BLM Community Conference, February 2022

Why Black Lives Matter and why it is relevant to North Lanarkshire.

Black Lives Matter began with a social media hashtag, #BlackLivesMatter, after the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of Trayvon Martin back in 2012. The movement then gained prominence when the world watched George Floyd being murdered by a policeman over 9 minutes.

Sir Geoff told the conference about his own background. Born in Jamaica, a descendent of slaves, he came to England as a teenager - a member of the Windrush generation – and because he is Black was considered educationally subnormal. He was fortunate that he was given support by individuals.

A headteacher at school took him under his wing and this got him into a grammar school and then a Professor at a University (where he got his first job) supported him to get to university.

“if people don’t have individuals in their lives to support them then the system must step in”

“A diverse society requires a diverse management if it is to be fair and efficient”

He then went on to talk about slavery and how it is important to define what kind of slavery we are talking about.

He is talking about Chattel Slavery where Black people were owned as property and had no right to life. This was legal.  The history of Black lives was changed, managed and destroyed by people in this country to make money. It was a business and managed by the government and there was resistance to it being abolished

When slavery was abolished, slave owners were compensated for their loss of property and given £20million.

Scotland had a huge part to play in this, 30% of plantations in Jamaica were owned by Scots and today 60% of names in the Jamaica phone directory are Scottish names. David Hume the once celebrated Scottish Philosopher before his death in 1773 said “I am apt to suspect the negroes to be naturally inferior to the whites” and that has stuck.

Although this type of slavery is in the past its consequences are still here in the form of racism and that is what led to the death of George Floyd.  Sir Geoff believes that education is a significant weapon against those consequences.

He is clear that instead of removing statues we should be putting up plaques to tell the truth as people need to and want to know the truth.

When people talk about how white lives matter and how today white people are victims of modern-day slavery, we must understand that that is illegal. Chattel slavery was legal.

Sir Geoff commended North Lanarkshire Council for its stance in supporting Black Lives Matter to ensure that the harm done will not continue as racism.

Bushra began by sending the conference a traditional Islamic greeting.

Bushra has worked in race relations for over 40 years but said that today she was going to speak about her own experience.

Bushra came to Scotland in the 1970s and moved to Coatbridge in the 1980s where she still lives. She set up the Muslim Women and Family Alliance in 1994 as there was nothing in this area for Muslim women and their children. She spoke about the importance for women that their children learn their language and that was a focus for the group in the early days. Now the group has about 200 members and up until the pandemic the group was meeting in Old Monkland Community Centre – all activities are currently on-line.

Bushra went on to talk about her voluntary work with Coatbridge Community Board and how much she values this development. However, she spoke about the Coatbridge area profile that informs some of the forum’s work – data zones, schools, housing, elderly population etc. Under culture there is only mention of 43 different spoken languages in Coatbridge nothing else and Bushra expressed her dissatisfaction with that. She doesn’t think that access to culturally sensitive services has improved since the 1970s. We need strategically planned services for people from different cultures and faith communities.

She hopes that the new generation will ensure justice and fairness for all and hoped the conference will produce positive developments.

TJ spoke first about his own personal experiences of racism whilst feeling that the area is tolerant, he stressed the need to talk more about racism and its impacts. 

Layla spoke about how her school has allowed pupils to have a voice but that form filling for ethnicity questions lacks certain ethnic groups and how that can make people feel like they don’t exist. 

We were then shown a very powerful and thought-provoking video produced by and featuring young people from all over North Lanarkshire with the support of the Community Learning and Development service. 

The video discussed:

• is North Lanarkshire a tolerant place – there were mixed views with all BAME young people who spoke saying they had experienced racism and giving examples. One young person said their experience was worst at primary school;
• why is the Black Lives Matter movement important – some of the views expressed included:
  • highlights the racism that Black people face;
  • young BAME people know they are not alone and are supported; and
  • makes people talk about Black history and raises awareness about local links to the Slave Trade
• hopes for the conference:
  • that the attendees will start a ripple effect across communities of why Black Lives Matter;
  • spark more education and normalise discussion around racism from a young age; and
  • people will talk about the conference and challenge more when they see racism in action.

The last word was given to Mary Ajose who finished by saying.

“Let us all work together to get rid of racism. Let us all work together to make North Lanarkshire a better place to study, a better place to work, a better place to live.

I have a dream we have a dream."