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| Brexit vote will put ethnic minorities off politics, says ex-assembly member | Brexit vote will put ethnic minorities off politics, says ex-assembly member |
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| A Hong Kong-born former Northern Ireland assembly member has said the Brexit vote will deter other ethnic minority people from entering politics as racism and xenophobia intensifies. | A Hong Kong-born former Northern Ireland assembly member has said the Brexit vote will deter other ethnic minority people from entering politics as racism and xenophobia intensifies. |
| Anna Lo, who retired from the assembly partly due to racial abuse she says she has received, also predicted that anti-foreigner violence and intimidation would increase in Northern Ireland as the UK’s withdrawal from the EU approached. | Anna Lo, who retired from the assembly partly due to racial abuse she says she has received, also predicted that anti-foreigner violence and intimidation would increase in Northern Ireland as the UK’s withdrawal from the EU approached. |
| Speaking before the launch of her memoir, The Place I Call Home, the president of the cross-community Alliance party said the EU referendum result had built “dangerous expectations” among pro-Brexit voters that immigrants would leave Northern Ireland and other parts of the UK. | |
| “Shortly after the referendum the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities organised a conference about Brexit’s impact on this place. Even only a few weeks after the vote I heard dozens of immigrants stating that they were starting to hear their fellow workmates asking them: ‘Well then, when are you all going home?’ Brexit has raised dangerous expectations as well as putting out lies about immigrants taking up benefits, houses, jobs,” Lo said. | “Shortly after the referendum the Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities organised a conference about Brexit’s impact on this place. Even only a few weeks after the vote I heard dozens of immigrants stating that they were starting to hear their fellow workmates asking them: ‘Well then, when are you all going home?’ Brexit has raised dangerous expectations as well as putting out lies about immigrants taking up benefits, houses, jobs,” Lo said. |
| “I have been the victim of racist abuse and threats in the recent past but I fear more than ever for immigrant communities living in Northern Ireland following the Brexit vote. It has stirred up so much negativity towards people from ethnic minorities. I am worried like never before about racism and anti-immigrant feeling after Brexit.” | “I have been the victim of racist abuse and threats in the recent past but I fear more than ever for immigrant communities living in Northern Ireland following the Brexit vote. It has stirred up so much negativity towards people from ethnic minorities. I am worried like never before about racism and anti-immigrant feeling after Brexit.” |
| Lo said she doubted anyone from her ethnic background would be prepared to enter British or Northern Irish politics in the post-Brexit era. “It was hard enough being in the devolved assembly before the referendum, but given the atmosphere since the Brexit vote I would be very doubtful that anyone from a background like mine would stand up and enter politics now. It is going to get even harder to persuade people from ethnic minorities to come forward and stand for election, but especially in Northern Ireland.” | Lo said she doubted anyone from her ethnic background would be prepared to enter British or Northern Irish politics in the post-Brexit era. “It was hard enough being in the devolved assembly before the referendum, but given the atmosphere since the Brexit vote I would be very doubtful that anyone from a background like mine would stand up and enter politics now. It is going to get even harder to persuade people from ethnic minorities to come forward and stand for election, but especially in Northern Ireland.” |
| In her book, Lo says she was on the receiving end of racist abuse and intimidation because she was the public face of the immigrant community in Northern Ireland. | In her book, Lo says she was on the receiving end of racist abuse and intimidation because she was the public face of the immigrant community in Northern Ireland. |
| She writes: “One Thursday, on my way from Stormont to my constituency office after a committee meeting, I stopped in Connswater shopping centre to get a picture taken for a new passport. On my way out of the centre to the front car park, I heard people shouting my name. As they did not sound particularly friendly, I quickened my pace and got to where my car was parked. | She writes: “One Thursday, on my way from Stormont to my constituency office after a committee meeting, I stopped in Connswater shopping centre to get a picture taken for a new passport. On my way out of the centre to the front car park, I heard people shouting my name. As they did not sound particularly friendly, I quickened my pace and got to where my car was parked. |
| “Then a car passed me. A young woman was practically hanging out of the back passenger window, screaming abuse at me. I was extremely glad that they did not catch up with me and that there was a barrier between the road where the vehicle was travelling and my car. I was quite sure that, if they had got closer to me, there would have been an ugly scene.” | “Then a car passed me. A young woman was practically hanging out of the back passenger window, screaming abuse at me. I was extremely glad that they did not catch up with me and that there was a barrier between the road where the vehicle was travelling and my car. I was quite sure that, if they had got closer to me, there would have been an ugly scene.” |
| Lo says she was appalled by alleged anti-Islam remarks made by the former first minister Peter Robinson two years ago. She said Robinson’s comments in defence of a Christian preacher, James McConnell, who said Islam was “satanic”, were themselves inflammatory. | |
| “I was utterly incensed and disgusted when Peter Robinson, then first minister of Northern Ireland, made comments in defence of the pastor. He added fuel to the fire by stating that he would not trust Muslims involved in terrorism or devoted to sharia law, but would trust Muslims to go down to the shop for him and to give him the right change.” | “I was utterly incensed and disgusted when Peter Robinson, then first minister of Northern Ireland, made comments in defence of the pastor. He added fuel to the fire by stating that he would not trust Muslims involved in terrorism or devoted to sharia law, but would trust Muslims to go down to the shop for him and to give him the right change.” |
| Lo settled in Northern Ireland in 1974 after marrying a Belfast-born journalist. She worked as a freelance contributor for the BBC Chinese Service and as a secretary for the World Service in Belfast before taking a break to raise her two sons. | |
| In 1997 she was appointed director of the Chinese Welfare Association, and she has been at the forefront of the promotion of racial equality ever since. In 2000 she was awarded an MBE. | In 1997 she was appointed director of the Chinese Welfare Association, and she has been at the forefront of the promotion of racial equality ever since. In 2000 she was awarded an MBE. |
| Lo joined the Alliance party in 2006 and was elected as an assembly member for Belfast South the following year, becoming the assembly’s first ethnic minority member. She served two terms at the regional parliament and retired in March this year. The Place I Call Home is published by Blackstaff Press Belfast this week. | Lo joined the Alliance party in 2006 and was elected as an assembly member for Belfast South the following year, becoming the assembly’s first ethnic minority member. She served two terms at the regional parliament and retired in March this year. The Place I Call Home is published by Blackstaff Press Belfast this week. |