#BlackLivesMatter This month we shall be recording responses made to the killing of George Floyd on 25th May. Too many black people have died at the hands of state racism, institutional racism – and individual racism stoked by the first two. We can all work together to turn the tide of racism. It will be a long and difficult struggle – but George Floyd’s death has brought many young people into that fight. We may yet change the world. Should we name 25th May as George Floyd day, to ensure that we never forget?
The Socialist Campaign Group of Labour MPs, founded in the 1980s by Jeremy Corbyn MP, has re-formed to keep campaigning for the policies put forward by Jeremy Corbyn when he was Leader of the Labour Party. Here’s what they have to say about the Black Lives Matter movement.
“We stand in solidarity with Black Lives Matter and their world-wide movement for racial justice.
“We recognise that the COVID-19 crisis has shone a brutal light on existing racial and class inequalities, which have been made worse after 40 years of the domination of neoliberalism.
“We call on the Prime Minister to act now to end the severe racial inequalities that exist in the UK.
“The Prime Minister does not need to wait for the findings of his new Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. Over the past twenty years there have been a series of government reviews of race inequality including: Macpherson inquiry; McGregor Smith inquiry on Race Equality in the Workplace; Lammy review of BAME representation in the criminal justice system; Angilioni report on deaths in police custody and the Windrush Lessons Learnt review. We ask the Prime Minister to act on these hundreds of recommendations now.
“We also call for:
•Justice for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire and the Windrush Generation including speedy and appropriate levels of compensation
•Action on racial inequality in education including: recruiting more black teachers and reforming the curriculum to fully reflect British history including the history of slavery, Empire and colonialism
•An end to the ‘hostile environment’ and immigration policies which by design are institutionally racist such as ‘No Recourse to Public Funds’. We also call for the closure of all detention centres.
•An independent public inquiry into Black, Asian and Ethnic minority deaths from COVID-19
“The Black Lives Matter movement has shown that the time for empty commitments is over. Now is the time for leadership within the UK and across the world, to meaningfully and immediately address the scourge of racism.”
Diane Abbott MP Tahir Ali MP Paula Barker MP Apsana Begum MP Olivia Blake MP Christine Blower Pauline Bryan Richard Burgon MP Ian Byrne MP Shami Chakrabarti Jeremy Corbyn MP Mary Foy MP John Hendy Rachel Hopkins MP Imran Hussain MP Ian Lavery MP Clive Lewis MP John McDonnell MP Ian Mearns MP Grahame Morris MP Kate Osamor MP Kate Osborne MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP Zarah Sultana MP Sam Tarry MP Jon Trickett MP Claudia Webbe MP Mick Whitley MP Nadia Whittome MP Beth Winter MP
•Read more about it: Thought for today The Thames Today