Recognising and Responding to Victims of Rural Racism

Abstract

In recent decades policy-makers and academics have afforded increasing levels of recognition to the needs of victims of crime. However, much of this ‘new’ focus has centred upon urban environments, with only limited attention given to rural crime and victimisation. Significantly, even within the small body of rural-based work, the concerns of victims of racist harassment have been largely neglected. This article seeks to redress this situation by examining and contextualising issues of racist victimisation in the rural arena. Drawing from the authors’ own research conducted across different rural locales in the UK over a four-year period, it is argued here that this victimisation is an ongoing process rather than a collection of distinct, one-off events. Whilst ‘low-level’ incidents of harassment, such as verbal abuse, are worryingly commonplace, ‘high-level’ forms, such as criminal damage or physical assault, also feature regularly in the lived experiences of many rural minority ethnic households. These can leave the recipient feeling frightened, depressed, isolated and anxious, and these emotions may be exacerbated by ineffective responses from agencies that do not grasp the significance or implications of racist victimisation in the countryside. It is suggested that agencies need to adopt a range of long-term, sustainable initiatives that recognise the unique characteristics of rural environments, as well as the heterogeneity of the processes and experiences of victimisation itself, if the situation for victims of racism is to be improved.