In an effort to widen knowledge about how Wolverhampton Homes can help if tenants are the subject of abuse or violence because they are perceived as different, we engaged actors from the Gazebo Theatre Group in Bilston who staged a frighteningly real set of scenarios about hate crime at our Get Togethers this month.
The Get Togethers, which are attended by more than 200 tenants each quarter, are an excellent way of generating debate among tenants who are not otherwise involved and getting instant feedback on why the hate crime numbers are relatively low.
The actors played a single mother whose gay son was the victim of abuse and her friend. The mother is understandably distressed by the abuse of her son. She has a go at the perpetrator's parents but then finds the situation becomes a lot worse, with excrement pushed through the letter box, abusive graffiti daubed on the walls and threats of violence. With help from her friend, our terrified single mother is eventually persuaded that telling Wolverhampton Homes and allowing us to investigate was the only way forward.
We discussed with tenants afterwards whether they were aware of what social landlords could do in this situation and whether they would report hate crime if it happened to them. Very few people believed that landlords would get involved in cases like this - a real lesson to us that our leaflets and poster campaigns don't really get taken on board.
The sessions did a lot of a good by reassuring people that they would get a sympathetic hearing and that any action taken would be agreed with them first but many remained doubtful that they would report hate crime to either us or the Police.
On the way home from one of the sessions last week, I thought, what would I do? Would I ever be brave enough to report someone who was targeting me personally or members of my family for abuse and hatred? I like to think I would but I can't be certain. Would I if my child was at risk? Not so easy is it?
As usual, tenants came up with the best ideas for encouraging people to come forward. Let everyone know about successful evictions and prosecutions. Reinforce all the time that race and other hate crime are viewed with contempt and will not be tolerated. Above all, demonstrate to tenants who do report hate crime that we are on your side and will protect and support you to the best of our ability.
The picture above shows the two actors from Gazebo Theatre mid-performance.
