News

Stars speak out in support of the Birmingham Kingsley Burrell March for Justice.

A variety of stars and community campaigners have spoken out in support of the planned march against deaths in custody due to take place in Birmingham on Saturday 2nd July.

In what must surely be the of the greatest upsets in recent tennis history, the charismatic French man Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came back from two sets to love down to beat the Wimbledon hero Roger Federer.

Federer, the six times champion, looked unbeatable from the seemingly unassailable lead (two sets to love in front) but Tsonga’s self belief never faltered and he clawed himself back into contention with some breath-taking shots.

Tsonga becomes only Black man to reach the semi finals of Wimbledon since Arthur Ash won the tournament back in 1975.

Sundeep Bhatia, solicitor advocate and owner of Beaumonde Law Practice, has started a new blog about diversity over at Solicitors Journal. Read the full article via the link at the bottom of this page.

We are described as black Asian minority ethnic lawyers. Many of us have set up small new firms to avoid the glass ceiling phenomenon. We are twice as likely to be sole practitioners as our non-BAME counterparts and we are far more likely to practice within firms of five partners or less.

Members of the Chinese community have written an open letter regarding the UK Border Agency's raid on a Chinese business, the letter has also been sent to the British Prime Minister and other senior government ministers. You can download the full letter via here, what follows is a selection of quotes from it.

Dear Jane,

Re: Mr Pun and his Family

I have followed the Evening Star’s coverage of the Pun family’s case since it was brought to my attention by a member of the Chinese community here in Suffolk.

With stop and search rates of black people in London and Birmingham going through the roof, this week saw two high profile black celebrities take to twitter to complain bitterly about being the victims of police racism.

First England and British Lions rugby star 28-year-old Ugo Moyne was pulled over by the London Metropolitan Police in his top of the range Range Rover whilst driving through Richmond an area that has one of the highest stop and search rates for black people anywhere in the UK.

Tony Soares writes for The Guardian about the need for black and minority ethnic (BME) housing to a crucial role in supporting BME communities.

OBV congratulates Gerry Jerome for his recent inauguration as Mayor of Sutton Council, and Judy Best as newly elected Deputy Mayor of Lambeth.

Judy Best is a graduate from Operation Black Vote's BAME Women’s Councillor Shadowing Scheme and has recently been appointed as Deputy Mayor of Lambeth. She served as a School Governor at Sunnyhill Primary for 8 years, and has worked in the Voluntary & Community Sector for over 20 years.

African and Caribbean musicians are being refused entry visa in to Europe. The Points Based System (PBS), introduced in 2008 and based on the Australian immigration model, is a complex system that in summary designates artists entering the UK as potential migrants and therefore into tier 5 of the system which is the lowest ranking on terms of entry priority. Most artists are lumped together with a broad range of people from tourists, bands playing a one off gig, cultural dance groups and religious leaders.

Britain is a country that is deeply divided by race. Not of course the crude racism of the Deep South antebellum but the echoes of the polite genteel racism that nevertheless produces hard structural inequalities is as real today as it ever was. The collusion with racism and the maintenance of inequalities based on skin colour regardless of citizenship or talent continues to blight the lives of millions of black people.