{"id":657500,"date":"2025-12-27T08:55:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T08:55:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/657500\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T08:55:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T08:55:12","slug":"it-restored-my-hope-how-community-action-is-confronting-racism-in-belfast-belfast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/657500\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It restored my hope\u2019: how community action is confronting racism in Belfast | Belfast"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a black woman in Northern Ireland<\/a>, Maureen Hamblin knows that racism comes in many forms. \u201cIt\u2019s not just the smashing in of shop windows,\u201d she says. \u201cIt can be quiet, it can be silent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bystanders who hear racist remarks and remain mute, as if oblivious, amplify the hurt and leave victims feeling alone and isolated, a recurring experience that left Hamblin drained. \u201cThere was a time when I\u2019d lost a lot of faith in white people, in white men.\u201d<\/p>\n

Race riots in Belfast<\/a>, Ballymena<\/a> and other towns in the past two years might have extinguished the last of that faith but instead Hamblin, who is originally from Kenya, stumbled upon hope.<\/p>\n

She joined an initiative called the Circle of Change<\/a>, which connects strangers from different backgrounds \u2013 rich and poor, black and white, gay and straight \u2013 and tasks them with a subversive activity: getting to know each other.<\/p>\n

Maureen Hamblin related tales of racist abuse to the Circle of Change. Its members reacted with shock. Photograph: Paul McErlane\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Each year a different circle, about a dozen strong, is formed and meets at monthly gatherings around Belfast<\/a> to share stories and raise funds for organisations that promote tolerance and reconciliation.<\/p>\n

Hamblin related tales of racist abuse to her circle \u2013 its members reacted with shock \u2013 and listened to their own stories. Some had lives of privilege, others had experienced deprivation and exclusion. All recognised a commonality: Belfast was their home, and it should be welcoming. \u201cIt restored my hope. It humanised us all,\u201d said Hamblin.<\/p>\n

The Circle of Change is the brainchild of 174 Trust<\/a>, a charity based in the New Lodge area of north Belfast, an interface of Catholic and Protestant housing estates that endured murderous violence during the Troubles. Based at the Duncairn centre for culture and arts<\/a>, a former Presbyterian church, it offers clothing and support to vulnerable people and is a hub for artists and musicians.<\/p>\n

As a member of Locality<\/a>, a partner<\/a> in the Guardian\u2019s 2025 Hope charity appeal<\/a>, 174 Trust will receive a grant to help it develop its work bridging community divisions and promoting positive local change to create an antidote to hate and distrust.<\/p>\n

The charity launched the first circle in 2018 with the goal of tackling polarisation, said Tim Magowan, the chief executive. \u201cWe try to create a microcosm of Belfast in each group. We want to challenge stereotypes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Suzanne Lagan, who joined the first circle, found herself meeting fellow members at locations, such as an east Belfast food shelter, far removed from her middle class, Catholic upbringing. \u201cA lot of places I\u2019d never been to before. The more uncomfortable we felt the happier they [the organisers] were,\u201d she laughs.<\/p>\n

Tim Magowan: \u2018We try to create a microcosm of Belfast in each group. We want to challenge stereotypes\u2019.\u2019 Photograph: Paul McErlane\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Liza Wilkinson, 48, from a working-class Protestant background, viewed homelessness with new eyes after conversations with a young member who had lived on the streets to escape parents with addiction issues. \u201cIt made me realise how privileged I was to have a family network that I could rely on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilkinson recalls her horror when another member, a mother from Africa, said that white youths routinely threw dog excrement at her children. \u201cShe wasn\u2019t especially angry, her tone was matter-of-fact. It was heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2018 circle raised \u00a350,000 for after-school care for black children \u2013 an achievement all the more poignant given the subsequent eruption of racial tensions. \u201cThere is a tradition here of \u2018say nothing\u2019,\u201d said Magowan, referencing a Seamus Heaney line. \u201cNo one realised at that time just how racist we were. But when the riots came they were less of a surprise to us because of what we had heard.\u201d<\/p>\n

Catherine Crean runs Tunes Translated, a scheme which teaches traditional Irish music to immigrants and refugees. Photograph: Paul McErlane\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

When Hamblin joined the fifth circle in 2024 she despaired at the \u201cbystander effect\u201d<\/a>. Even in her local church, which was ostensibly progressive, prejudiced comments went unchallenged. \u201cWhen people are quiet it\u2019s like being double gaslighted.\u201d<\/p>\n

She forged a bond with fellow members, especially Tony Macaulay, who shared an anecdote about challenging racist comments \u2013 at the risk of a thumping \u2013 in a chip shop.<\/p>\n

Hamblin, 37, loves to sing \u2013 \u201cI sing for the joy of it, and to keep my sanity\u201d \u2013 and Macaulay, 62, is the author of a celebrated memoir, Paperboy, so they teamed up to record literary readings and songs in TikTok vignettes titled Paperboy and Kenya Girl.<\/p>\n

For all its sectarian and racial faultlines, Northern Ireland<\/a> holds valuable lessons, said Macaulay, a peace activist. \u201cWe used to think that the Troubles would never end, that peace would never come. But it did come. Things can turn around.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thousands of ordinary people contributed to the end of political violence with small, individual acts, said Magowan. \u201cIt gives me hope. I can\u2019t do anything about what happens at international level but I can turn up here and do what I can at a personal level. I genuinely believe that\u2019s where change come from.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 2024 circle raised funds for Tunes Translated<\/a>, a scheme which teaches traditional Irish music to weekly classes evenly divided between foreigners \u2013 immigrants and refugees \u2013 and natives.<\/p>\n

\u201cMusic transcends language barriers and gives a sense of cohesion and belonging,\u201d said Catherine Crean, 30, who runs the scheme. \u201cOne member told he me he\u2019d never realised that Muslims could be good craic.\u201d<\/p>\n

If the music classes are swimming against the tide \u2013 race hate incidents in Northern Ireland this year were the third highest on record \u2013 all the more reason to do them, says Crean. \u201cThat\u2019s why they\u2019re important.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As a black woman in Northern Ireland, Maureen Hamblin knows that racism comes in many forms. \u201cIt\u2019s not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":657501,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[13,12,14],"class_list":{"0":"post-657500","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-stories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115790697377631576","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=657500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/657500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=657500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=657500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=657500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}