Community stands together against hate crime as new exhibition set to open in Wigan borough

Earlier this year Wigan borough Community Safety Partnership awarded funding to six organisations to deliver a range of events and activities for their community, to highlight prejudice-motivated crime.

On the back of this, Everything Human Rights, Aspull Olympic Wrestling Club, the Pete Shelley Memorial Campaign, Wigan Athletic Community Trust, Leigh Youth Hub and Empowered Together created a range of awareness artwork to showcase at the exhibition.

Wigan Council's cabinet portfolio holder for police, crime and civil contingencies Coun Dane Anderton said: “This is a brilliant and collaborative exhibition which sheds light on an important cause.

“The Community Safety Partnership is making great progress, working alongside each other to target, prevent and reduce hate crime all year round.

“Events like the exhibition gives us further opportunity to create positive change within communities, helping us all feel safe both at home and online.”

The Pete Shelley Memorial Campaign hosted a successful Rock Against Hate gig earlier this month, which instantly sold out and spread knowledge on hate crime through live music and poetry.

The success of the event will be displayed through photography within the exhibition.

Global Friends youth group will display a thought-provoking poem called I see, I hear, I remember, which highlights the impact of hate crime and how we can come together to tackle this issue.

Dee, 14, from Leigh, who helped to write the poem, said: “The poem is about the value of teamwork, community and friendship when it comes to challenging hate crime, as most people might not be comfortable doing that alone.

“The message from our youth group is that no-one should go through anything alone, there’s always someone here for you.”

Samuel, 14, from Lowton, added: “Hate crime is something that lots of people have experienced but it can be hard to talk about it because it’s a serious topic.

“Working on the poem was a good way to help us express ourselves and get our feelings about it out.”

Aspull Olympic Wrestling Club will showcase a photography display highlighting the power of words and using them to spread kindness rather than hate.

And Fempowered, a group led by disabled women, will share videos exploring stories of their own personal experience being victim to hate crime and share advice on how to report it.

Further information about the exhibition will be shared in due course.

For more information about hate crime support, visit: Let's End Hate Crime – We Stand Together