The Stephen Lawrence inquiry would never have happened at all without the determined campaign led by Doreen and Neville Lawrence. But many more black deaths are still ignored by the police and the media.
Since Stephen Lawrence’s death there have been more than 25 racist murders in Britain and many more black deaths in custody. There have been thousands of racist attacks, cases of police harassment and discrimination in every area of black people’s lives.
Some cases have been made a political issue through the existence of community based organisations such as The Monitoring Group (formerly Southall Monitoring Group) and Newham Monitoring Project. Some are now getting welcome coverage in the press after years of deafening silence
Some of the worst racism however has occurred in areas where there are no such organisations and very often only a very small and isolated black community.
A number of community organisations and anti-racist groups have now come together to call for the building of a national civil rights movement. There has long been the need for an organisation that can offer a serious challenge to all levels of racism on a national level.
Many previous organisations have been launched only to become useless talking shops to launch the careers of would-be bureaucrats, or else fronts for one or other organisation. The timing and composition of this conference offers a real opportunity to build something radically different. Let’s sieze this opportunity with both hands.