Last week was Anti-Racism week so Garda Sudita Zalli of the Drogheda Garda Station’s Community Policing Unit and Culture Connect invited local community organisations to join them to call for the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination.
International Day for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is part of the European-wide Action Week against Racism, it commemorates the Sharpeville massacre in South Africa in 1969 and provides an opportunity for people throughout the world to take action against racism.
Many youth organisations run activities and programmes which challenge racism and promote inter-culturalism. Culture Connect has been running activities with local schools and the community challenging what defines as racism over the last few years.
Bringing a global perspective to these issues enables young people and the community as a whole to see racism in a wider context and promotes empathy and solidarity towards young people from different cultures.
The community organisations that stood together against racism were, Women’s Refuge Drogheda, Louth County Council, SOSAD, Culture Connect, LMETB, Louth Volunteer, Scoil Aonghusa, Homeless Aid, CABLE Project Moneymore and Declan Power the Deputy Mayor.
All of these service providers were facilitated with a stand from which they could hand out leaflets. Each service provider gave a talk about the organisation they represent, what this event means to them and why we are all standing in solidarity against racism as a community.
An Garda Siochana’s stand included documents from the Garda Community toolkit such as ‘Let’s Stop Hate’, What you can do if you have been a victim of Hate Crime, and other information leaflets for all members of the community but especially for members of the Ukrainian community arriving in Ireland at the moment.
Recently arrived Ukrainian refugees now living In Drogheda also took part in the event. Culture Connect and An Garda Siochana liaised together to target racism as a community as a whole with the support of all the other service providers in Drogheda which resulted in a successful turnout.
