The reasons Black Lives Matter

There have been many shocking videos to come out of the United States lately: there was one in which the police in Buffalo, New York, knocked down a man in his 70s. There was an audible crack as his head hit the pavement. The police, by and large, carried on in their manoeuvres until one of their number realised the man was seriously hurt, writes cllr Shaz Nawaz, leader of the Labour Party on Peterborough City Council.

Another appalling video came from New York City: a peaceful protestor, with his arms raised over his head, was approached by a police officer. The protestor was wearing a mask, presumably as protection from the coronavirus. The policeman then forcibly lifted the mask and blasted pepper spray into the protestor’s face.

Such images make one wonder: what’s going on? We try to comfort ourselves that this is a phenomenon that is peculiar to America, that we are somehow immune to this here in the UK, or that racial tensions are less. I believe we need to disabuse ourselves of this notion.

The recent report from the government regarding fatalities from the coronavirus made it clear that if you want to avoid dying, the best thing you can do is not to be old, not to be poor, and definitely not to be part of an ethnic minority. We should be disquieted by these figures. They mirror what is going on in America and elsewhere: they hint at disparities caused by underlying racism.

We have been forced to confront this before: we’ve seen it in the poor treatment of the residents of Grenfell Tower. Even before the fire occurred, it was clear that the council chose what cladding it did for their ill-fated building because it was cheaper. Afterwards, the government fumbled its response: as late as January 2020, not every resident of the tower had a replacement home.

We saw it with the Windrush scandal: people who came to this country in good faith and built lives here suddenly had their status questioned and were deported. Not all the victims of this “hostile atmosphere” have yet to be recompensed.

We saw it also in the Stephen Lawrence case. It took decades after Stephen was murdered in 1993 for any justice to be done, and it took the dogged persistence of his family and campaigners to get there. Nevertheless, it’s not clear that it was done in full: Doreen Lawrence, Stephen’s mother, had to sadly conclude all lines of enquiry were exhausted in 2018.

We can’t sit back and say it is worse in America: racism is just as prevalent in the United Kingdom. We must make clear that Black Lives Matter. It should be abhorrent to every freedom loving person in this country that racism exists: if some of us aren’t free, then none of us are truly tree. The parameters of prejudice of one day may shift to marginalise someone else. We, as elected representatives, need to keep working to eliminate this scourge; the Labour Group and I are determined to fight it at every turn.

We as private citizens, need to spot it, call it out for what it is, and continue the long, slow difficult work to eliminate it from people’s hearts. The Labour Group and I were proud to support the Black Lives Matter demonstration which occurred in Peterborough last weekend at Cathedral Square. Kudos to the organisers as it was so well planned, ensuring that there were groups of six for social distancing purposes; furthermore, it raised awareness in an impactful way.

It is by such small steps that we make progress. If we keep striving, perhaps we will achieve Dr. Martin Luther King’s vision for all people, that we won’t be judged by the colour of our skin, but by the content of our character.