Crispin Blunt Statement on Black Lives Matter - 12 June 2020
I totally understand the anger and grief that is felt not just in America but here in the UK in response to the killing of George Floyd. I also support the right to protest lawfully and in accordance with the current rules on social distancing.
While, in the wake of this killing, racial divisions in the US are plain to see, it is also incumbent on us to use this moment to reflect on how BAME people are treated here in the UK. Racism is abhorrent. It has no place in our communities and we all have a part to play in tackling it. The national treasure within the diversity across our country should be something to be celebrated.
I have been heartened by the solidarity shown in the UK, whether that be by colleagues in the Parliamentary community, the lighting purple of buildings, or people from many walks of life ‘taking a knee’. I have also been struck by the number of British people of all backgrounds and ethnicity wanting to demonstrate their support for the simple truth, Black Lives Matter. But the strength of feeling in the UK in the wake of George Floyd’s killing serves as a salutary reminder that work remains to be done here in the UK.
There are good national and local initiatives out there with great people involved in them. There are also well-established mechanisms in place in Whitehall and the police to address racially motivated discrimination, improve policing and stamp out racist bullying in schools, some of these flowing from a Hate Crime Action Plan (which you can read more about here:
www.gov.uk/government/publications/hate-crime-action-plan-2016). At this time, we must not only draw on these resources but also examine whether they are sufficient.
However, with the perspective of someone born in 1960 and living through the accompanying radical positive change in British society’s attitude to minorities of all types, we should recognise how much progress we have made on this issue and that nations’ glass on delivering equality if not full is certainly far from empty. I noted the words of my colleague, Kemi Badenoch’s (Minister for Equalities) leading the response for the Government in the House of Commons where she expressed that we should not: “use statements like 'being black is a death sentence', which young people out there hear, don't understand the context and then continue to believe that they live in a society that is against them when actually this is one of the best countries in the world to be a black person.”
Finally, there have also been some questions raised about the teaching of Black History in schools. Whilst it is reassuring to see that both the AQA and Pearson/Edexcel boards offer GCSE history modules about Civil rights and the struggle for equality in the USA throughout the 20th Century, and GCSE English Literature, compulsory for all students, now covering these topics to some extent through the Anthologies, there will always be more work to be done. This includes better understanding our history from all perspectives, not least the Slave Trade and its eventual abolition. But modern slavery exists, so our pursuit of a better society can never cease. We should take pride in Britain’s great civilising achievements and huge sacrifices in the successful defence of liberal democracy. If however, we’ve not understood that the Opium Wars, to take just one example, are understood and taught in China in a way that understandably does not reflect vast credit on British policy then, we’ve missed the proper sense of perspective and balance that should surround our understanding of our history.
I am collating all the views communicated to me through the current BLM campaign and the original points put by individual constituents reflecting their own experience for my colleagues in government and my own improved understanding.
That today the racism experienced by those in the BAME community is utterly unacceptable and an aggravating factor in sentencing for crimes in progress. That advance will continue to receive my support to defeat cruel intolerance of all kinds.