‘Things don’t happen I want to help create city that is free from
Two years on from the worldwide Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, what has actually changed in Leicester? Sali Shobowale gets the lowdown from assistant city mayor Sue Hunter
THIS month marked two years since thousands of Leicester people marched to vent their anger and anguish at the murder in the US of George Floyd. Last week, a number of organisers and participants spoke to the Mercury to express, in most cases, their disappointment at the lack of any meaningful long-term change.
Many said that while they felt the Black Lives Matter movement did raise awareness, it did not have a lasting impact on the black community in Leicester.
One person doing her best to change that is Councillor Sue Hunter, Leicester’s assistant city mayor for tackling racism and disadvantage.
She spoke about the work the council is doing to create a community which is “fairer and free from racial discrimination”.
“Racial discrimination exists somewhere in the system – and we plan to remove that and we plan to remove or restrict its impact on the lives of our citizens,” said Coun Hunter.
“Leicester City Council is one of the only councils in the country to have an appointed person designated to handling racial inequality and discrimination.
“In Leicester, we want to do things differently.
“There are a lot of us (people of colour) up there in high places who don’t have to scream, shout and fight. We can now stand up in Parliament and fight for change.
“So at the council we want to take a long-term view to dismantle the outdated policies, systems and processes that can often contribute to racial disparities.
“That means involving communities most impacted by racial discrimination in our planning, delivering and scrutinising of our work.”
LEADERS HELD TO ACCOUNT
Coun Hunter said the council has set up processes to ensure that it can become better at understanding issues of concern to disadvantaged communities.
She said: “We have formed task groups; one that is made up of community champions and another within the council that is of all the senior management team – the ones who make all the important decisions.
“They are held accountable by the external community task group about what they’re going to do and how do it.
“We have also established task groups within service areas such as housing and social care, so black employees have a safe space to discuss what’s they like and don’t like.”
Coun Hunter said she fought for a race and equality specialist to work alongside her in the effort to reduce and, one day, eradicate racism in Leicester.
She said: “For me, being the politician for race, discrimination and diversity, it is about getting our house in order.
“If we don’t get the council in order from the inside – an authority that employs many and that our citizens rely on – then we will never be able to serve the black community correctly and with fairness.
“I know that people expected me to write a lovely, glowing report about the direction of things, but I want to be proactive with the changes I want to happen.
“And these changes aren’t going to happen overnight.
“We have to evidence the work we’ve done so far and what we plan to do in the future.
“In the past 12 months, the race equality specialist and I have analysed data and the intelligence necessary to reach all communities. We have analysed our workforce data to identify areas of improvement.
“Our task groups have and will continue to respond to such evidence, to assist us with driving the agenda forward and we are holding regular race issue meetings both internally and externally.”
DRAWING ON EINSTEIN’S WORDS
Each meeting is broken down into service areas, such as children’s services, education and adult social care, ensuring that there is a constant back and forth dialogue, she said.
The council has also worked closely with local groups such as Kainé Management and Serendipity to organise community events.
Coun Hunter said she pays regular visits to the African Caribbean Centre to stay in the loop of what is going on in Leicester’s black community, and she vowed to support whichever organisation takes over the running of the centre in the future.
She said: “Pockets of the black community are dispersed across the city, whereas back in the day a majority lived in Highfields.
“While the African Caribbean Centre is good, it only covers one area of the black community.
“So a legacy, for me, would be for the black community to have social spaces
to meet in each and every single area of Leicester.
“As Einstein said, the best way to approach a problem is like riding a bicycle, you need to keep cycling and keep the balance.
“That’s what we are doing and what we will continue to do, with help from our communities to create a fair, inclusive, free-from-discrimination Leicester.”
‘WE ALL HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY’
Lord Mayor George Cole added his views on the matter.
Coun Cole, who became the first black African-Caribbean to hold the ceremonial role in Leicester when he was sworn in two months ago, said: “The BLM protest two years ago was an expression, by Leicester residents and others, of their total revulsion and rejection of the racism experienced by George Floyd Jr on May 25, 2020.”
Floyd was an African-American man who was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis during a forceful arrest.
His dying words, “I can’t breathe,” became a rallying cry for protests across the USA and the world.
Coun Cole said: “Two years on, while we have not brought racism to an end in the city, ongoing work has been taking place within the council to address racism, including the appointment of an assistant city mayor with the sole responsibility to put in place policies and structures that are aimed at rooting out all forms of racism.
“But this is not just about the city council. All communities have a role to play if we are going to eradicate racism from our society.
“To that end the African heritage community has formed the African Heritage Alliance.
“The main aim of this organisation is to work with other like-minded partners, including the council, to address the inequalities caused by racism experienced by the African heritage community and others.
“If collectively we are to achieve our ultimate goal of removing racism from our society, people of all races need to work together at all levels of society and in all of our structures upon which our society depends, to achieve equality, equity and justice for all, and by so doing create a society where racial differences are respected and celebrated.”
MAYOR’S FULL SUPPORT
City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby is also fully behind the project.
He said: “This is something we take very seriously, and we are one of only a few councils to appoint an assistant city mayor specifically to look at these issues and drive forward the agenda for change.
“I am particularly pleased that we have recently agreed to offer local groups the chance to take over the running of Leicester’s African Caribbean Centre, with the aim of significantly expanding community services and strengthening the ongoing connection of the African and Caribbean community with the
building.”