We usually hear the following comments from detractors and those looking to utilise anti-Muslim hate to build support for their own polarised narratives in Muslim communities. They say that third party reporting centres are not effective, assuming that everyone reports in incidents to the police and that all people have the confidence to do so and that they know that they can report in hate incidents. If this perspective was simply built on this belief, we could forgive them for their naivety, though this ruse overlies another agenda which is about trying to win public opinion for their polarised narratives within Muslim communities.
TELL MAMA is non-partisan, non-religious third party national reporting service for anti-Muslim hate. Our efficacy and our ability to highlight and resolve issues can be demonstrated by these two examples over the last 2 days.
The first involved anti-Shia activity which was reported into us on Sunday morning. We highlighted these issues here and here. We understand that police were on site quickly and removed the anti-Shia graffiti and the issue was then highlighted in the local press here. Our intervention was clear, well organised and involved rallying local support, even before other organisations realised that there was an issue.
Furthermore, yesterday a member of the public informed us about cases involving the Stagecoach bus services in Oxford and we highlighted the issue here. This morning the Independent picked it up and ran the story. We also ensured that we contacted the leader of Oxford City Council, making him aware of our article and to which he speedily responded. Additionally, this afternoon we will be speaking to a local radio station in Oxford and our material has also been circulated to some local Oxford City councillors so that they are now aware of the issue.
These examples, two in just two days, show the impact that a pro-active and driven third party reporting service can have. To those who spin the ruse that people should not report to third party hate crime reporting services, well, the results above simply prove you and your perspectives wrong.