Day 207, Year of #Mygration: Open University leads the way in marking National Hate Crime Awareness Week

On Monday, we highlighted the start of National Hate Crime Awareness Week. Today, Dr Fidele Mutwarasibo, Visiting Research Fellow at The Open University, reports on the OU's Harmonies4Harmony Music Festival.

On 15 October, 2018, over 100 people attended the Harmonies4Harmony Music Festival in the Berrill Lecture Theatre at The Open University's main campus in Milton Keynes. The OU was joined at the event by:

The Mayor of Milton Keynes, Councillor Martin Petchey
The Deputy Leader of MK Council, Councillor Hannah O’Neill
The Local Area Police Commander, Yvette Hitch
Arriva Bus Depot Engineering Manager, Matt Bloxham
MK Dons Sports and Education Trust’s (SET) Education, Inclusion & Wellbeing Manager, Dean Dixon
Pupils and teachers from Great Linford Primary School, Jubilee Wood Primary School, Summerfield Primary School and St Paul’s Catholic School
Representatives of Citizens:MK and leaders of the Fight Against Hate Campaign

Representatives from The Open University included Professor Josie Fraser, Executive Dean for the Faculty of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics and Professor Kevin Hetherington, Pro Vice Chancellor, Research and Academic Strategy. The music festival was one of the campaign goals of the fight against hate campaign launched at Citizens:MK’s accountability Assembly on 26 April, 2018.

Before the school performances, three moving and personal hate-crime testimonies by Gwyneth Morgan, Arif Master and Jennifer were provided. Messages from performances by pupils from participating schools helped in shaping the pledges made by representatives of The Open University, Thames Valley Police, MK Council, Arriva Bus, MK Dons SET and the schools in attendances. Arriva Bus unveiled the poster that will be displayed on buses to mark the National Hate Crime Awareness Week.

Professor Josie Fraser highlighted during the event that:

Hate crimes are on the increase, both nationally and specifically here in Milton Keynes. The number of hate incidents/crimes in Milton Keynes was higher than anywhere else in Thames Valley. The schools and students have been in action to bring us messages for harmony. We all need to do our bit to both raise awareness and to report hate crimes and incidents.

Details on the event and pledges can be seen on the Citizens:MK website