Bristol residents' anger at BBC Panorama documentary branding Southmead as racist
People in Southmead reacted angrily last night after BBC television programme Panorama portrayed the estate as being rife with racists.
Members of Southmead Rugby Club were among those invited to watch the documentary at the Greenway Centre in Doncaster Road.
They said many of the incidents of abuse shown on the programme were carried out by a group of children and teenagers and it was unrepresentative of the majority of the 9,000 people who live on the estate.
Two undercover Asian reporters posed as husband and wife and spent two months living in Southmead. They used hidden cameras and microphones to record incidents which included physical as well as verbal abuse.
In one incident in the programme, called Hate on the Doorstep, Tamanna Rahman, 19, had stones thrown at her and was told to get out of the area.
In another, a young boy threatened to kill her and tried to steal her purse.
Other clips showed her being called "Raghead" and being told: "Go away. Iraq's that way."
Another person threatened to slit her throat and kick her "back to Paki land".
Barry Jakes, 65, chairman of Southmead Rugby Club, who was born in the area, said the programme was one-sided.
He said: "Half the stuff that they showed took place outside Southmead. The programme made the whole of the Mead look bad.
"Southmead Rugby Club is mixed. We have Nigerian players, Polish players. Everybody gets on."
Club director John Knights, 59, said: "Southmead is quite a multicultural area. There are a lot of Asian families here including Muslim families and I haven't heard of any of this before.
"I can't deny what was shown on the programme but it was the same group involved in the incidents."
Head coach Trevor Sealey, 44, said: "9,000 people live in Southmead and three or four mindless morons were shown on a national programme.
"The two assaults that were mentioned, one was carried out in Henbury and one in Lockleaze. If you go to any estate in the country you will find racism. This programme did not portray the vast majority of the people on the estate. They seemed to be blaming Southmead for all the country's ills. It made me very angry."
BBC Panorama executive producer Tom Giles has today - Tuesday - contacted the Evening Post to say that the first of these two incidents happened in Southmead, and the second incident was outside the estate.
Marion Garland, 77, who lives in Pen Park Road and is involved in many community groups, said: "I thought it was underhanded and sly. This happens in every town – why pick on Southmead? The youngsters who were shown in the programme don't represent the people of Southmead.
"The majority of people in Southmead are damn good people."
The film also included clips of people on the estate helping Ms Rahman, including one man coming out of his house and intervening when a boy tried to snatch her purse.
In a video diary recorded for the programme, Ms Rahman said: "I haven't faced as much racism in my entire life as I have during these eight weeks here in Bristol.
"There are some really nice people, some incredibly friendly people but I'm sorry the thing that is going to stay with me the most is the absolutely hellish time I have had every time I've walked out of the door."
Director of Support Against Racist Incidents, Batook Pandya, said a large number of SARI's clients come from Southmead and most of the time the kind of yobs shown in the programme were involved but occasionally it was neighbours.
He said: "There are a lot of good people in Southmead and a lot of good work is being done there to ensure we have cohesion."
Police said the documentary was unfair and Southmead was a strong community-focussed neighbourhood.
Inspector Mark Runacres who has responsibility for Southmead said: "We believe this documentary is an unfair portrayal of Southmead and the vast majority of people that live there.
"Of course any incidence of racism is totally unacceptable and we always deal with it robustly but we want to make it absolutely clear that this documentary only concentrates on a small handful of individuals from the Southmead area.
"The police and other agencies are already aware of who these individuals are and we are actively working with a majority of them to confront and tackle their problems."
The next Southmead PACT meeting is being held on Thursday at 6.30pm at Wigton Crescent United Reform church.
Any residents wishing to express their concerns or to suggest ways of tackling the issues raised in the Panorama documentary are invited to attend.
248 Comments
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by Lee, Bristol
Friday, October 23 2009, 2:15AM
“I have been in Bristol for 12 years and I am of mixed race (half Jamaican, half English). I love the place, and I can say I have not had one racist incident, perhaps apart from one insignificant bigot who felt insecure because I outperformed him in the work place. Like anywhere if you go to parts where uneducated, low IQ, poor people live together then idiotic things will happen. In Bristol, the centre, Hotwells, Clifton, Cotham, Redland which are all within 3 miles of the centre are all fantastic places to live and socialize. The documentary portrayed some awful attitudes but in my experience it is not typical of Bristol.”
by mikey_lowe, Birmingham
Friday, October 23 2009, 12:34AM
“I hope part of the Community Orders, or Family Intervention Programmes make those racist thugs read these comments(or have them read to them) what people think about them now!”
by John, Birmingham
Friday, October 23 2009, 12:33AM
“Come down to Birmingham. Best city to live after London. Even it has the very large population ethnic. Its really horrific to see such a abuse. We are British. But don't forget our great fore father's have racially abused all this people but they regret this now we are going back to the same age as them which they finished long back. Please don't portray Britain as racist country like German's did by Hitler. We are proud to Be British. Please protect this pride. Tolerance is one of our pride. Think of white person living in one of those country whom we abuse. Ask those white people who really don't want come back to Britain. Coz they been treated like King(Respectable) in those country. Please put yourself in their shoe before any of us behave in shameful manner like this. Our parents didn't teach us this. Long live Britain. And I am proud to be British.”
by LC, London
Friday, October 23 2009, 12:05AM
“I've spent all my childhood on council estates and I don't see why people are moaning about Bristol? forget the area it's more about the ignorance of some people which you will find anywhere - I get bottles chucked at my head and abuse all the time (I'm white and it's white people throwing the bottles!) unfortunately the thick and ignorant do not have the intelligence to understand the words they spout and they would still be the same way if everyone looked the same - I don't think it's about being a different colour - the stupid will always be stupid but for some reason everyone 'bigs up' the morons... stop giving them excuses and start pointing out what they are... pig ignorant and useless! they will never work or be of any use to anyone but black, white, asian etc decent intelligent people will always be better than these moronic wastes of space that need constant babysitting (I call the police/wardens babysitters because that is what they are for)”
by Stu-M, Yorkshire
Friday, October 23 2009, 12:05AM
“I don't care that Bristol is at the other end of the country to me. Seeing this sort of behaviour makes me feel ashamed of my nation. It leaves you with a sense of despair. I don't want a future with this sort of attitude.
I felt very, very sorry for the reporters. If you treat people this badly, you don't deserve to be part of society. Now I'm sure it's not everyone in Southmead who behaves like this - clearly, there were some decent folk living there.
But there are some terrible people there too. What is the future for these kids? How are they going to represent our nation in the future?”
by Stu-M, Yorkshire
Friday, October 23 2009, 12:03AM
“I don't care that Bristol is at the other end of the country to me. Seeing this sort of behaviour makes me feel ashamed of my nation. It leaves you with a sense of despair. I don't want a future with this sort of attitude.
I felt very, very sorry for the reporters. If you treat people this badly, you don't deserve to be part of society. Now I'm sure it's not everyone in Southmead who behaves like this - clearly, there were some decent folk living there.
But there are some terrible people there too. What is the future for these kids? How are they going to represent our nation in the future?”
by stu, Cornwall
Thursday, October 22 2009, 8:56PM
“in Australia we have this sort of racial abuse.
however, in the case of the lady who was almost mugged, your neighbor would not just scare the young thug off but will fight along side you.
people like this have to wake up to the reality that immigrants are the back bone of a country.
there not taking your jobs, there doing the jobs you don't or are to lazy to do
as the old story goes what do you do about a bully in a school yard. mack sure you hit him first and you hit him hard.”
by CS, St Werburghs
Thursday, October 22 2009, 9:52AM
“The issue of whether this programme demonises Southmead as a whole is irrelevant. It is simply unacceptable that this behaviour would go on anywhere and sadly i feel it is mirrored in many 'white' areas of Bristol. I thought it was clear in the documentary that it was a small minority but the nature of the attacks was truly shocking. For those who think racism towards White people in multi-cultural areas is just as shocking, that is not my experience. I have lived in St Pauls for over 7 years and have never experienced racism as a White person.”
by p r, southmead
Thursday, October 22 2009, 8:47AM
“I am british asian living with family at southmead. Racism is the one we face almost everyday. our children on the bus were spatted at by racist thugs, were calling my children names, stoned to our house number of times,thrown balloons filled with water, thrown with eggs. Yes police will say report it, but when they ask we got no proof of the thugs who did it.I wouldn,t allow my children to go to a park on their own, or to shops in the southmead area alone,or to walk on the southmead's roads as it is not safe because of our colour and race.”
by GP, Bristol
Wednesday, October 21 2009, 10:34PM
“"As the point has already been made Re: Handouts at local unemployment offices for cars"
Hahaha, get a grip will you - do you really believe theyre giving cars way to immigrants. Christ if people are that gullible/stupid its no wonder the BNP can convince people to vote for them.
Yes, OK a lot of white people might get stick off these people, but that is a different thing to getting attacked purely because of your race. This is a "hate crime" and you cant say its the same as someone giving someone grief on the street just cause they happen to be walking by. The "other side of the coin" argument doesnt stack up for me, like the white bloke on jeremy vine saying he got grief all the time in st pauls - the guy was a baliff, someone who aint likely to get a warm welcome!
I dont think its just a southmead thing, go to any other city in the uk and id bet youd find the same thing in one area or other. They also seemed to play down the people in southmead who were friendly, but there blatantly are some people in southmead who are racist - we saw them on camera. Instead of trying to deny the problem why dont you all stand up and not walk by if you see someone getting grief cause of their race? dont shoot the messenger.
people calling southmeaders "scum" and "chav" should take a look at what theyre saying, its this sort of attitude that makes people in white estates feel marginalised and perescuted by "outsiders"”