More than 70 activists from campaigns across the West Midlands gathered in Birmingham to discuss the next steps in building a mass anti-racist movement.
Kedisha Burrell spoke of the recent High Court case in which three police officers were charged with perjury and attempting to pervert the course of justice. The officers were present when her brother, Kingsley Burrell died in custody in 2011. The police were recently acquitted of any wrong doing. The campaign, justice4kingsley, will continue its fight until those responsible are held to account.
Janet Alder, recalled the shocking circumstances of her brothers’ death in Hull Police station in 1998. Despite a verdict of unlawful killing the five police officers involved were acquitted of manslaughter.
Tahir Alam was a central figure in the fabricated ‘Trojhan Horse’ plot. He was Chair of Governors at Park View School, Birmingham when it was rated ‘outstanding’. He described how this political conspiracy, spearheaded by Michel Gove, had victimised teachers and damaged the education of hundreds of children. This was a racist, Islamophobic plot to attack the Muslim community in Birmingham and beyond. A campaign to uncover the real facts is ongoing.
Roger McKenzie, Unison assistant general secretary, gave a rousing speech urging everyone to go out from the meeting and build the movement in every workplace and college. He stressed the importance of attending the SUTR National Conference on 21 October.
Naimar Omar explained that SUTR is a broad organisation uniting many campaigns in a single movement. This can become a movement that can mobilise thousands on the streets, have a presence in every area of public life, isolating and defeating the racist minority.
In the discussion people described their personal experiences in contact with the police ranging from harassment to overt violence. The theme that emerged from the meeting was that we should not accept any form of racism, that all resistance to racism should be supported and that we urgently need to build a mass anti-racist movement.