Hackney Council takes stand with Black Lives Matter Motion

Hackney Council have taken important steps to address racial inequalities within the borough by passing a motion outlining how it hopes to 'tackle racism'.

The council confirmed that the motion was proposed by Cllr Sade Etti and seconded by Cllr Susan Fajana-Thomas. The motion states Hackney’s track record of dealing with fighting for racial equality and highlights the recent creation of its Inclusive Leadership Training to improve diversity in the workplace as but one example of this. Among the others which are listed are its review of public spaces that glorify historic figures linked to the Transatlantic slave trade, it’s 10 year long initiative ‘The Young Black Men programme’ aimed at improving outcomes for young black man and the council’s campaign against the injustices faced by the Windrush generation.

The motion states that Hackney Council resolves to:

• Publish its anti-racism programme of work from across council service in one publicly available report, and ask it’s partners and anchor institutions to pledge their commitment to anti-racism in the borough.
• Further strengthen the partnership between the Council and youth representatives to hold the local Police to account such as the Youth IAG (Account), work with them to take forward the recommendations of the Hackney Young Futures Commission and campaign for policing by consent.
• Provide guidance and tools to Hackney’s schools to create a diverse and anti-racist curriculumn that educates children and young people on Britain’s role in upholding sytemic racism, and our borough’s local diverse history.
• Better reflect Hackney’s diversity and anti-racist history in the borough’s public realm.
• Improve the diversity of the senior leadership of the Council, building on the Inclusive Leadership Training, and maintain the ‘excellent’ rating in future Local Government Equality Framework peer challenges and work with partners to improve diversity across the public sector.
• Lobby for an independent inquiry into the Government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and whether their actions helped or hindered the protection of Hackney’s Black communities.
• Engage with any future Government commission on racism in the UK, but also resolve to lobby the Government to implement outstanding recommendations in: the Lammy Review (2017), the Dame Angiolini Report (2017), the Windrush Lessons Learned Review (2018), the McGregor-Smith Review (2017) and the Macpherson report (1999).
• Acknowledge the UN resolution 68/237 International Decade for People of African Descent, implement initiatives and activities to raise awareness, educate on the history of people of African descent, and promote their contributions to contemporary societies.

Hackney is a borough which is known for its ethnic diversity. The most recent census recording the ethnic makeup of the borough showed the Black/British population to be standing at 23.1%, Asian/British at 10.5%, mixed ethnic groups at 6.4% and other ethnic groups at 5.3%.

Though many will argue it should never have come to this, recent events will see the spotlight fall on other councils and governing bodies to ensure that they too are taking the necessary steps to combat racial inequality.

Mayowa Ayodele

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A call to action...

For 24 years OBV have fought to ensure black and minority ethnic participation and representation in civic society. Efforts in continuing to do so though, relies on your help. That way we can continue this fight for greater race equality. What would give us a tremendous boost is if today, you made that small donation yourselves, but even more importantly if you encouraged others to do likewise.