AFTER the events of summer 2001 and the involvement of the far right in stirring up racial hatred it is then sad that the BNP will have a candidate standing in the Mill Hill ward by-election later this month.

The town of Blackburn can do without people who hold such bigoted views and the people of Mill Hill have a chance to prove that the views of the party have no place in this town.

One only needs to look at how race relations have suffered in Burnley and Oldham since the involvement of the far right in the political process. The trust between Asians and whites was at desperate low for a time. Here, the issue was not so much of race but that of culture. Where a certain section of the populace picked up on general falacies about the other community to create an atmosphere of distrust and tension.

However, over the past year it is good to see how well both towns have attempted to respond to the ignorance and backward views of the party.

As was the case in those towns the BNP here has no intention of making the Mill Hill ward a better place to live for it's citizen's despite claims to the contrary. This is made perfectly clear when a party has to include openly racist views in it's literature.

Voting for a mainstream councillor would give out a strong message to the far right that they cannot just come into a town repeatedly and begin to talk up hatred between different ethnic groups. This is especially true in Blackburn where for many years members of both community's have lived peacefully side -by-side. Yes, there is an element of segregation but the town did itself proud last year when in the midst of racial tension it remained peaceful. This showed how well both communties understood that no matter what some people might say our future is together.

Blackburn also has a good recent history where the Council alongside members of the community have tried to promote better understanding between different communities in the town.

No doubt the same ploys will be used over and over again by the party in a bid to 'swindle' the electorate. Problems in our communties are not an Asian and white thing but a problem for us all and ones we can only tackle effectively together.