INJUSTICE ANYWHERE

Signs of Protest - BLM London

Following the tragic murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, USA, on May 25th 2020, thousands gathered in demonstrations in Central London, part of a global outcry that saw people take to the streets in cities across the world, amid the ongoing COVID19 pandemic.

In Boroughs throughout the English capital smaller-scale, socially-distanced demonstrations also took place addressing local concerns that often dovetailed with the general. In Hackney, demonstrators have campaigned for contractual parity for outsourced NHS catering, porting, and cleaning staff - the majority of whom are BAME citizens and have been indispensable while risking their lives in the healthcare sector during the pandemic, and reviews of school curriculums to greater reflect the demographic make-up and history of the local community, Police policies, such as Stop and Search, that target Black Men more than any other demographic, and a re-evaluation of place names in the area with links to the slave-trade, among many other initiatives pushing for reform and equitable change.

The photos in this collection were taken in June 2020 at Black Lives Matter demonstrations in Central London, and local gatherings, and vigils in Hackney.

A protestor holds up a shirt imprinted with the names of BAME citizens who have died in police custody, and in questionable circumstances in the UK. Despite accusations and evidence of wrongdoing, discrimination, and over-zealous use of force the vast majority of these deaths have not resulted in charges during prosecution. [Above image, left].

A 2017 report by Labour MP David Lammy, commissioned by the Conservative government, found that BAME men faced discrimination in the UK’s criminal justice system. Statistics showed that BAME men were more likely to be stopped, arrested, charged, denied bail, convicted, and sentenced to prison than white men in cases with similar/the same circumstances. Further, in prison BAME men were less likely to be supported to rehabilitate, and more likely to reoffend. Lammy’s calls for reform have largely fallen on deaf ears. Currently, there is not a single BAME chief constable in the UK.

In the first four months of lockdown (March-June) a total of 128,046 stop and searches took place in London, a near 40 percent jump from the previous four months. Statistics showed that during this period Black citizens were four times more likely to be targeted than White citizens.

During June 2020 demonstrations, protesters have called for the implementation of the Lammy Report, in addition to the Windrush Report (2020), released earlier this year. They have also cited the MacPherson Report. (1999). Commissioned following the tragic killing of Stephen Lawrence in south-east London in 1993, the MacPherson Report identified “institutionally racist” practices within the Metropolitan Police Force.

Over 20 years later the Windrush Report concluded that Home Office policies that saw members of the Windrush generation — encouraged to emigrate to the UK from former British colonies in the Caribbean to help rebuild the country after WWII — wrongly deported, sacked from their jobs, and denied treatment through the NHS, constituted evidence of “institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness towards the issue of race”. [Below image, right]

Demonstrators take a knee overlooking the Houses of Parliament, and Big Ben, Central London, June 2020 [Below image].

A Policeman observes a crowd of protestors while standing beside a statue of Winston Churchill in Parliament Square [Above image, right]. A few days later the statue was boarded up [Below image, left].

Elsewhere, as protestors toppled a statue of slave-holder Edward Colston in iconic scenes in Bristol, in London a statue of slaveholder Robert Milligan was removed from outside the Museum of London Docklands on 9th June 2020. The following day, people could be seen pausing at the site for photo opportunities, and to take in this moment of change. [Below image, centre].

Speaking at the time, Sadiq Khan, London’s Mayor and Labour MP, said a review of all of London’s statues and street names would take place, stating that any with links to the slavery “should be taken down”. These sentiments were not explicitly endorsed by the Conservative government.

A couple of kilometres from London’s Docklands in Jewry Street, in the heart of the capital, lies the John Cass Foundation. A sculpture of Cass, a former head of the Royal African Company and like Milligan, a slaveholder, beams down on passers-bye from an elaborate alcove on the red-brick building’s upper exterior. Cass relocated from Central London to Hackney in the late 17th Century, to escape the scourge of the plague. Streets, shops, buildings and a park in the district continue to bare his name [Below image, right]. Protestors in Hackney have called for their removal.

Protestors in Central London dance to Tupac Shakur’s “Changes”, an anthemic social commentary tackling issues of discrimination, and institutionalised racism [Above image].

A bus driver, brought to a standstill, expresses solidarity with protestors during a Black Lives Matter demonstration, Central London, June, 2020. [Below image]

Such interactions between protestors and essential workers during BLM demonstrations are not uncommon, and often touching. BAME citizens are disproportionately represented in essential work positions. This has influenced the disproportionate impact of COVID19 in BAME communities in the UK.

Hackney residents and NHS staff take part in a vigil outside Homerton Hospital, June 2020. [Below images]

Nearly 80 percent of cleaning, porting, and catering staff at the hospital are BAME citizens. Their contracts are outsourced to a private, multinational company called ISS. These crucial healthcare sector employees have provided an essential service and risked their lives during the pandemic but do not have contractual parity or the same benefits as centrally-contracted NHS staff at the hospital. Campaigners say this is manifest in low salaries that are often on the brink, and occasionally fall below the London Living Wage, and draconian regulations governing sick-pay. At the outset of the COVID19 pandemic these regulations meant that staff on ISS contracts were potentially vulnerable to not receiving sick-pay if they contracted COVID19.

Union members, and staff at the Hospital were quick to raise their concerns and objections and ISS altered its policy. However, Union members maintain that this constituted a small victory in the larger battle to tackle institutional racism.