News

Black and minority ethnic (BME) communities face the biggest challenge for a generation: A challenge which we can only confront if we have the greatest show of solidarity and unity ever seen in the UK.

It is true that the racism of the 70's, 80's, and 90's is no longer with us. This was a shocking era of race relations: a time when, what was crudely termed as 'Paki bashing', was the norm, and, certain police officers not only harassed you because you were Black, but all too often 'fitted you up', to feed the cancer of racism.

Do you know of any Asian women who should be recognised and celebrated for their valuable contribution to society in their respective field?

Nominations are open for this year's Asian Women of Achievement Awards (AWA), which recognise and celebrate the achievements of women in a number of sectors including entrepreneurship, business, humanitarian and politics. This year sees two new categories added to the list of awards, including Asian women of achievement in sport and Asian Women of achievement Community Award.

For the first time in this country, the public across England and Wales, excluding London, will elect 41 Police and Crime Commissioners (PCC) who will be accountable for how crime is tackled in their police force areas.

The need to ensure we have BME police commissioners has never been more urgent. The responsibility of the newly-appointed PCC's will be to cut crime and deliver an effective and efficient police service within their force area. The elections are set to take place on 15 November 2012.

Having the voice of an angel should not be a curse. But it seems the demons that plagued Whitney Houston’s personal life finally took their toll. Like many troubled stars before her, she was found dead in her hotel room.

An incensed Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said that Liverpool's Luis Suarez could have caused a riot by refusing to shake hands with the man he repeatedly racially abused during their last encounter.

The issue of racism continues to linger in the air where football is concerned.

No sooner had Fabio Capello resigned from his post as England coach that the Football Association had announced that Stuart Pearce would be taking the reins on an interim basis for the friendly against Holland on February 29.

Equality campaigners are claiming that employment recruiters would rather hire white job candidates than those from Black or Asian communities.

According to a report commissioned by the Race for Opportunity (RfO), 29 per cent of BME candidates were offered a job through recruitment agencies compared with 44 per cent of white applicants. The results also showed that 29 per cent of both white and BME job candidates were offered jobs when applying to companies directly.

The UK music industry has made a commitment to increasing equality and diversity in the music sector following the launch of a new charter.

UK Music's Equality and Diversity charter is designed to encourage the industry to improve equality and diversity.

UK Music are hoping to get at least 100 individuals, companies and organisations to sign up to the charter by 2012 and commit to accomplishing at least two of the four actions of the charter to include ethnic minorities, women and the disabled in the music industry workplace.

Imagine you send your 11 year old boy to fetch some milk from the local shop. It’s not far, just a five minute walk. He’s gone for more than half an hour and you start to worry . Then you get a knock on the door. It’s the local community worker. She says, "Mary you need to come quickly, they’ve got your boy". "Who, what, where?" Mary stutters in a panic. "The police", the community workers responds, "but don’t worry, he’s just around the corner."

The Aasha mediation project is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year and has played a lead role in acting as a mediator in gang conflict in the borough of Tower Hamlets, east London.

The project works with young people aged between 16 and 24 years old who are involved in gangs or are vulnerable to getting into gangs. The Aasha project has worked hard to design interventions to reach out to the youth and offer workshops and training to help them avoid getting into trouble.