The Evening Gazette in Middlesbrough responded with a front-page editorial when racists in the town were exposed by a feature in The Guardian.
Kenyan asylum-seeker Kamwaura Nygothi wrote in the national broadsheet about her experiences in Middlesbrough after being sent there by the Home Office. She said she was spat at, had stones thrown at her and been called a “monkey”.
She said: “Middlesbrough reminds me of South Africa during apartheid.”
Gazette editor Steve Dyson’s frontpage comment said: “Certain Teessiders must today hang their heads in shame at the vile, racist experience said to have been endured by an asylum-seeker in this region.
“The only way the good people of Teesside can now help Kamwaura and others in her position is by letting the world know how appalled we all are.”
The Gazette reprinted Nygothi’s first-person piece in full and devoted a whole letters spread to the matter.
Dyson said: “Since running the piece we’ve got the response we hoped for.
Dozens of letters and e-mails are flooding in from people concerned about it and saying they are so sorry she had these experiences in Middlesbrough.”
By Dominic Ponsford
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