"If you want a n****r for a neighbor, vote Labour": Change in hate crimes since the 1964 S
It has been over 50 years since that infamous slogan was used by the Conservative election campaign in the Smethwick constituency, however the entire Black Country and West Midlands continues to see rising numbers of reported racial hate crimes.
Brexit, the rise of Trump, neo-nazism, the return of the far right and white supremacy continue to bring the issue of race and immigration to the headlines. But a focus on the Sandwell and Smethwick area, as well as other projects in the West Midlands, may show that there is a positive future.
Figure 1.1 Count of hate crime with a 'Race' hate strand marker in West Midlands, recorded by Neighbourhood Policing Unit.
Figure 1.2 Count of hate crime with a 'Race' hate strand marker in West Midlands by recorded victim ethnicity.
Data available here.
In October 1964, "the most racist election in Britain" took place. By mobilising anti-immigration and racist sentiment among the working class, Shadow Foreign Secretary - Patrick Gordon Walker - lost on a 7.2% swing to the Tories. Peter Griffiths won with slogans such as "if you want a n****r for a neighbour, vote Labour."
While hate crimes were not considered an offence until 1998, this did not stop racially motivated crimes being reported in the media around the time of the election. Colour bars, councils buying vacant properties to sell only to white people, and even suggestions of apartheid by Griffiths (in his 1966 book A Question of Colour) became the norm for the local area.
However, Smethwick has greatly changed into a multicultural hub for the Black Country. The local Smethwick branch of Sanwell Council told us that the organisation has received no racial hate crimes reported to them over the last year. Projects in schools and individuals moving from Birmingham city moving to a commutable area, have helped race relations improve into the 21st century.
Ajaz Kiaz and Lennox Thompson said that the rise in reported hate crimes has a positive angle "There is more awareness and people have more confidence to report." Racial hate crimes are being taken more seriously, but there are also been acted on.
As a result of this, in 2016 "More than four in five prosecuted hate crimes result in a conviction, which is good news for victims".
Smethwick’s infamous election story is just one of many explored in Birmingham library’s ‘Connected Stories’ exhibition. This was an event that explored the union between people, promoting multiculturalism opposed to the division caused by hate crime.
Creator of the exhibition, Penny Brook described the exhibition as a physical representation of the “collective memory” of Birmingham’s multicultural history.
Reports of hate crime in the East and West of Birmingham account for 52% of all hate crimes in the west Midlands area between April 2014- March 2017 (Figure 1.1). In times of increasing hate, it can be hard to ignore the positive steps taken in the West Midlands area to decrease hate crime.
Connected Stories aimed to emphasise the positive aspects of Multiculturalism In Birmingham and the West Midlands as a whole. According to Ms Brook, exhibitions such as this are important, not just in Birmingham but in “any country, any area, at any time”. It is important to realise the history of the area that we live in and how this has been formed over centuries of racial integration.
The aim of the exhibition was to give people a “rich understanding of what this country is and how it has become what it is”, an overall positive message during a period of racially stimulated hate crime.
Listen to more from Penny Brooks below:
Evaluation
The West Midlands was once an area so racially prejudiced that certain pubs were deemed ‘white only areas’ and political leaders were elected into power with a policy based on racial hate and discrimination. With Trump’s election in America, rising hate crime figures and anti-immigration sentiment surrounding Brexit, it may seem as if history is repeating itself.
However, Smethwick’s’ progress over the last 50 years sets a positive example of how there is a potential for positive change to be implemented to decrease levels of hate crime. Paul Uppal (ex-Conservative MP for Wolverhampton South West) remarked:
I am glad to say that both Britain and the Conservative party have come an extremely long way since that infamous campaign in Smethwick in 1964. At the last general election, the number of Conservative MPs from an ethnic minority more than quadrupled going from 2 to 11, of which I was one.
Smethwick councillors have claimed that education in schools about racial hate crime has helped to improve the area in the last 50 years. While there is still a long way to go in eradicating hate crime, the steps that have already been taken is a credit to the West Midlands.
