Johnson: Britain must do better on racism
Prime Minister admits that Britain cannot ignore the depth of feeling caused by George Floyd’s death in US
Boris Johnson has said Britain must do better as a society to tackle racism, as he acknowledged the “undeniable feeling of injustice” among black and minority ethnic groups. The Prime Minister said the Government cannot “ignore the emotion” triggered by the death of George Floyd, with protests sweeping across Britain. Writing for
The Voice newspaper, Mr Johnson said: “The death of George Floyd took place thousands of miles away and yet we cannot ignore the depth of emotion.”
BORIS JOHNSON has said Britain must do better as a society to tackle racism, as he acknowledged the “undeniable feeling of injustice” among black and minority ethnic groups.
The Prime Minister said the Government cannot “ignore the depth of emotion” triggered by the death of George Floyd and said society “must do better”.
But he also warned against violence and destruction, after police officers were attacked and the statue of slave trader Edward Colston torn down in Bristol during Black Lives Matter protests. Mr Johnson said he “will not support or indulge those who break the law, or attack the police, or desecrate public monuments”.
Protests have swept across Britain after a policeman knelt on Mr Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes while he was being arrested in Minneapolis.
Writing for The Voice newspaper, Mr Johnson said: “The death of George Floyd took place thousands of miles away – in another country, under another jurisdiction – and yet we simply cannot ignore the depth of emotion that has been triggered by that spectacle, of a black man losing his life at the hands of the police. In this country and around the world his dying words – I can’t breathe – have awakened an anger and a widespread and incontrovertible, undeniable feeling of injustice, a feeling that people from black and minority ethnic groups do face discrimination: in education, in employment, in the application of the criminal law.”
While he said he was “proud” to lead “the most ethnically diverse government in the history of this country”, the Prime Minister acknowledged that more work needs to be done to stamp out racism. However, he urged protesters against breaking social distancing rules or face the coronavirus pandemic becoming “out of control”.
He said: “It is BAME [black, Asian and minority ethnic] communities who have been at the forefront of the struggle against coronavirus – whether in healthcare or transport or social care or any of the other essential services that have kept our country going.
“And it is BAME communities, tragically, that have paid a disproportionate price. So no, I will not support those who flout the rules on social distancing, for the obvious reason that we risk a new infection at a critical time and just as we have made huge progress.”
The Prime Minister’s intervention came after Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, spoke of her experience of racism.
Ms Patel, the daughter of Ugandan Indian immigrants, rejected suggestions from a Labour MP that the Government did not understand racism, describing how she had “regularly been called a p--- in the playground”, had been racially abused in the street and had been told to drop her surname in order to advance her career.
Ms Patel also made clear that she expects criminal charges to be brought against those responsible for felling the statue in a conversation with the chief constable of Avon and Somerset Police yesterday, according to The Times.
Last night, Avon and Somerset Police said it had gathered a “large amount of video footage”.
Sadiq Khan, London’s Mayor, said many Bristol residents will be relieved by the removal of the statue. He told LBC: “They’ve been complaining about the statues of Colston for decades now”.
Mr Khan noted that in London “there are statues of slavers as well”. He said towns and cities should start to build “statues and squares and street names not named after slavers, but people that reflect the diverse nature of our cities”.