Vaz: Don't blame communities

Warning of a backlash against minority communities following the London terror attacks, former minister Keith Vaz has said he regularly receives hate mail.

In an interview in the current edition of the Parliamentary Monitor magazine, the former Europe minister expresses fears that "communities and not individuals" are being blamed for the attacks of July 7 and 21.

Revealing that he has received scores of racially motivated "hate mail", Vaz says that the drive for multiculturalism should continue despite growing fears about Muslim extremism.

"There is no better place to celebrate multiculturalism than Britain in 2005," says the Labour MP.

"Multiculturalism is different cultures and different religions within one society. And I would defend it right to the end.

"It has been a great benefit to our country - to our great cities. It has given Britain the face it has."

Respect

Vaz said that Britain "is a mirror on the world, it is a place where the ethnic minority communities are treated with respect".

"What we need to do, though, is allow multiculturalism to continue to its natural course," he adds.

"We must recognise that people are not going to have their differences eliminated."

Vaz also expresses concern at the direction of debate since July 7.

"The debate has become more measured since July 7," he says.

"I will regret it, however, if it turns into one of nationality versus origin. I don't think we should be questioning the nationality of people who are brown, Black or Chinese. Origin is a matter of self-definition.

"What worries me, following the tragic circumstances in London, is that communities are blamed and not individuals."

Progress

The Leicester East MP also expresses personal regret that race hate is alive and well in Britain today.

"As a British MP of Asian origin you feel personal responsibility that in 2005 a black boy aged 18, who has done no harm to anybody, could be killed by an axe in what is clearly identified by the police as a race-hate crime," he says.

"We have made enormous progress since 1968 and [Enoch] Powell. But you sit and you wonder why we have not made so much progress that these things don’t happen. My regret is that we have not done more."

Hate mail

And he reveals that he is regularly a victim of race hate.

"Whenever I appear on television or on radio I receive at least 50 letters from people writing the most horrible stuff about me and my family. I have a whole file called 'hate mail'," says Vaz.

"Reading those letters is very important. It reminds you about how people who don't support you feel," he says.

"We need to deal with these people, to address their fears. I came into politics to make a difference."