Six-year-old girl allegedly racially assaulted, 'stop and search on steroids' & other stories from Black, Asian and Arab communities you shouldn't have missed this week- curated by Melissa Sigodo

As well as some good news to recap this week

Good morning, afternoon and evening,

Thank you for subscribing to The Source and thank you for your patience.

Hello to new subscribers as well. Thank you for joining us. We’re over 1000 subscribers strong so thank you for helping us grow. The stories written exclusively for The Source are free to read, but to recieve a full weekly recap of news you shouldn’t have missed, you can upgrade your subscription to a paid version which is £5 a month and helps support this newsletter.

This week, I am writing to you with a cold. It has been such a busy last few days and my immune system took a hit. Hence, a delayed newsletter. By the way, if you want to get updates on anything happening with the newsletter, do follow The Source on Instagram @thesourcenewsletter. I post if there are going to be any delays, as well as video versions of the pieces I publish on here.

But despite the cold, it has been such an encouraging week. I saw that Windrush scandal survivors Hetticia and her husband Vaun who I wrote about last month, also spoke to The Guardian about their campaign to get legal aid in order to apply for compensation. It was also great to see Tharel Thompson speak to journalist Ayshah Tull at Channel 4 News in a touching report about his unprovoked attack and needing funds for a crucial surgery. Another highlight was having journalist Ayo write about his challenges in Australia for The Source. He says he’s received a lot of support since so thank you for sending some love to him. Next week, we’ll hopefully have another great journalist joining us as well.

The Source has also received incredible support this week from a few of you who are subscribed. Thank you so much for publicly shouting out the platform and asking people to subscribe. That public support is so vital as I don’t currently have the resources to put out adverts. So thank you to people like Samantha Asumadu Marverine Cole and many others. It really touches my heart. You are appreciated more than you know. Here’s some of the support The Source has received over on social media.

The inspring person I was referring to by the way, is the local legend whose story I’ve recapped in today’s newsletter. Thank you for every like, comment, share and subscription. Especially as we see how social media, namely X formerly known as Twitter "systematically prioritizes content that sparks outrage, provokes heated exchanges, reactions, and engagement, without adequate safeguards to prevent or mitigate harm”, according to a new report by Amnesty. We live in dark times.

Also, an update on Chris Smalls who was onboard the aid ship which was intercepted as it headed for Gaza. He spoke to Middle East Eye and gave a horrific account of how he was allegedly treated by Israeli soldiers including allegedly being stripped naked. We’ll see if UK press covers it.

Today, we have updates on Congo, an alleged racist assault on a six-year-old girl and other stories you need to know about this week.

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News

A grapefruit tree has been given protected status following a campaign by neighbours of a recently deceased woman Marline Anderson who planted the tree after coming to the UK from Grenada. Read the full story by Harry Low at BBC.

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An 85-year-old railway worker has been honoured with a song marking his 63 years of service as Thameslink’s oldest employee. Siggy Cragwell who arrived as part of the Windrush generation says he tried to retire before, but that life was so boring, he decided to come back. Read the full story by Jess Warren at BBC.

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A former Burberry sales assistant is turning towels from gyms and hotels as well as discarded clothes into accessories and clothing for his own brand. Founder of upcycling label RWRK Studio Farouk Braimoh who moved from Nigeria to the UK aged nine says he made £85,000 in sales in 2024 and hopes to reach £150,000 this year. Read the full story by Anita Mureithi at Hyphen Online.

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Sport

Former Palestinian international football player Suleiman al-Obeid, 41, known as the Palestinian Pele after the Brazilian football legend, was shot dead by Israeli forces while waiting for aid in Gaza. Read the full story by France 24.

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Liverpool Football Club player Mohamed Salah has criticized the football governing body UEFA after it posted a social media message bidding “farewell” to former Palestinian international Suleiman al-Obeid. The UEFA tweet did not mention the circumstances in which the player was killed. Read the full story Jessie Yeung at CNN.

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Health

A ‘local legend’ who has completed over 100 half marathons for charities including Cancer Research is fighting for a possibly life-saving treatment after being diagnosed with a rare form of lung cancer. Christian Clarke, 63, from Stockport, Greater Manchester hopes to get back to running again. Read the full story by Melissa Sigodo at The Source.

Alleged Male Violence against Women and Girls

Police have named a woman who was fatally stabbed in Romford, east London last month as 60-year-old Nkiru Chima. Police believe the stabbing is linked to the death of a 20-year-old man on the train tracks at Romford train station who was known to the woman. Read the full story by Bill Bowkett at Evening Standard.

Crime

Police have launched a criminal investigation after a six-year-old girl suffered an alleged racist assault outside her home in the Kilbarry area of Waterford city, in the Republic of Ireland. The girl is said to have been punched and told to ‘go back to India’. Read the full story by Michael O'Toole at Dublin Live.

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More than 450 people have been arrested at a demonstration in central London in defiance over the ban against Palestine Action since it was proscribed as a terrorist organisation. Protesters who held placards which read, “I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action” were taken into custody. Read the full story by Sammy Gecsoyler and Donna Ferguson.

Jobs

An award-nominated journalist who moved to Australia says after two years in the country, he could only get one single job interview outside bartending work. Ayo says he’s never let people’s views hold him back but that he felt ‘invisible’ and that Australia’s reputation has a way to go. Read the full story by Ayo Oluwalana at The Source.

Policing

A man who was wrongly identified as a suspect has described live facial recognition technology as "stop and search on steroids". The Met announced it would be increasing its use of the technology but Shaun Thompson, 39, who is bringing a High Court challenge against the force says he can only imagine what “damage” it will cause. Read the full story by Sonya Jessup at BBC.