Firstly, I’d like to thank everyone for the overwhelmingly positive response to Friday’s video on Black Lives Matter. It’s been brilliant to see that so many people within the student community care and want to fight injustice! I hope you’ll continue to stand with us this year, as we fight not just for your education and university experience, but for what’s right in the community, in the country and around the world. It’s a fight that we will always win. History demonstrates that, in the end, good morals, positive values and love for one another will always defeat the darkness of hatred and the despair of inequality. So, make the choice now to be on the right side of history!
I also want to take this opportunity to address some of your comments on our video. It was brilliant to see the debate surrounding this issue and I think it gave a great opportunity for everyone to learn more about why Black Lives Matter is so important. I want to pull out a key issue from the comment section that I feel needs highlighting: the fact that Black people in the UK are arrested at three times the rate of white people. Whilst a problem in its own right, this statistic is just a symptom of a much bigger problem. Many may say that this alone proves that we face discrimination in the UK. However, others believe that this is because black people are simply “more criminal”.
This belief in its self doesn’t make you a bad person – it comes from an implicit bias that we’re taught from a young age, a bias that even exists with the black community. When you’re constantly told that black people are more aggressive, more violent and something to be afraid of – a message that appears everywhere: from music to popular TV to sport – then I can’t blame you for believing the messaging. However, when this message is also believed by people within our police force and our justice system, it results in Black people being stopped and searched at a higher rate, investigated more often, prosecuted more intensely and jailed more frequently.
However, this goes beyond just our criminal justice system. We live in a world where you’re less likely to get a job interview if you have a black sounding name. Where you’re more likely to be branded as lazy if you’re unemployed and black. Where you’re more likely to be marked down in the classroom and considered “unteachable” if you’re black. Black Lives Matter is about so much more than police shootings – it’s about justice in everyday life. Whilst we may be “fortunate” enough to live in a country where police shootings are rare, we still have lots to fight for.
I believe in the potential of our country. Ihis is a place where I, a black male, can be given the opportunity to represent thousands of students at one on the country’s most prestigious academic institutions. However, there is a lot left to fight for and we must continue to fight together!
Hulk Out!
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Black Lives Matter Video Transcript:
‘I’m Brandon, your Representation and Resources Officer at the Guild. As some of you may know, today has been a day of protest for the Black Lives Matter movement. Around the country, members of the movement are engaging in civil disobedience and disrupting airports and roads. 5 years ago, Mark Duggan was shot dead by the police. And in his memory we must continue to fight injustice wherever we see it and we must support those who fight for justice around us. This battle is about far more than race; we must stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of all races and fight for a society that is fair and equal for all. We have to understand that unity is strength and an attack on any one of our freedoms is an attack on the freedom of us all. Today’s protests by Black Lives Matter are about more than just the death of Mark Duggan. They are about fighting the injustices within our community wherever we may find them - whether that is policy such as Prevent or Stop and Search or the mistreatment of any communities within our nation. It is up to us to fight it together in unity. So today I stand with and support Black Lives Matter in the fight for peace, justice and equality for all!’