Well known for his twenty years at The Guardian and a current position as Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester, journalist, author and broadcaster Gary Younge has led conversations on minority experiences and systematic racism for decades. Those conversations have become all-the-more pertinent since 2020, so Mr Younge is planning new measures to address the issues facing minority communities.
This will take the form of public assemblies in four cities, one of which will be Nottingham. In January, Mr Younge arrived here to meet the local community who inform the substance of that assembly. Here he presents an open letter, explaining what people can expect from the meeting.
The first ten doctors to die of COVID were all non-white. “At face value, it seems hard to see how this can be random,” the head of the British Medical Association, Dr Chaand Nagpaul, said in April 2020. “This has to be addressed – the government must act now.”
The government did not act. But the trend continued for some time, with a disproportionate number of black and brown people succumbing to and dying from the virus over time. This cause wasn’t genetic – if the global pandemic showed us anything it is that it could only travel across the world so freely because we are all human beings – but systemic. Non-white people were more likely to be living in cramped conditions, work in frontline jobs, have poor health to start with and less likely to have recreational space or take time off. The virus does not discriminate on grounds of race. It didn’t need to. Society had done that already.
But while the consequences of this systemic racism were both urgent, widespread and deadly, the space to actually talk about it intelligently felt limited, sensationalist and corrupted. By the time the media got their hands on the subject, public conversation about the impact of racism seemed to have been filtered through whatever Meghan Markle had been through or Suella Braverman was saying, leaving little room for substantial discussion about the issues affecting so many of our lives.
I knew there were better conversations out there we could be having because I had been a part of them in my own community and heard them often, in barber’s shops, family functions and at the school gate. But they were rarely accorded the space or structure. Why wait, I argued in an article for a national newspaper, for the mainstream media to amplify and host the discussions we really need – if that is what we want to do let’s host the discussions ourselves.
With Nottingham’s police force and health trust in special measures and the council bankrupt, the questions of how minority communities organise, who represents their interests and how they might pull together to advance and protect those interests were considered vital questions.
Thanks to a contribution from Esmee Fairbairn and support from the University of Manchester, where I am a professor, that is precisely what we are now doing: holding four meetings across the country where local communities of colour talk about the issues impacting them and how they think they should be addressed. The four venues are Glasgow, Birmingham, The Manchester Area and, yes, Nottingham.
So on March 6 there will be a public assembly in Nottingham. Details of the venue and timing have yet to be confirmed but rest assured we will let you know as soon as we do.
After initial discussions with the New Art Exchange and some local activists, academics, and community organisers – with more such discussions to come – we have settled on the theme of empowerment, unity and representation in a time of crisis. With Nottingham’s police force and health trust in special measures and the council bankrupt, the questions of how minority communities organise, who represents their interests and how they might pull together to advance and protect those interests were considered vital questions.
This won’t be one of those meetings where you are talked at for a whole evening or told from the podium what to do or thing. And while we are facilitating the meeting you won’t be hearing much from us either – it’s a meeting about Nottingham and its priorities and leadership will come from the people of Nottingham.
The aim of the assembly will be to provide a forum for local people to testify about their experiences and chart a path towards some solutions. Hopefully, it might be the start of something. At the pilot meeting we held in Bristol, last year, recommendations went through to the council which held another assembly to follow up. But even if it gave us just one night to speak intelligently on our own terms about the issues most affecting our communities then it would have been worth it.
It will start with food, followed by testimony, break out groups, and a performance from a local artist. We will record it, both in written and video form, so that we can share it when we are done. We will make sure, in one form or other, that everyone gets their say.
So if you’re fed up with not being listened to, shouting at the television about the way you or your community have been misrepresented, or just not finding a forum where you can have your say, join us. We won’t find all the solutions in one night, but with mutual respect and generous engagement we can have an unfiltered conversation about the problems, feel less isolated in our frustration and more united in our resistance.
Please look out for more details. We look forward to seeing you there.
The citizen assembly facilitated by Gary Younge will take place on Thursday 6 March. Details on the venue will be announced.
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