The long journey

In 1984, the year Asra Greater London was registered as a housing association, the Asian Times reported that the dominant theme of that year "was the ever-present danger of racist attack that hung over the lives of our community in Britain."

Today danger of racial harassment and violence is still ever present, and in certain areas escalating. The response from local authorities and housing associations has been varied. A few have excellent systems and procedures in place, but many offer only half-hearted solutions that are of little comfort or use to victims and allow perpetrators to continue, often increasing the severity of their behaviour and action.

In partnership with the Monitoring Group, Asra is currently exploring the development of a respite centre for families and individuals who have suffered racial harassment and violence.

The respite centre is a good example of Asra's unique role, both as a leading housing association but also as an advocate for the Asian community - which has seen significant changes over the last 15 years.

In the 1980s Norman Tebbit accused Asians of failing the "cricket test" and it appeared that the Asian community in the UK, particularly the second-generation British born Asians were having to take a stance. Values and expectations varied between parents and children, and we saw these struggles being aired and discussed openly for the first time in the growing Asian media, in press articles and on radio and television programmes, along with other topics that were once considered taboo such as domestic violence or mixed race relationships. And in the aftermath of the publication of the Satanic Verses and the heightening tensions in the Gulf War we saw the increasing evidence of anti-Muslim feeling both here in the UK and abroad. But it would be some six years later before the Runneymede Trust published their report into the existence of Islamaphobia.

As we moved into the mid-1990s there was much talk of a growing elite of wealthy Asians. John Major invited leading Asian business men to Downing Street and the Asian community in Britain was estimated to be putting £5.4 billion into the UK economy. However, 1993 a BNP counsellor was elected in Tower Hamlets, home to many of LondonÕs Bangladeshi families and in 1995 Asian youths rioted in Manningham, Bradford.

1997 became a landmark year for Asians in the UK. Not only did a Labour victory in the general election bring five Asian MPs to the House of Commons, but we also celebrated 50 years of Indian and Pakistani independence. It was a time for reflection as we looked back at the struggles and achievements of our community.

At the end of the 1990s Asra's unprecedented success and growth to close on 2,000 homes, across 23 London boroughs, and a staff of 90, is mirrored by the success of Asian culture in mainstream society, with Arundhati Roy winning the Booker prize, Goodness Gracious Me becoming a huge television hit and Talvin Singh winning the Mercury Music Prize.

Despite the successes there is no scope for complacency. In the same way that we have seen the appropriation of our culture and religion in the name of fashion - how else to explain the catwalk trends for wearing "bindis" and henna patterns on your hands - the danger is that local authorities and mainstream housing associations can appropriate from black and minority ethnic associations at their convenience. Taking what they want without truly reflecting or understanding what it is they are taking and what it signifies. While Asra might meet the needs of some local authorities and mainstream associations simply because we are a bme association and they have to be seen to be working with us, Asra and other bme associations know that for our communities we signify much more.

Yes, the provision of culturally sensitive services in appropriate languages is a crucial part of the work of bme associations but it is not the only thing we do.

We recognise that over the years, Asra staff and board have represented in microcosm the wider Asian community. Pioneers of the bme housing movement, MEPs and chief executives of mainstream housing associations and charities have all passed through our doors. We have British born second-generation Asians working at Asra who still speak their mother-tongue and place great value upon maintaining their cultural and religious traditions. And we have amongst our tenants a generation that arrived in this country with hopes for a better life, not knowing what hardships they would face on the way but now truly displaying the strength and tenacity of the Asian community.

The next 15 years are likely to be as challenging and exciting as the first. There are just two BME chief executives of mainstream housing associations and in the year that we heard from the inquiries into the deaths of Stephen Lawrence and Ricky Reel Research for the Housing Corporation this year found "deeply ingrained patterns of institutional racism" within housing associations. There is still a need for those associations to challenge racism in society. There is also still a need for the culturally sensitive services that are provided by bme housing associations, and we will continue to take a leading role in challenging inequalities and discrimination and empowering others to do the same.