RAY Honeyford (Letters, June 5) repeats his opinion that - and I quote - "Bury REC should be abolished - for good".

He has said this, as a lone and hollow voice, on numerous occasions, but so far he has failed in that objective.

Like Mr Honeyford, the citizens of the borough of Bury also exercise their free right and they ignore his call for the abolition of BREC.

In a free society, if you have rights, you also have obligations. The Race Relations Act 1976, which Mr Honeyford bitterly opposes, was passed by Parliament. He is well aware that members of Parliament are elected by people like him and it is their constitutional duty to make laws to protect people from those who would discriminate against them.

Unfortunately, Mr Honeyford would seem to have chosen, for whatever reason, not to understand the logic and ethics behind the Act and the functions of the Commission for Racial Equality, which was set up by the Home Office.

It is his bad luck that despite his "free expression" the people of Bury are not convinced, in particular those who are suffering from racial discrimination, harassment and violence.

Marriages, unfortunately, do not come under the RRA 1976 though Mr Honeyford tries to suggest that Asians are the most prejudiced group in cross-racial marriages.

Marriage is a matter between two individuals and has nothing to do with race, which is what Mr Honeyford is trying to imply.

Mr Honeyford appears to be allergic to the word "Asian". I fully sympathise with the circumstances which led to his departure as headteacher at a Bradford school, but he should not try to blame the RECs, Asians or other ethnic minorities.

RECs certainly do not place emphasis on racial differences: they are merely trying to eliminate racial discrimination in order to have a just society under the provisions of the Race Relations Act 1976. A victim of racial discrimination needs a lot of support and courage to face an industrial tribunal or to appear at the county court to seek justice. Mr Honeyford mentions harmony and the lack of real cases of racial discrimination. Well, the Commission for Racial Equality Report 1996 gives the figures for racial discrimination as 1,750, compared with 1,682 for 1995.

For his information, the National Lottery Charities Board funded the Asian Women Project, under its own strict criteria, to help a disadvantaged group which happens to be Asian women. It gives them access to training, education and employment. Doesn't Mr Honeyford think that Asian women are members of the public? Do they not pay taxes? It seems to me that he only moans when public funds are spent on Asians and other ethnic minority groups.

Funding bodies do not allocate money on the basis of colour or ethnic origin, but they often do so on the basis of pure need.

I trust Mr Honeyford will find my words cause for some thought and that he will use a more positive approach to racism. The more he writes in such a manner, the more support we get from the public.

I wholeheartedly support the REC despite the noises of a tiny minority who wish to bring about its closure.

NASRULLAH KHAN,

director,

Bury Racial

Equality Council

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