TREC at The Victoria Park Peace Walk Leicester June 8

TREC was present at the recent vigil at Victoria Park. Those present took a knee for 8mins 46 seconds in remembrance of Floyd and for all BAME people who have been unjustly killed at the hands of police brutality. At the event TREC gave a statement.

Derek Chauvin should be charged with 1st degree murder and manslaughter, and, J Alexander Kueng, Thomas Lane and Tou Thao should be charged with aiding and abetting murder. Kneeling on someone’s neck who is handcuffed for nearly nine minutes and ignoring the plea ‘I can’t breathe’, signals intent.

For those individuals arguing the situation in the UK is better than what is being experienced in the USA – the question is: better than what? As humans we should not be in a league table of devastating, terrible, worst, and better.  Where is the best - where is just good?

Let us get this into perspective.  Racism is not a black person’s problem.  Black people are struggling, suffering, and dying because of racism.  There is a distinct difference in where you locate black people in this debate. Wrong location leads to wrong outcomes arguably, sometimes intentionally.

For those who have been carrying placards over the last weeks stating, ‘I stand beside you’ and other similar messages, let us be clear, there are times when you need to be in front.  In front loudly ‘calling out’ the problem.

Even when it means those perpetuating the problem (your friends, your neighbours, your colleagues, your seniors) will be dealt with appropriately – be that through disciplinary and/or court actions.

It is only when individuals are tackled the way you would tackle black people for actions and crimes (sometimes falsely) can we visibly accept the words of ‘I stand beside you’.

TREC’s independent reporting programme (which has been interrupted due to the Covid19 lockdown) will be resurrected immediately upon our return to work and this is clearly needed. 

There are now choices to be made: a) wait for the next reason to protest and do so, or b) engage in collective activities/actions which are determined to bring about the much-needed change.   Actually you can do both!!!