October has been adopted as Black History Month (BHM) and will loudly and proudly celebrate and reflect upon the important history of so many, known by so few.
Arguably, Black History Month 2020 is one of the most important in recent memory given the global traction of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement which has risen to prominence after the barbaric killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by police in the US on 25th May 2020which sparked widespread outrage.
BLM protests has led to protests in many major cities, including my birthplace, Bristol, which is a city steeped in a fascinating, yet deeply troubling history of slavery.
One of its most notorious slavers, Edward Colston, was unceremoniously thrust into the limelight when his statue was toppled by BLM protestors on 7th June. As a proud BAME Bristolian with a keen interest in history, I immediately realised that protestors removing the statue that was widely viewed by the community with pain, anguish and disdain was a hugely significant historical moment in itself that soon had significant ramifications throughout the country and indeed the world with statues and their bloody links coming under unprecedented scrutiny.
The pointed debate surrounding the place of historical statues and how they should be remembered is fraught with difficulties. Personally, my view is that statues should have accurate plinths that objectively reflect the good as well as the bad that people brought to a place or nation. Colston, for example, has a well documented philanthropic legacy. Yet, his bloody legacy also should reflect the human cost of the cruel demise of 72,000 black men, women and children, that his then legal slaving business was responsible for the demise of.
Slavery was the orchestrated, industrialised assault upon black civilisation and culture from the likes of Edward Colston. Once slavery was outlawed by pressure bought by brave heroes such as William Wilberforce, a system often overtly angled against BAME communities evolved which step by step, we are analysing, challenging seeking and seeking to find solutions together.
The community is empowering itself with knowledge on issues such as Stop and Search that have dominated community discourse over the generations and blighted relations with police and indeed, the establishment. Now, for example, individuals can protect themselves using the Legal Lifelines Stop & Search App that acts as a digital witness to stop and search and connects the user to elite advice live and direct to anyone being arrested.
Stop and search massively disproportionately affects BAME individuals today. It affected our parents and their parents too. Only history will tell whether the community embraces this App which provides the support needed to prevent historical racial profiling.
We are living and adjusting to a ‘new normal’, not just with the Covid-19 pandemic which continues to cause well documented global strife, which, ironically has ravaged the BAME communities disproportionally. We are also witnessing a collective push by the BAME communities for a new normal.
The acknowledgment? That our Black Lives Matter!
Michael Herford is a Criminal Lawyer and Founder of the Legal Lifelines App and knowledge hub: www.legallifelines.co.uk