A BRADFORD man has given his thoughts on race and community cohesion as he prepares to host Black History Month celebrations in the city.

Tony Tokunbo Eteka Fernandez, CEO of community organisation Africa4U, has organised the event at City Library for Friday, October 21.

A week later, Tony will head to London to host another Black History Month celebration at the Houses of Parliament.

There, he will be joined by a number of other Bradfordians, including Jerry Crawford of Collective Impact.

Tony, who was born in London and is of Nigerian descent, lives in Wyke, after moving to Bradford five years ago.

He now considers the district as his home and is full of praise for the area.

“Bradford is full of friendly people – it’s that Yorkshire spirit,” he said.

“People are free, open and great to work with.

“There’s a spirit of unity here, which is a lot stronger than where I’m from down south.”

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Tony added that Bradford’s diversity is a strength, but also said that there is room for improvement.

“Diversity, inclusion and multiculturalism are just words people use and don’t always put into practice,” he said.

“What’s really important is to actually bridge that gap between communities and work together in a practical sense.

“Multiculturalism is not just about a place being demographically diverse, that’s not necessarily cohesion.

“I think there is a disconnect in Bradford. People do amazing stuff here, but you don’t always hear about what other people are doing in their own communities, and that applies to people from all racial backgrounds.

“There needs to be a centralised platform where we can all promote our work together.”

Tony has a blog, where he shares the success stories of Bradfordians, something which he says goes a long way in helping to tackle division.

“The events people hold are also very important, if they have the core values of bringing communities together – not just on pen and paper – but in the true sense of the word,” he added.

Looking ahead to October’s event, Tony added: “This event is not just for Black people, it’s for everyone.

“People can learn more about our culture and history, and we can learn more about theirs.

“It’s all about understanding and that, to me, is a reflection of a great city.”

The event is free to attend and will feature talks, performances, networking opportunities and refreshments.