Action is Needed Now to Tackle Racial Discrimination, Inequalities and Social Injustices.

 
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3rd June 2020 


MEDIA STATEMENT 

Action is Needed Now to Tackle Racial Discrimination, Inequalities and Social Injustices. 


The murder of George Floyd and others at the hands of White supremacists within and outside the American criminal justice system has highlighted the shocking injustices and brutality that Black people face in the US, and around the world. 

Watching events unfold in Minneapolis and other US cities over the last week has left us angry, frustrated, incredibly sad and utterly exhausted. The murder of George Floyd has sparked a deep anger which has simmered since the 1960s civil rights protests; an anger which has spilled over because Black people continue to be dehumanised by the tangled impacts of police brutality, racial discrimination and daily micro-aggressions that are rooted in American history.

Why does it take a horrific death, captured on video, to push us to speak up today when the histories of rampant oppression, slavery and injustice already act as wise teachers? Our global, collective memory should direct us all to build a better human reality today for the generations of tomorrow. 

Here in the UK, a report by Public Health England has confirmed that people from minority communities have been disproportionately affected during Covid-19. They face a higher risk of serious illness and Covid-19-related death rates of BAME people in the most deprived areas of England have been more than double for those living in the least deprived areas. 

But the report fails to outline measures needed to tackle this disproportionality. It also fails to acknowledge the impact that racial discrimination, inequalities and pre-existing health conditions can have on different minority communities. We know from other reports that BAME people in England are 54% more likely to be fined for breaches of coronavirus rules than their white counterparts, while inaction over the death of Belly Mujinga is another glaring example of public indifference to the racial inequalities and injustices that are a lived reality in the UK. Knowing what we do about the experiences of BAME communities in the criminal justice system, in employment, and pretty much every sector in society, we cannot afford to stand by. We cannot be onlookers. 

Systemic change is necessary. Individual change is necessary. Solidarity is necessary. 

NOW.

MWNUK is committed to an equal and just society for all. We stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. 

"I am not free while any woman is unfree, even if her shackles look different from my own." Audre Lorde 


Ends


For further information contact:


Faeeza Vaid MBE (Executive Director of MWNUK)

0121 236 9000/ fvaid@mwnuk.co.uk/ 07535 703567 


Shaista Gohir OBE (Co-Chair of MWNUK)

0121 236 9000 / 07802 225989 / shaista@mwnuk.co.uk 


Nazmin Akthar (Chair of MWNUK)
0121 236 9000 /
board@mwnuk.co.uk  / 07972 542475

Muslim Women'
s Network UK (www.mwnuk.co.uk) is the national leading Muslim women's charity working to improve the social justice and equality for Muslim women and girls

 
 

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