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In an emotional outpouring live on BBC radio, veteran presenter Dotun Adebeyo spoke about how he was profoundly disillusioned with the lack of African unity within the BBC, in the wake of Black presenters being paid less than their white colleagues.

Image by Tim Sanders

The announcement by the Independent Police Complaints Commission (IPCC) that 20 year old Rashan Charles, who died after being arrested by a Metropolitan police officer in Dalston, Hackney, did not swallow illegal substances will come as a shock to many.

The rationale for the arrest and use of a neck hold restraint, as explained by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), was suspicion of possession of drugs and that Mr Charles had swallowed illegal substances.

In a powerful essay written in Fortune Magazine in honor of Black Women's Equal Pay Day in the US, Serena Williams, the 23-time grand slam winner, called attention to the massive pay gap Black women in the US and around the world face.

In the US, Black women make 63 cents for every dollar a white man makes, but only 44% of white men even recognize that there is an issue.

In the UK, Black African women experience the largest full-time gender pay gap with white men at 19.6%, and have seen virtually no progress in closing that gap since the 1990s.

I came back from an annual break to hear the very sad news that a good friend and remarkable Civil Rights activist, Ratna Lachman, passed away just over a week ago.

Ratna had been ill for a couple of years with cancer, but we all thought that after much treatment she was over the worst. For some time after the diagnosed illness she was doing what she’d always done best; fighting social and racial justice with a passion.

There were from time to time gasps, cries and exclamations coming from the public, the family and the jury as we sat through Sarah Reed’s inquest at the City Of London coroner’s court, which ended last week.

Sarah died on 11 January 2016 while on remand at Holloway women’s prison, London. She was on the medical wing of the prison and was reportedly found, at around 8am, lying on her prison bed. The crown asserted, and the jury agreed, that Sarah had killed herself through “self-strangulation”.

Statement by the NGO INQUEST

The jury at the inquest of Sarah Reed, 32 have concluded unacceptable delays in psychiatric assessment and failures in care contributed to her death. She was found dead with a ligature round her neck on 11 January 2016, while a prisoner at HMP Holloway. She was on remand for over three months solely for the purpose of obtaining two psychiatric reports to confirm whether she was fit to plead, for an alleged offence which took place whilst she was a sectioned inpatient at a mental health unit

Amongst the  25 of the BBC’s top paid presenters/actors, there isn’t a Black and minority ethnic - BME - face in sight. You have scroll down to number 26 to find the veteran newscaster, George Alagiah.

There are other BME presenters further down the BBC food chain, including radio presenters Trevor Nelson, and Mishal Hussain, but it would seem the bulk of BME Presenters are in the very lowest of the highest pay bracket, including actor Hugh Quarshie, and presenters Moira Stuart, Kamal Ahmed and John Pienar.

There’s a new kid on the fashion block and critics say he’s about to shake up the fashion world with insight, pizzazz and a relevance that brings the industry into the 21st century.

Edward Enninful is a Ghanian born stylist who has lived here in the UK since he was six. He first burst on to the scene as a young model, then at the age of 18 as the youngest ever editor of the youth culture magazine I-D. I-D founder Terry Jones saw something special in this young man and duly gave him the reigns.

It is sometimes difficult to find things to celebrate when there are a lot of negative events going on: the four terror attacks - Westminster, London Bridge, Manchester, and Finsbury Park, - the awful tragedy of Grenfell Tower, and the continuing rise of xenophobia as we march towards the EU exit.

But as OBV reaches its 21st birthday-16th July 1997- and is still trying to make an impact to confront and challenge racism through civic and political participation I think it’s right that we duly celebrate this historic milestone.