Black Lives Matter event in Bridport

CALL-OUT FROM BRIDPORT

Thousands of people have demonstrated across Dorset in support of Black Lives Matter. Please support Saturday’s event in Bridport:

SATURDAY 13 JUNE, 12 noon, assemble at Mountfield, Millennium Gardens, Bridport. Access from Downes Street, off East Street (car park nearby).

Please bring placards, banners – and your voices.

Please take care with social distancing: wear facemasks.

ACTION NEEDED

Stand Up To Racism Dorset is sending a message to Dorset Council and to our members of parliament. It calls for action on police use of Stop and Search, on education about Black lives and experiences, and on intervention in Parliament. Here it is:

1.Racism and the police

Black people are 31 times more likely to be held by police under Stop and Search in Dorset than white people – the highest rate of stop and search of an ethnic group of any police force in the country (Dorset Echo, 10 June 2020). Stand Up To Racism calls on Dorset Council to intervene directly to hold Dorset Police to account and to insist on a change in policy and practice.

2. Education – Black History

Effective opposition to racism starts with education. Stand Up to Racism Dorset asks Dorset Council, our local colleges and academy trusts to collaborate in a county-wide initiative to contest racism among young people.

Black History Month is part of the curriculum for many schools and colleges across the UK – but not in Dorset, where our children rarely learn about Black experiences past and present. Stand Up to Racism Dorset asks Dorset Council, local colleges and academy trusts to make Black History Month part of the learning experience for all children and students, and to explore means of introducing Black History more widely across the school curriculum.

3. Our MPs

Stand Up To Racism Dorset calls on Members of Parliament in Dorset to act as champions for equality in our communities. We ask them to declare against racism and police violence against Black and Ethnic Minority citizens.

We ask them to support Early Day Motion 525, calling for the House of Commons to support the Black Lives Matter campaign, and EDM 520 calling for immediate suspension of sales of teargas, riot shields and rubber bullets from the UK to the United States.

MEETINGS

SUTR Dorset distributes information on meetings, demonstrations and other events that contest racism and promote change. If your community organisation, trade union, party or faith group is calling an event please let us know.

Meeting of Dorset Socialists: “Racism, Revolt, Revolution” – Thursday, 18 June, 6.30pm. Zoom at:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3496621815?pwd=RVdVQ0liVTQyRkUyN2U4MlF6aGdrUT09