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This month, leading human rights barrister, Peter Herbert OBE, is leading one of the most important cases he has dealt with – racism within the Criminal Justice System.

The disproportionate use of stop and search on BME communities and disproportionate sentencing practices are all well documented, but little is known in the public domain about the systematic racial sentencing by the Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal of African Caribbean and Asian Solicitors.

According to Herbert,

Award winning actor carries DVD of himself as proof he is not a criminal

The BAFTA winning actor Adam Deacon recently revealed that as a result of being searched by the police so many times, he carries a copy of his DVD with him as proof that he is not a criminal. Deacon, who has starred in various films which include Kidulthood and Anuvahood has decided to get involved in a documentary about police harassment as a result of his own negative experience with the police force.

Government attempts at introducing an immigration cap have failed, with the level of net migration remaining at record levels. In response, this month the government have proposed an alternative way of controlling immigration through reforming family-route visas. This will be part of the wider immigration agenda that includes the cap on work visas and reforming student visas.

Patrick Vernon and Emma Colyer, two unsung heroes were rightly rewarded for their unstinting efforts in the world of healthcare in last weekends Queen’s Jubliee Honours.

Patrick Vernon a local councillor and CEO of the Afiya Trust, a national charity which works to reduce health inequalities, was awarded an OBE for his services to tackling these inequalities. For more than 20 years he has dedicated most of his life campaigning for better access to healthcare from minority groups.

A modest Vernon said,

Upon seeing the new Adidas trainers on Facebook earlier this week I wanted to think that this is more about glorifying prisonwear than making fashion out of slavery... because surely no company would ever do something like that!

Many of the UK’s council chambers are a diversity free zone. The average age of a councillor is 59 and less than a third of councillors are female. In England, only 3.4% of councillors are from Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) backgrounds despite comprising 12% of the population, a figure that has stayed largely static since 1997. Only 1% of councillors in the UK are BME Women despite comprising more than 5% of the population.

Operation Black Vote are pleased to announce that we have been nominated for an award. The Ebony Business and Recognition (EBRA) Awards seeks to ‘reward Black enterprises for their outstanding prowess, foresight, diligence and achievement’ annually, promoting these enterprises in the process. OBV has been nominated in the Social, Faith and Political Agencies category for our work over the past year.

The winners are to be announced at an event at the O2 on Thursday 28th June and are decided by public vote.

By any stretch of the imagination it was an outstanding achievement, by 40 year old Marvin Rees. To win the Labour party nomination to stand for the new post of directly elected Mayor for Bristol, Rees had to beat a former MP and two former leaders of the council to win.

Some queried:

‘where did this guy come from, how did he beat these political heavyweights?

Before the start of Euro 2012, UEFA pledged zero-tolerance of racism and said the tournament would be a legacy to addressing racism issues. However, its decision to fine Croatia less for monkey chants at Matio Balotelli than Denmark's Nicklas Bendtner for displaying a sponsored pair of underwear has been met with criticism of how it prioritises public racial discrimination against what seems a fairly innocuous rule-break.

A top class Cambridge graduate, who has done it all on her own terms.

As far as inspiring BME women go, Promise Campbell is arguably at the top of her class. At only 22 years of age, this young woman has literally fought against the odds to be where she is now. Currently Campbell works in the House of Lords as the Parliamentary Assistant of Baroness Young of Hornsey, a Crossbench Peer with a reputation for fighting strongly on equalities issues.