Commenting on NETPOL's report into the policing of this year's BLM
protests, Roger McKenzie - candidate for UNISON General Secretary
said:
"Twenty years ago the MacPherson report said
publicly what Black people knew to be true: policing in Britain
is steeped in institutional racism."
"Today, little has changed. In criminal justice,
in education, in healthcare, and in the workplace, we are still
held back by racism, both explicit and institutional. The Black
Lives Matter movement has forced a global reckoning with the
racism that our political system is steeped in - it is a
grotesque injustice that those protestors were then subject to
racist injustice from our police."
McKenzie is due to hold an online meeting on
Thursday evening with , Liverpool's first black MP on Black Lives Matter and
how and why trade unionists should support the movement. He will
say:
"Britain’s history of, and continuing complicity
in, structural racism is all but censored - that’s why I have said
that Trade Unions need to join the Black Lives matter movement and
help them smash down these racist barriers and injustices."
"I am a trade unionist because I am Black and I am
a proud Black Trade Unionist – as one of few prominent Black
trade unionists, I have made clear I want to take the spirit of
Black Lives Matter into the labour movement to change our country
forever."
"I am running to lead Britain’s biggest public service union in a
time when low-paid and minority workers are bearing the brunt of
a mishandled pandemic, ever since I won my strike against a
racist boss as a teenager I have seen the power that organised
workers have to challenge racism and all injustice"
ENDS
Notes to editors:
(1) Roger McKenzie is currently Assistant-General of UNISON and
commenting as a candidate for General Secretary.
(2) UNISON is the largest trade union in the
UK representing over 1.3million members working in public
services including in health, social-care and local
government.
(3) NETPOL's report's report is named after the
rallying cry of demonstrators, ‘Britain is not innocent’: A
Netpol Report on the policing of Black Lives Matter protests in
Britain’s towns and cities in 2020 is informed by evidence
from over 100 witnesses, including protesters, legal observers,
and arrestee support volunteers. It looks at demonstrations from
late May to August and focuses on events in London and Newcastle.
will be available from 12 November at: netpol.org/black-lives-matter/
