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Race for Football Sport & Society We have to Deal with It.

25/5/2013

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Race for Football, Sport & Society

 
This week the Race for Football National Roadshow came to Birmingham and was hosted by Phoenix United at St Andrews Birmingham City.

For many years Football has been as way off life and is shrouded in history, all over the UK and indeed in local communities.

Since the inception of the Premier League with the mass sponsored investment Football has become a Multi Million pound empire in this country.

However, on the other side, it has also become an apparent breeding ground for racism.

There have been many high profile incidences of racial discrimination in football over the past year and this has highlighted the need for commitment and proper regulation not only by Clubs, The Premier League, The FA but also Government.

It begs the question is Football above the law of the land? It is not, racism is a ‘hate crime’ and it should be dealt with accordingly. There is a clear dividing line between Football disciplinary matters and breaking the law, it’s that simple.

Racism is not just an issue for Football, but society as a whole, however, the continual dismissing of incidences of Race Discrimination with explanations such a mere banter only fuels the fact that people believe they can get away with this type of bigoted behaviour.

One must recall that Football is responsible for developing Role Models in society and these can either be negative or positive.

The recent Notts County incident which has been publicised nationally, clearly demonstrates the disrespect that especially Young Black Footballers face, yet alone their older counterparts.

There are various initiatives developing awareness, about racism in Football but there are no campaigns with real teeth to develop and enforce regulations that will stomp it out as yet.

Although there are now developing punishments to tackle racism; the on and off the field incidences need stern action as this does impact upon society as a whole.

Footballers are employees and should they commit acts of discrimination or indeed the any Football Staff; then just like many working for Companies they should be sacked and their professional registrations be suspended or even permanently revoked.

Clubs to face several games behind closed doors and or points deductions.

One must also appreciate the impact upon local communities of this type of behaviour, as many football grounds do have a high level of BME residents living locally.

The situation is simple we need to campaign to stop the window dressing and develop clear, enforceable codes of conduct.

It also needs to be clearly defined what issues are for Football to deal with and what issues are to be dealt with by the law of the land.

It is alarming that after the tiresome work in developing skills, human beings are being ridiculed on a Football pitch for the colour of their skin.

It’s clearly time for change and we must unite and work together to achieve this.

Write to your MP, The Minister of Sport or even The Prime Minister and demand action to deal with this alarming issue.

We are all equal, its time to embrace our diversity and not ridicule it.

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Does Race Matter? Lord Ouseley's Visit to Birmingham University

25/5/2013

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Lord Herman Ouseley was at Birmingham University this week giving a talk on Different Realities: From Colour Bar to Post Racial Britain? The talk was hosted by Dr. Nicola Rollock of The Centre for Research and Race in Education.

The key element from this talk was how far has Britain gone in embracing and not celebrating its Diversity.

Have there really been adequate progress since the days of ‘No Blacks, No Irish & No Dogs’?

Is there a clear understanding that when many people arrived in this Country especially from the West Indies these Countries were actually British territories?

Is there a lack of understanding of racial terminology?

Does race and the collective struggle matter?

The interesting account from Lord Ouseley is when he arrived in the UK in the 1950’s, he recounted being called Wog, Sambo & Coon. However, whilst smiling and responding he did not actually understand what was being said, as he was under the impression that people were being friendly. It was only later on that the stark realisation was made that they were actually being offensive.

Comments such as ‘We didn’t win the war for you people to come here and take our jobs’ despite the contribution of the commonwealth and indeed British Territories, which was absolutely relevant were being ignored. However, does the quote not sound familiar, I'm sure these inferences have been used recently with regard to the current issue of immigration.

It was highlighted clearly that despite Britain being this massive power with all of the Common wealth Territories, it had difficulty in embracing the diversity that it actually ruled, this was clearly defined with the Notting Hill disturbances in the 1950’s.

Indeed the further disturbances in  during the 1980’s in Toxteth, St Pauls, Brixton, Handsworth, Broad Water Farm but to name a few, clearly showed the lack of Britain’s ability to embraced its own Community, with aggressive policing for example with ‘Operation Swamp’ which today is basically ‘Stop n Search’.

The position is simple if the Leadership of this Country wants to embrace its diversity then it has to be on their agenda and it will happen.

Clearly we are governed by Rich Individuals that don’t care about the Poor and elderly irrespective of their Race and indeed the Black/BME Community that it is currently attacking with their aggressive cuts.

There is a complete lack of representation at the decision making tables and indeed there appears to be fear of individuals to be outspoken of their convictions that affect their own Communities.

The current socio-economic factors and Race are clearly linked, and the issues surrounding social cohesion is clearly compromised by the lack of representation.

Change is in our hands do we rise up or do we box clever and engage the system both politically and civically in order achieve our place at the decision making tables of society. They key element in order to achieve this in my view is for us to Unite as a Community and become the positive role models for our young people in order that they are given a solid foundation on which to develop, politically, academically, economically, industrially and socially.

Its time for Change, together we will get there.


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Birmingham Housing Crisis and the Need for a Housing  Cabinet Member at Birmingham City Council

17/5/2013

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A home to anyone is their castle. For some time now we have had a developing Housing Crisis in Birmingham, which is now being compounded by the Bedroom Tax levied on the people in social housing for under occupation.

A home is shrouded with history of family life and indeed when some children leave the home obviously rooms are left unoccupied. It is the case even in my family.

A home provides stability, a sense of belonging and pride. It is your own space or territory where you are the ruler. However, this repulsive bedroom tax has been thrusted upon people and they are expected to be treated like cattle and just move about as they are unable to afford the surcharge.

This was highlighted in the unfortunate and tearful case of Stephanie Bottrill in Solihull who just was at her wits end.

We cannot play the blame game and in Birmingham we need to adopt a strategic and pro-active approach in order to deal with our Housing Crisis.

There is in the region of  14000 household’s  affected by this tax requiring one bedroom accommodation, but, Birmingham Housing Department has around 200 properties, especially taking into consideration the mass demolition which has been taking place throughout the City of unsuitable and high maintenance multi storey blocks.

I am alarmed at the fact that despite of we are yet again in May and the Birmingham City Council Leadership has not grasped the opportunity to reinstate the Cabinet post for Housing in order that a more strategic approach be adopted in order to tackle this issue that impacts upon people’s lives.

It is pointless having it split across various Chairs and Areas, as it is an important issue and indeed Sir Albert Bore removed this post from Cabinet last year. I would urge him to reinstate it this City has a crisis and Government needs to be told point blank this cannot work as there is no availability of adequate alternative by a permanent dedicated Member of the Cabinet.

I believe that with the many empty Apartments in the City; the Council could be more proactive in developing solutions in utilising some of these.

The City needs to tackle this crisis urgently and strategically with a Cabinet Member and Sir Albert Bore is urged to take action now in order to avoid any further tragedies.

We must remember that Birmingham is a City of 1.1 million people and increasing we need to deal with this now time to put the needs of the people of this City first.

If anyone is feeling the strain please seek help contact your local : 
CAB  www.citizensadvice.org.uk
Shelter   england.shelter.org.uk
Birmingham Settlement    www.birminghamsettlement.org.uk
The Samaritans   www.birminghamsamaritans.org.uk
Please also remember the doors are open to the Houses of Faith.
You are not alone you can also email me at info@b-e-f.org.uk

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Enterprising Young People

12/5/2013

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We seem only to be highlighting the failure or negative inferences that surround our young people.


As you are aware recently we have started through Birmingham Empowerment Forum our Youth Forum to Politically energise 14-24 year old in order for them to engage civic and political duties with confidence in order that their contribution are positive.


I was with some young people yesterday Judging the semi Finals of The Lions Den competition which saw enterprising Young People pitching their Business Ideas.


I must confess that I was delighted to see that we do have some innovative and outgoing young people who were not frightened or intimidated to step up to the mark and talk about their business ideas with passion, researched knowledge and also using various well prepared visual aids in some cases.


Ideas such as Bespoke Ladies Wear for the 'Jordan Type Ladies', Bespoke Tee Shirts & Bags with inspirational wordings, Key Poetry Notes on Tee Shirts, An Online School Girls Magazine, Luxury Cosmetics, Educational Mentoring Schemes and Financial Educational Tools.


Owing to the age group, I  alarmingly found out that Schools do not teach young people about managing their own finances, such as the role of the Banks, how to manage finances , the use of current accounts or even what is an APR. This would be important in preparing youngsters especially in Year 11 for Society generally. There does appear to be several gaps in the education process that need to be addressed, hence the need for more of us to apply to become LEA School Governors.


These Young People are a breathe of fresh air and to be honest I am sure that there are more of them out there. It's time for Communities to support our Young People in order to enable, what is good lead the way and become the positive role model in inspiring others. Empowering Young People that they do have a skill just work on it in order to have a positive impact on Society.


The Lions Den Final Take with the Successful 4 Semi Finalists takes place on Saturday 1st June 2013 at Bethel Convention Centre Kelvin Way West Bromwich visit www.loud360.org 

They cannot do it alone, they need our help, so time to work together in other to develop a self sufficient Community and a brighter future for our Youth.
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Time for The Black Community to Wake Up & Step Up

10/5/2013

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Time for The Black Community to Wake Up & Step Up

 It has been a very interesting week in our system of democracy. Last week we saw a clear indication of what we have been predicting for a while now is that the power is with the People and not Politicians as many believe.

The Local County Council Elections saw a low turnout of only 39%, however, we saw the emergence of UKIP with all the main Political Parties not performing as they expected. This clearly indicated that the:

1. The people are not fully engaging with a turnout of only 39%.

2. Despite the low turnout a powerful message to the Government ‘we want change’

3. After the name calling we saw the main parties back track with their comments about UKIP.

This clearly demonstrates the power that The Black Community is sitting on by not registering to vote and also not using their vote either.

Clearly, this impacted upon the Queens speech which appeared to be very limited with the concentration on Immigration, which sounded like a UKIP pledge. There was no real mention of plans to boost the economy and reduce poverty, which are two key areas that require immediate Government attention.

Is Immigration the real issue or it is the fact that this Country has never embraced it’s diversity by working with it as the supposed Political Correctness that has only been increasing the inequalities that exist.

The Black Community must now wake up and take note at the impact of last week’s elections result despite the low turnout, by people voting and using their power they caused panic the day afterwards, which is still rippling through the corridors of power today.

The Black Vote can also have not only the same, but, indeed greater impact on the demand for Change that we seek. If only 39% of the electorate can have such an impact just imagine the impact of a more increased turnout and importantly the greater turnout of the Black Vote.

Time to get involved. Register to Vote and Use it. 

Desmond Jaddoo

 

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Giving Our Young People Leadership & Direction

5/5/2013

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Following a busy week of Engagement with the Lozells Community Awards on Tuesday evening at St Francis Community Centre and on Friday night watching some inspired and empowered Women from New J's Esther Academy Graduating and listening to their stories was itself a very moving event.


Our Youth forum met on Saturday 4th may and they are a small and inspiring group of Individuals, that really want to expose the goodness of our Young People. They want us to develop and education programme of how is society governed with the role and names of individual leader and how do they obtain access to them.


The most alarming point was many of them see society as rewarding negative behaviour. They say as young people their perception is that Society are not interested in those who are doing well, only those that get into trouble. The point is that there is not a level playing field in order for all youth to shine.


They also said that our young people are not just about sport, the performing arts and music, as they felt that there was a know your place syndrome in society. their view and its a powerful one that they have abilities beyond this. Even in terms of sports and performing Arts there is a lack of educational back up beyond that particular career, in addition to there being no exit plan for those who do not fit into the stereotypical bottle neck which has been created for them.


They want to engage other Young People into how society is governed and encourage civic and political duty as they want to be tomorrow's leaders.


This is for Young People led by Young People with us assisting in the facilitation process.


If your aged between 14-24 and want to get involved email info@b-e-f.org.uk or visit www.b-e-f.org.uk/youth.


Our Young People are our Future time to give them the Directional support they deserve.






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    This is the Personal Day to Day Blog of Community Activist Desmond Jaddoo and his planned Community Engagement Endeavours.

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