craftyailz (craftyailz) wrote,

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We have quite a cultural mix in Oldham. There are the long time residents who've been here for generations, then there are the 'commer inners', then we have quite a large Ukranian community and the Asians - we have quite a mix of Asians we have Indians, Pakistanis, Kashmiris and Bangladeshis. All the groups live seperately. We have Council housing which is a 'no go' for coloureds and several very poor housing areas where the Asians live.

Oldham is a poor industrial North of England town which used to be a mill town - there used to be mill chimneys all around Oldham now there's only 2. There is high unemployment and where the national average for a 2 rooms upstairs and 2 rooms downstairs terraced house is about £100,000 in Oldham they are about £20,000 and in the Asian areas are worth about £7-10,000.

It is a depressed area - yet it's trying hard to pull itself up. There is high unemployment and poor education.

3 (or so) years ago it all boiled over and we had riots. For 2 nights White and Asian youths through rocks at one another and when the police arrived, usually after the Whites had moved on, the Asisan threw petrol bombs at the police. We were all shocked and the area sank even further into depression.

Yet when the people caught were brought to trial most of the Whites came in from outside the area, they were brought into 1 of the worst council estates and deliberately stirred up the riots - 1 racist family had seen something they didn't like - probably a white girl with an Asian lad.

They'd gone to the poorest of the Asian areas and stirred it all up - at first by breaking into one of the houses and beating up the family who lived there. They then mainly vanished when the police arrived - late of course. Leaving a very wound up Asian community who felt that the police weren't protecting them.

Since then it's been peaceful. The BNP managed to get 15% of the vote in the General Election but now their support has dropped off. Oldham is not a bad place to live. We love it here. You are on top of a hill and can see greenery nearby. We are only 8 miles from Manchester.
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