Adults from different cultures not mixing with each other enough
HALF of the two-man team that came up with the idea for a new group in Balbriggan fostering greater racial integration in the town said that racism will become a problem in the town if the root causes are not tackled now.
Speaking at the ' Balbriggan Integrates Open Forum', Cllr Frank Snowe said that during his year on as Cathaoirleach of Balbriggan Town Council he observed very little integration or communication among adults of the various cultures and nationalities represented in Balbriggan. He said that Balbriggan Integrates was a group aimed at addressing that problem before problems of misunderstanding and miscommunication grow into racism.
Cllr Snowe said that while the town's education system had been successful in fostering integration among children, those children's parents were not mixing with each other enough.
He said that situation was leading to ' myths' gaining currency in the town about the lives of its African community, particularly when it comes to social welfare benefits. He said those myths were 'sheer baloney' and explained: 'When you go into a social welfare office, you get the same benefits whether you are black, blue, pink or white.'
Cllr Snowe warned: 'Racism is a possibility we have in our midst because high unemployment and social exclusion is a basic breeding ground for racism.' He said the geographical location of the communities did not help either with large concentrations of the same community living in certain estates with 'small nations built within a small town' and adding to the problem of integration.
'There is no communication and without communication we can't progress and problems can't be solved,' Cllr Snowe added.
He said respect for each others cultures and tradition was a 'twoway street' and made demands of the non-Irish as well as the native Irish. But with 'partnership' and understanding, Cllr Snowe said that the town could have 'the best of both worlds'. 'Balbriggan is a multicultural town whether we like it or not so let's use that in a positive way,' he concluded.
