Saturday, 22 May 2021 | 5PM BST
With leading anti-racists & justice campaigners from Britain & the US including:
Diane Abbott MP • Victor Sylvester, Roger Sylvester Justice Campaign • Elise Bryant, Coalition of Labour Women President & United Against Hate (US) • Aman Ali, Head of Community Engagement & Development at MEND • Bell Ribiero-Addy MP • Cammilla Mngaza, Free Siyanda Campaign • Lawrence Davies, Equal Justice solicitor for Belly Mujinga case • Shaka Hislop, ex footballer & Show Racism The Red Card ambassador • Andrew Boateng, campaigner who was accosted by police while cycling with his son • Rev. Kobi Little, President of the Baltimore NAACP • Ryan Colaço, campaigner and target of racist stop & search • Sabby Dhalu & Weyman Bennett, Co-convenors of Stand Up to Racism
The murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer a year ago sparked a historic wave of global protests and a massive upsurge in the #BlackLivesMatter movement.
Without that movement, Derek Chauvin would likely have never appeared in court, and George Floyd’s family would never have obtained justice. The movement also played a major role in the defeat of Donald Trump, the world’s no 1 racist.
But structural racism and police violence is far from over.
In Britain, Black people are nine times more likely to face stop and search than white people – 18 times more likely under Section 60, where no reasonable suspicion is required.
The COVID-19 Crisis has disproportionately affected BAME communities in a huge way medically and economically, with thousands of preventable deaths and hundreds of thousands more forced into poverty.
Most shamefully, there is the endless list of deaths in police custody – where no British police officer has ever faced prosecution.
Instead of addressing this, the British Government responded to the #blacklivesmatter movement by launching a major racist offensive with a ‘Race Report’ that denies the reality of institutional racism, a Police and Crime bill targeting antiracists and a wave of legislation attacking refugee and migrant rights.
Tuesday 25 May 6PM – #TakeTheKnee everywhere across the country – in local communities, in your workplace, college or school, on your doorstep…
Stand Up To Racism has called a week of action across Britain to commemorate George Floyd’s death one year on, and in the spirit of the #BlacklivesMatter movement.
This is to both offer solidarity with the BLM movement in the US and highlight the reality of institutional racism and disproportionate policing in Britain.
Derek Chauvin may have been prosecuted but that only happened because of the BLM movement. In Britain no police officer has ever been prosecuted following a death in custody.
Share pictures, reports and videos of your actions with #UKisNotInnocent #BlackLivesMatter #TakeTheKnee #SayTheirNames
