READ Hilton Dawson's statement in the Citizen 6 May 1999 and his letter in the Citizen 13 May 1999. How can he possibly say that the Morecambe Bay Independents' leaflet saying 'A vote for Labour is a vote for Henig', is subtly racist? Has the man completely lost his marbles?

If all that I had been called over the past eight years was 'Hussain' and I reported it to the council and the police as racist abuse, I would have been laughed out of Lancaster.

Hilton Dawson is fully aware that I am the victim of racist crime of the worst kind from June 1991 to date. He witnessed bricks through my window, racist graffiti on my premises and all around the Ryelands estate, and the racist attacks carried out in his presence. Hilton Dawson commented in a meeting with the council and the police what was happening to me (racist attacks), were: 'something that was expected and accepted.'

Granted that at that time the McPherson report hadn't been written. But surely Hilton Dawson is aware that my situation on Ryelands is both pre-Lawrence and post Lawrence.

Hilton Dawson stated in the press that he had remarked to me that we should be developing a more sensitive and sophisticated understanding of racism. Can I point out that Stanley Henig was the chairman of the steering group when a multi-agency panel for racial harassment set up in 1997 in Lancaster.

As a victim of racism, I was never once asked to attend a meeting or to talk about my experiences of racism.

There has been a massive failure on the part of the council, the police, the so-called community association and the multi-agency panel to address racism on the Ryelands estate in Lancaster.

Hilton, it is a shame that you haven't supported me either publicly or politically, considering you have witnessed racism of the worst kind first hand!

Mal Hussain

Ryelands

Mini Market

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.