On 9th July 2016, just two weeks after the Brexit referendum we called a meeting to think about how we, as people of colour together with other people concerned about tackling racism, should respond, address and move forward in what has been the most hostile and racially charged Britain since the post Enoch Powell’s 1970’s. It was attended by over 400 people, and there was a overall sense that we need to build post Brexit unity, ‘Communities of Resistance’ which is able to respond and tackle the prevalence of racism locally. You can listen to the speeches from the conference below.

 

Martha Osamor

They drag me out of retirement to come and do things I thought had finished… they are dragging things back … we sense of togetherness and unity because this time if we are not careful there might be nothing left for us..

 

Gus John

..this country has failed abysmally to own up to the fact that it should take up responsibly for the legacy of the empire and what that has done to the DNA of this society ..

 

Stafford Scott

..the signs would now be saying, ‘no Blacks, no Polish, no Romanians, if it wasn’t for our struggle….. its our role and our responsibility to show leadership now and show that what we went through, is what they are going through…. we need to build communities of resistance ..to ensure that the 1970’s don’t become reality once more..

 

Patricia Lamour

… Britain is basically is supremacist society..its still dreams of becoming great again..

 

 

 

Karima Shah

.. hate crime is a state crime, enacted on the innocent, systematically instigated, it is not imaged by minority citizens .. it is intrinsically woven into the governance…

 

 

 

Zita Holbourne

.. the Brexit campaign was toxic, racist and xenophobic ..

 

Esther Stanford -Xosei

..for those of us struggling around black lives matter.. black lives will not matter until Africa matters..

 

 

 

 

Liz Fekete

..this racism did not start on June 23rd…..this racism comes from the immigration debate over the past decade …

Terena Bennett

…none of the changes we want to see can happen without deep partnership and collective efforts..

Peter Herbert

… for white people go out into your communities and educate them.. let the Unions and Labour party do that..

 

Akala

… when we deal with race we know working class people were brutalised for thousands of years before we got here, we are aware of it, they need to be reminded of this..

 

Suresh Grover

..let’s not sperate racial violence from state racism.. its impossible to separate the two..