Dear Messenger,

I have never met Sunbula Hamadani who wrote in September, but I feel we are kindred spirits. I am white and Sunbula is Black, he lives at Pitsmoor while I am in Shirecliffe, but his letter made me feel I had really found someone who understood what was happening in the name of “regeneration”. His description of the treatment of his community made me shake with anger
[see Letters issue 34, September 2003].

Why is institutional racism still happening despite the fact that it has been rejected as immoral, bigoted and wrong by the vast majority of working class people both Black and White? How I hope that we see an end to racism in our time.

The other issues that my Black friend raised are typical of what is happening in other communities. He is right when he says that people are “reduced and ignored” and his statement that “all the jobs go to people from outside the area” mirrors what has happened in other areas that have had “regeneration” money.

The paragraph that sums it all up is “they put money into bullshit projects which are all surface and visually pleasing” If only the other ‘media’ had the courage to print our REAL comments as the Messenger has and not tone them down, then maybe, just maybe, the people who “reduce and ignore us” would get the message that we DO MATTER.

Sambula your letter was BRILLIANT. I am a White man who is also “like a rat in a cage” because of the powers that be trying to grind us into the ground. Not as you Sambula with their racial ignorance and intolerance but just like you with the “economic cudgel” that ensures that money awarded “to make our life better” is in fact making their life better. And only adding to, as my friend Sambula so rightly says, “the DESTRUCTION” of our communities.

To echo Sambula’s final comment that “we need to become more focused and rebuild Pitsmoor from scratch” YES! YES! YES! If we work together in unity we can not only rebuild our communities from scratch but more importantly “take them back” so that the number one priority is US and our welfare decided by US and not the racist bigoted right wing idiots that have ‘stolen’ our estates for their own selfish ends.
But us ‘rats’ WILL have the final say and as they will discover, when a caged animal gets free it BITES!!

Brian Wilson

Dear Messenger,

In [your] September 2003 issue, Sunbula Hamadani said “We need to become more conscious and focused and rebuild Pitsmoor from scratch… together in union”.

I am concerned about the issues of division within our community. Racism undoubtedly divides, but the divide between rich and poor, transcends racism and provides a firm platform upon which unity can be found. The poor are united in their suffering, and as a black man Sunbula will see the injustices of the world more clearly than the majority, I am sure.

I think he would like the ideas of the Friends of Burngreave Chapels and Cemetery (F.BCC). We now have the use of one of the two halls and F.BCC are beginning to plan a series of events.

Burngreave has a wealth of cultures but we have become divided by the way ‘communities’ compete with each other for funding. We need to share and celebrate our differences more often than our annual Summer Festivals.

The artists within the F.BCC are developing their ideas to provide an artist focus for the Sunday openings. We would welcome anyone to assist in the organising of these events whether they consider themselves artistic or not. Either see us there Sundays or phone me on 221 7845.

Drew Dallen
(The F.BCC ‘environmental group’ will continue as usual every Sunday 11.00–3.00 at the chapel).

Dear Kieron [Williams, Area Co-ordinator – ed]

I read your article to do with the £10,000 highways budget [Making Burngreave Accessible to Everyone issue 34, September 2003]. This will not pay for much I’m afraid, I recently had the council grant people come to assess my needs, and to my astonishment, a ramp outside my house would cost me £2,000. I cannot get out and about unless someone lays out the temporary ramp my husband made me. So when you say that your budget is £10,000 it will not go far at all.

Most of the pavements need lowering, if I go to my local post office or the bus stop around the corner from my house I end up travelling on the road, because the drops are over the three-inch limit of my chair. A bit of tarmac at a slope up against the kerb would be cheaper and your money would stretch further. It would also be labour saving, as you would not have to move the kerb at all. This type of kerb sloping does work, it is used in several places elsewhere and is highly effective and I can recommend it. I hope this suggestion is helpful to you and ekes out your grant.

Yours sincerely
Mrs P Chapman