational outcomes with 84% saying it affected employment opportunities
- 68% felt that racism has an impact on their access to public services, 65% on access to healthcare, 80% on mental health and 88% on wellbeing and confidence
- in terms of factors that increase racism, 81% selected print media, with 79% broadcast media, 91% social media, and 88% the language used by some politicians and other public figures
The full report sets out recommendations for change across sectors as diverse as policing, education, healthcare, as well as housing and communities, public transport, and the women and girls’ sector.
Promoting antiracism
We have both produced a video and booklet to address the question ‘what is anti-racism?’, because being anti-racist means much more than simply not being racist. If you are only “not racist” then this means you might be silent or not act when racism presents itself.
Anti-racism means to describe and understand and then to call out and act upon all the ways racism operates and is manifested, and to do so purposefully, actively, and continually. Anti-racism is about calling out racism in all cases – and to be an ally to those experiencing it.
To be truly anti-racist, we must act vigilantly against racism to dismantle it.
You might also like...
- learn more about the North East Anti-Racism Coalition
- watch the animation: ‘What is anti-racism?' (with subtitles available in Arabic Chinese, French and Spanish)
- read the accompanying booklet 'What is anti-racism?' (credit: Nifty Fox), also available in Chinese and Spanish
- learn more about the academics involved in the study:
- Prof Peter Hopkins, Professor of Social Geography
- Prof Heather Smith, Professor of Race and Language Equality in Education
- explore the work of Prof Peter Hopkins and Prof Heather Smith on their website, Anti-Racism Research and Training
- See the anti-racism framework for initial teacher education: Home | AntiRacism Framework
- discover the work of Kaleidoscope CFA, a Newcastle-based video, animation and photography agency
- explore the visual storytelling of Nifty Fox Creative
