Actor and activist John Boyega was among the thousands of people at the Black Lives Matter protest in Hyde Park on Wednesday 

• ALONG with thousands of others in Islington, I watched the recording of the brutal killing of George Floyd by US police in Minneapolis last week with horror and anger.

It has rightly ignited fury across the world, as well as here in Islington. Local people are feeling upset, hurt, scared and angry about what has happened. I share those feelings of deep sorrow and anger.

On Tuesday Islington Town Hall was lit purple in memory of George Floyd and to show we stand in solidarity with all of those fighting against racial injustice.

But unfortunately this is not an issue confined to the US. Systemic racism and injustice blights our communities here in the UK.

Many people in Islington will have watched the video and felt that they had experienced similar injustices in this country.

We know that young black people are nine times more likely to go to prison than their white counterparts.

We know that people from BAME communities are over four times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people.

Systemic racism isn’t just the injustices BAME people see and hear every day.

Covid-19 has highlighted the deep inequalities that already exist across our society with this week’s report showing BAME people are more likely to be diagnosed with Covid-19 and also, sadly, die.

We need to act now to address this.

I want to reaffirm our commitment to making Islington a fairer place. That means a borough that is safe for black people to live and work in, a borough that provides the best possible start in life so that everyone growing up in Islington can prosper, and a borough where we listen to the concerns of our BAME communities, we learn from them and we act.

In the last few difficult months I have never been prouder to represent our community in Islington where our fantastic, diverse borough has, once again, pulled together in a time of crisis.

It’s that diversity that gives us our strength to always stand united in the face of adversity. We all have lived different experiences.

I, and many in Islington, will not have felt the fear, hurt and experienced abhorrent abuse that our friends, colleagues, neighbours and local people have.

But we can, and we must, as one community stand united against racism and say Black Lives Matter.

CLLR RICHARD WATTS
Leader of Islington Council