‘This is a generational moment’: civil rights group for black Britons launches

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A national civil rights group to advance justice and equity for black people in Britain has been created by some of the country’s most influential black figures.

The first of its kind, the Black Equity Organisation (BEO) aims to dismantle systemic racism nearly two years after George Floyd was choked to death by a US police officer in 2020. The killing spurred large protests around the world – including in the UK, where the statue of the slave trader Edward Colston was toppled into Bristol harbour.

“This is a generational moment; history will view us harshly if we don’t do something,” the actor, director, playwright and BEO board trustee Kwame Kwei-Armah told the Guardian.

“It is not about just that moment – as a community, we have experienced the Windrush scandal, the Grenfell Tower tragedy and the more recent distressing Child Q incident. Our launch and existence is focused on creating the change that will ensure these stop happening.”

The group aims to focus on economic empowerment, bettering education and health outcomes, combating racial discrimination and improving representation across society, as well as ensuring housing access and opportunities for black Britons across the country.

The board of trustees includes the historian David Olusoga, the shadow foreign secretary and Labour MP David Lammy, and Dame Vivian Hunt, a senior partner at McKinsey, among others, who will work in partnership with existing community and grassroots organisations to advance equity for black Britons on a larger scale.

As Floyd’s murder became a catalyst for anti-racism protests across the UK, Lammy convened with Hunt and others in July 2020. The group felt there wasn’t a national organisation to provide evidence of the state of black Britain, and to respond to the issues.

“We don’t want to be apologetic about using the language of institutional systemic barriers facing black Britons, because the data tells its own story,” Hunt said.

The Guardian has previously reported that 95% of pupils of black and mixed ethnicity have witnessed racist language at school, almost half of whom said they believed racism to be the largest barrier to academic achievement. Hunt, a mother of two black sons, knew they are likely to be stopped and searched by police nine times more than white people.

“We have to ensure a positive substantive experience and lived experience for every child in the UK to reach their full potential,” she said. “It’s going to take multiple years to actually make progress. But if we don’t have a more systemic approach, we won’t see progress.”

Hunt said the BEO’s approach to tackling systemic racism in all aspects of society would be evidence-based. The organisation has conducted its own research and has received backing from the likes of Sky, the communications firm WPP, some of the country’s foremost law firms, and the charitable foundation Lankelly Chase.

“I’ve seen the highs and the lows of the black experience in Britain,” Hunt later said. “And so my faith is with the British people, that they have a huge sense of fairness and equity, intrinsic in everything we stand for and our values.

“What black families want for their children is what all families want for their children.”