Burnley the Mississippi of the North

This middle class white man is aghast at this hate-filled town that despises people of colour. 'Remember', a Black friend warns him before heading off, 'don't even look at a white woman or even a bill board poster that has a picture of a woman. You give them any excuse and you're in for a lynching'.

Taken for a Black man the writer is abused, threatened, spat on and treated as though he were no better than a street dog. Reading it does make you weep, but your reality-check tells you that was another time and indeed another country. And then you arrive in Burnley.

There are no lynchings in Burnley, not the sort that witnessed 'strange fruit' hanging from Mississippi redwoods. But it is my impression of the race hate-filled town, that some would, if they could get away with it.

Racist Burnley did not happen by accident or overnight. In some areas the British National Party is the most active, and sometimes the only active 'politic group'. In the absence of any opposition they have been able to poison the minds of isolated and, in some cases, unworldly communities.

In her column for the Independent Yasmin Alibhai Brown states she 'despises' the duped who voted for the BNP. I think they should be more pitied than despised. By dismissing and despising them we ignore their issues of poverty and cultural insecurity, something that the BNP have not.

The BNP's mantra of lies resonated with the disaffected: 'Your taxes go to the Muslim communities while you get nothing'. 'Our British culture is being dominated by Islam'. 'Do you want your child to speak Bangladeshi? The real tragedy is that this deluge of untruths has not been challenged by mainstream parties. In two of the three wards where the BNP won neither the Conservatives nor the Liberal Democrats had put up candidates.

But it wasn't only the BNP candidates and supporters who harboured deep seated racism. At the Burnley election count I spoke with many people including a local Independent candidate. Encouragingly she told me she hated the BNP, but added that 'ordinary people like me feel we can't speak our minds for fear of being called a racialist'.

Intent on exploring her linguistic fears I offered a crude example of what I'd deem to be offensive. 'If you call me a nig nog I'd be offended. Simple as that'. 'But why should you be? she replied, 'its only a name. Remember sticks and stones may break ... .' Faced with such blatant bigotry I just about kept my composure, and quick-as-flash changed my focus to demonstrate right from wrong. 'Not so long ago many women were regularly violently abused by their husbands. Furthermore, it was deemed by many to be acceptable behaviour. Thank heavens, now it isn't, we have learnt and moved on', I argued.

To my complete astonishment and with her husband right by her side, the 'good' lady informed me, 'I disagree. My husband hit me once. I was out of line, I deserved it. Some women ask for it you know'. It would be bad enough if these views were holed up in her bigoted household, but as a councillor she has a democratic mandate allowing her to spew her bile. If that wasn't enough before becoming a independent councillor she was a magistrate, and she informed me if she didn't win her seat she'd return to the bench. God help us.

Metropolitan cities such as London, Birmingham, Manchester, and Nottingham are overall more culturally and socially progressive than the smaller provincial towns. But can we afford to ignore the impact of depravation and the resulting racial tension which spring from these hotbeds of social discontent? Like many, I believe lack of investment has provided the oxygen that has fuelled the rise of the BNP in what were once prosperous industrial towns. Solutions to these deep seated problems must therefore deal with the consequences of the economic downturn, but also the separate issues of immigration and asylum seekers and the disproportionate negative media attention.

In fact, the 'problem' could be turned completely on its head as the North Americans have done. They view immigration as an opportunity for the nation's development. Like-for-like the US allows 50% more immigration to its shores than the European continent. The vast majority of recognised economic migrants are issued with one or two year work visas.

As a consequence of wars and globalisation political and economic migration is on the rise. As the T&G leader, Bill Morris puts it, economic migrants and asylum seekers don't want benefits they just want to work. Why then, not let them work legally, and reinvest the tax gains in the regeneration of depressed areas. But that would be just too simple.

History has shown us that for hundreds of years immigrants always have, and continue to make, a positive economic and cultural contribution to society. I suspect though, there are those who are happy to keep immigration and asylum seekers as scapegoats. After all, they're vulnerable, have few rights and can easily be blamed for the failure of government policies.

The Mississippi of the North - Burnley - is not yet burning , but unless parties and the Government engage with issues locally and nationally Burnley like a number of northern towns is an inferno waiting to happen.