For progress
equally for people from all ethnicities, and to help to build a Scotland in which we all share a common sense of purpose and belonging.”
While acknowledging racial inequality in all walks of life, Ms Mckelvie vowed to help change that. She said: “The inequality that black and other minority ethnic people continue to experience, whether it be health related, hate crime related, economic or societal, continues to be unacceptable and is a fundamental result of the failure to realise the human rights of everyone in Scotland.
“It can and it must change. I am committed to doing everything that I can to help change it, and I am sure that the whole Parliament can unite behind that ambition.”
Clare Adamson, Motherwell and Wishaw MSP, also spoke at the meeting. She said: “The international outcry and protest following George Floyd’s murder at the hands of the police – those who should have been his protectors – reminds me and everyone in the chamber that our privilege is at the expense of the rights and opportunities denied to others, because we live in an unequal and unfair society.”
She added: “We have to take our message on racism into every community and every school, and whichever approach we adopt must be accessible throughout Scotland and to everyone. We are now in the 21st century and this is the age of the internet of things. Let us not simply remove plaques but replace them with interactive information and signposting to the history of our streets. Let us develop maps that tell the stories and the history. Let us move forward and take the right action, so that we can truly say that we have listened and that black lives matter.”
Minority ethnic communities were also reassured that the issue of the impact the pandemic is having on them is being taken very seriously and steps are being taken to address that including work to improve the understanding the virus has on minority ethnic groups.