News

With the final selections being undertaken by the political parties OBV has been made aware of at least four new BME Candidates who could find their way to being Members of Parliament after June 8th.

Last night, the Conservatives selected Kemi Badenoch to fight one of safest Conservatives seats in the country - Saffron Walden - which marks a meteoric rise for Kemi, who recently became an London Assembly member. The Conservatives will also see this as a statement of intent, throwing down the gauntlet to the Labour party on race and diversity.

Today’s tweet by Katie Hopkins promoting hate-filled stereotypes against black people shames her. She should be prosecuted for incitement to racial hatred and sacked by her media employers. If there is no action then we call on the public and advertising companies to boycott media who offer her a platform.

Last week Shakira Martin made British history when she become the first female NUS leader from a Caribbean background.

This year’s annual National Union of Students national conference has elected 29-year-old single mother as president.

Martin won some 56% of the 1,200 delegates at the NUS. The new president pushed the standing president into second place winning by 402 votes to 272.

The name ‘Colston’ is synonymous with Bristol. There is a Colston Street, a Colston Tower, and a Colston’s girls’ school, all named after Edward Colston, the 17th century slave trader. Colston gave huge amounts of money to Bristol, helping to build the city into what it is today. However, his role as a prominent slave trader has been a source of contention amongst citizens in Bristol, many of whom have called for every trace of Colston to be wiped from the city.

Though many of us agreed with Brenda from Bristol about this general election (“You’re joking. Not another one”), it actually offers a great opportunity for change – regardless of which party wins.

That’s because now the snap election has been called, the normal rules for selecting party candidates no longer apply. Under these rules, constituency parties select a long list of candidates, then a short list; then local party members vote for their preferred candidate.

What workplace, in particular a senior workforce, does not understand that putting a monkey doll on the only Black worker’s desk to indicate that she should make tea for her colleagues is racist?

Well, a specially convened panel for Thames Valley police didn’t think so.

A Thames Valley disciplinary panel concluded that a counter-terrorism officer was not being racist when he put a monkey toy on a black colleague's desk.

Little is known in this country of James Reese Europe who died almost 100 years ago. Yet the world would be significantly different without his contribution to modern music, for it is fair to say he ensured that African American music was taken seriously as an art form specific to the experiences of Black Americans, a huge achievement at the height of the Jim Crow discrimination in the US. And without the influence of jazz, the blues and soul, modern music would have far less energy and rhythmic complexity.

The wave of racism, xenophobia and Islamaphobia post-Brexit shocked many of us. We warned against the toxic electioneering from the likes of Nigel Farage and many others. Their poisoned rhetoric in many ways legitimised the outpouring of racial hatred that took the shape of physical attacks, graffiti, insults, and in the most shocking case, the murder of a Polish national.

There is disbelief in the football world today on the news that the Tottenham Hotspur under-23 coach Ugo Ehiogo has passed away after a suffering a heart attack at the club’s training ground yesterday.

Ehiogo was an ostensibly fit 44-year-old who after a career in top flight football in including Aston Villa and England was successfully embarking on a coaching career.

McDermott said:

This week, Theresa May called a general election, three years earlier than scheduled.  The election will take place on 8th June, and the results will ultimately decide who runs the country. 

Every British citizen aged 18 or over is eligible to vote and the BME vote has never been more important.  If you are eligible to vote and have not yet registered, you must do so by 22nd May.  Visit https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote to register.