Kathryn shocked by attacks on immigrants

Kathryn Gallagher, 18, a Magherfelt student, made the poster with Fixers – the charity which gives young people a voice.

She explained: “I’ve seen stories in the news about immigrants being abused, not only by the older generation, but by the younger generation too. It’s upsetting and shocking – it made me realise that certain attitudes had filtered through to people my age. I’d hoped people my age were generally more accepting, but that’s not always the case.”

Kathryn, who is studying A-levels at Rainey Endowed School, has created a poster which challenges different forms of hate crime including racism and xenophobia.

She contined: “Antrim is a diverse town and there’s a lot of integration – I’ve always felt inspired by that but other people have issues with it and each year I hear about hate crimes being committed. I feel like I need to do something to help and I want to try and bring people round to the idea that we are not all that different.

“I hope my poster will show people that we’re all the same underneath and there’s no real need to discriminate against somebody because of what they believe or the colour of their skin. I would like to share the poster in schools and I hope that it will challenge people with that mentality.”

Fixers works with young people aged 16-25 across the UK by providing them with resources to help them campaign on issues they feel strongly about.

The charity has helped more than 19,000 youngsters across the UK to have a voice in their community on issues such as cyber-bullying, self-harm, suicide or transphobia.

For more information or to make a donation to fund more Fixer projects, visit www.fixers.org.uk