Nanu Miah: The King of Parr - Q-News July 2006, Issue 367

After his childhood was made “a complete hell” by racist attacks, Nanu Miah took matters into his own hands and became a street fighter - defending his community from skinhead violence and National Front threats. At the age of 16, a street brawl landed him in jail - where he fought to stay alive… again. How is it that he is now one of Oldham’s most celebrated heroes? Shamim Miah tells the remarkable story of a man whose life was turned around by faith.

Nanu Miah, father of six, overlooks an empty patch of derelict land from his flat. It is surrounded by the traditional red brick terrace housing typical of northern mill town masonry. Nanu lives in the Coldhurst ward of Oldham, where almost half of the town’s Bangladeshi community live. According to Governments Indices of Multiple Deprivation, the area is one of the most deprived wards in the country.

Nanu was born in Syhlet, Bangladesh but moved to Oldham at a very young age. His father, Asim Ullah came to Oldham during the 1960s to work in the local mills. Typical of most first generation Asian immigrants, he worked long hours to support his immediate family in Oldham and his extended family in Bangladesh.

Oldham has changed a great deal since Nanu’s childhood. He says, “Back in the eighties Coldhurst was a mixed area with whites and Bangladeshis living together. Although most white people were decent, the area had a strong concentration of NF [National Front], who made life complete hell for us - beatings, name calling and abuse were very common.

“We lived in complete fear, with no security and protection. We had no faith in the police and that’s why we did not bother calling them. Even when we did, it was the typical plot - arrive late to the scene and leave early. We very quickly realised that the only way to put an end to racism was to protect ourselves and our families. After a couple of bloody battles on the streets of Coldhurst, the racists realised that we wouldn’t put up with them.”

Nanu was only 10 years old.

The constant threat of racism meant survival was more important than paying attention in class. School was merely a microcosm of his experiences on the street: regular bullying, verbal and physical abuse was more common that reading, writing and arithmetic.

“Every day we used to get bullied and called names. The teachers were part of the problem. One day, we decided enough wass enough. Someone has to do something. I directed my energy towards learning how to fight rather than paying attention in class. A group of brothers set up a gang to support each other….and it was pay back time.”

Most of the fights that Nanu’s gang were involved had to do with self-defence and protecting fellow friends against racist “thugs”. The tensions at school caught up with him - he was expelled at the crucial age of 14. His rough reputation meant that no other school would accept him.

Nanu’s street education continued, however. Soon he found that his ‘services’ were in demand. He was “called [in] by [people in nearby] local towns to help solve some of the racist problems.”

This gang culture soon got Nanu into the kind of trouble that changed his life forever. One summer’s day, as he was walking back from the cinema with some friends, a couple of white skinheads drove past them, spraying them with what appeared to be alcohol. As Nanu protested loudly, the men stopped their van and walked over with baseball bats.

“Come on you f****** Pakis,” they taunted.

Nanu and his friends marched forward, declaring, “We are not your average Pakis.” A tussle broke out in the middle of a busy road. In the commotion, Nanu ended up stabbing one of the skinheads in the leg. For this offence Nanu was sent down for GBH - grievous bodily harm. He was just sixteen years-old.
Even in prison, Nanu says, “I was harassed by racist brutes. I eventually had to settle the score. I took on two of my fellow inmates in a ‘fist up’. This proved to the other inmates that I wasn’t to be messed around with.”

After leaving prison, Nanu parents did the typical desi thing: they took him back to Bangladesh for an arranged marriage, hoping that this would “tame him”.

It would take more than a pretty bride to calm Nanu down.

Nanu was to find solace a couple of years later, when Motlib, a close friend who had also spent time in prison for a similar crime in East London, began talking to him about faith. Nanu was impressed at the remarkable transformation of Motlib’s life. The growing friendship was to send Nanu embarking on a similar path.

“I no longer see white people as my enemy. I saw beauty in all people. It calmed my anger. It was a force that brought me discipline. It brought happiness to my family. It brought a smile to the faces of my parents and brought joy and rahmah (mercy) to my marriage. In a nut shell, Islam made me into a human being.”

Nanu challenged his energy and passion into a number of youth projects. In the aftermath of the 2001 riots, he worked with the newly formed group Peace on the Streets to dissuade young people from resorting to violence. Nanu is constantly engaging with young people, tackling racism and Islamophobia, through his leadership at the Young Muslims Organisation’s Oldham chapter. He has taken a hands-on approach to gang mediation. One of Nanu’s main concerns now is tackling the rise of drug use and drug-dealing in his area. He is involved in frontline counselling to get addicts into rehabilitation and drug dealers out of the business.

“Drugs are destroying our communities,” says Nanu. “A few months ago I received a phonecall at 1.00 am. A distraught mother had no option but to call me. She desperately wanted me to go to her house. Although I was very tired, I did not have the heart to say no. When I went to her house, she begged me to speak to her son who was destroying his life and the family with his crack addiction.”

The mother sobbed and told Nanu of the physical and verbal abuse she had suffered at the hands of her drug-addicted son: “Everything in our house, every item has gone to fuel his habit. We have no food on the table because he routinely takes all the money…I don’t know what to do or who to turn to.”

Nanu is often the final, desperate port of call for families who have been failed by both social services and local community institutions. For Nanu, the struggle is for social justice and genuine community regeneration. Recently Oldham Race Equality Partnership nominated him for a prestigious award for his service to the community at an event attended by Trevor Philips.

Nanu is often described as a “twenty-four seven” activist. Recently he opened a takeaway in Parr, St Helens near Oldham. He routinely gives free food to local drug addicts before coaxing them into kicking their destructive habit.

Nanu told me that one day, he realised he had not seen one of the local addicts - John - for few weeks. Nanu made enquiries and learnt that John had been admitted to the local hospital and was recently discharged. Nanu took some grapes and soft drinks and went to see him. John was shocked - and pleased. For Nanu this is par for the course.

“10 years ago, John could have been someone I might have stabbed in a street fight. It is Islam that gave me this light in my eye. This is the beauty of the Islamic faith - it turns monsters like me into human beings”.

As Nanu drives through the streets of Parr, he is a familiar face. People whom meet and know him give him respect. To the locals he is appropriately known as, Nanu, King of Parr.