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In many ways, the people of Bradford are showing great resilience in the face of some of the worst levels of poverty in the country. But with the prediction that the situation will get worse before it gets better, the possibility of racial tensions rising is very real.

A recent research paper highlighted that more than 35,000 children in Bradford are growing up in poverty.

Today, the U.S celebrates Martin Luther King Day, a national holiday to commemorate the civil rights leader. To mark the occasion, His Excellency Louis Susman, the American Ambassador, hosted the UK’s premier screening of the film Double Victory at the American Embassy in London.

The Metropolitan police are reported to overhaul Operation Trident to lead an anti-gang initiative in London.

According to the Guardian, Operation Trident, which was set up to tackle gun crime in Black communities, will spearhead a new attack on teenage gangs. Detectives from the specialist unit will be responsible for a new policy against street gangs to combat a rise in youth violence.

Duwayne Brooks is only too familiar with the challenges that young Black men face. In the last two decades of his life, he has lost his best friend, Stephen Lawrence, in a racist attack, as well as being demonised with false accusations of rape and being a gang member.

But these episodes in life have not held him back, rather he has used the moments and experiences to forge a career in politics, becoming a Councillor for the Liberal Democrats in the London Borough of Lewisham in 2009.

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport announced last week they were to launch an investigation into racism in football and other sports with the first session set to be held in the first week of March.

The investigation was called for by Steve Rotheram, Labour MP for Liverpool Walton who said that "it would be appropriate for this issue to be looked at by Parliamentarians from all Parties and from different football/sporting and non-sporting allegiances".

He added:

Irrespective of what MPs say and do, the media narrative seems pre-determined: the House of Commons is packed with self-serving charlatans motivated only by a selfish desire to extract more money from the taxpayer for personal financial gain.

It is little wonder that public confidence in our elected representatives remains so low. In such a hostile climate, it is understandable that many MPs are reluctant to correct the storyline for fear of media reprisals. Yet our parliamentary democracy must be defended.

There has been a mixed reception to The Metropolitan Police Commissioner Bernard Hogan-Howe's plans of reforming stop and search tactics in London.

Hogan-Howe wants to overhaul the policy in an effort to improve relations with Black and Minority Ethnic communities. There are also plans for Section 60 orders, which permit random stop and searches across wide areas, to be cut in half.

I searched the house for my beat up copy of the Dr Martin Luther King’s ‘Stride Toward Freedom. The Montgomery Story’ .

What did I do with it? Did I lend to someone, or have I simple lost it?

I wanted to use it to share with you some of the quotes written by Dr King in this truly remarkable story. First, we all broadly know the history of the bus boycott started by the unassuming heroine, Rosa Parks, who refused to give up her seat for a white person on the local Montgomery public buses.

Racism works in many ways, but one of the most pernicious is the character assassination that destroys any logical argument you might have by suggesting that you; ‘Have a chip on shoulder’, ‘You hate whitey’, ‘You are a angry Black man’ or, as what has transpired in the USA, those around the White House are suggesting that the First Lady, Michelle Obama is an ‘Angry Black Woman’.

The issue of forced marriages has been in and out of the spotlight in recent years. For so long, campaigners have called for the government to take a lead in criminalising forced marriage.

In November 2011, a new law was implemented in Scotland which protects people from being married against their will. The news was welcomed by victims of forced marriages as they will have greater help and protection from the law. The new legislation gives courts the power to issue protection orders to those at risk and breach of such orders could result in a two-year prison sentence.