Category Archives: UK

news, UK

QPR players defy racists to take the knee after scoring against Millwall

Well done to the QPR team for standing up to the racist.

But the club itself had previously (in September) put out a statement saying they would not be taking the knee but has now reversed that decision. Looks like there was a rebellion in the ranks. Excellent!

After scoring a goal against Millwall, Ilias Chair (and Bright Osayi-Samuel) celebrated by taking the knee.

As for Millwall FC, well what can we say?

Basically they bottled it on the official side, after a minority of fans booed ‘take the knee’ last weekend. The official response was to get players to stand in a circle holding hands, but many individuals ‘took the knee’ anyway.

Backlash from racist Tories against Take The Knee solidarity protests

There is clearly a backlash coming from the government, the right-wing media, the more backward elements at the top of some football clubs and the, thankfully, much smaller forces of the far right, to try and push back against anti-racism’s successes with the explosion of the Black Lives Matter movement.

They will not succeed. Black and white unite and fight! Solidarity forever!

https://twitter.com/kituno_sport/status/1336397160926023681?s=20
Ilias Chair takes the knee for BLM
Chair takes the knee in solidarity with BLM and the fight for racial equality
news, UK

Tory ministers make apologies for far-right ‘take the knee’ booing

A minority of Millwall FC fans covered themselves in ignominy at the weekend when they booed black and white footballers ‘taking the knee’ to show solidarity with the fight for racial justice.

To its credit Millwall FC has chastised the booing racists among its supporters. The club said it was “dismayed and saddened” by the actions of the racist minority.

Across the country fans were returning to football stadia for the first time since the Covid pandemic began.

Some of the racist thugs associated with the Democratic Football Lads Alliance (DFLA), thought they would try a similar stunt at Spurs but instead supporters applauded the take the knee gesture of the football pros.

Similar take the knee happenings at matches across the country went off without a hitch, which is what makes the Millwall incident all the worse.

However, despite all right thinking people reacting with horror, that wasn’t the reaction of one Tory minister – George Eustice, the minister for the environment.

When asked about the racist incident and asked to condemn it, he failed to do so.

Asked on Sky News what he thought of the incident, he was more concerned with attacking BLM and fomenting ‘culture wars’ than he was with standing up to racism: “Well, look, I didn’t see that event.

“The issue of race and racial discrimination is something that we all take very, very seriously.

“My personal view is that Black Lives Matter, capital B, L and M, is actually a political movement that is different to what most of us believe in which is standing up for racial equality.

“But look, each individual can take their own choices about how they reflect this and I know a lot of people feel quite strongly about taking that approach.”

The government seems intent on doing its best to emulate Trump in whipping up racism.

Eustice’s alignment with the far-right is worrying, as is Priti Patel’s insistence in likening lawyers doing their jobs as “lefty activists”.

Patel even went as far as to say those campaigning to stop the deportation of people who came to this country from Jamaica when they were kids, as being an insult to the Windrush generation, when it is her government that created that scandal in the first place and of which the latest deportation flight to Jamaica is a part.

Take the knee: Tories trying to whip up racial division

Ok, so not everyone wants to take part in ‘take the knee’ events, and that is their prerogative, but to boo is to make an explicit statement of hostility, which can only be described as an endorsement of racism.

Tory minister James Cleverly said it was wrong to boo ‘taking the knee’, but then went on to make apologies for the racists:

‘Anyone who believes it was a racist act should read the views of those who booed and see they were doing it in reaction to the war memorials and statues of Churchill defaced by the BLM organisation and the extreme political views they hold and for which “taking the knee” is associated with.’

But there is more than one BLM organisation for a start, and the person or persons who wrote the graffiti on the Churchill statue were individuals on a demonstration of thousands

In truth Churchill was a racist – this is a statement of fact. But the Tories and their far right supporters are really just looking for excuses to undermine the movement.

The Tories are trying to play divide and rule and spread the lie that working class people are some how hostile to racism, implying that there are two working classes – one white and one black.

But this is of course far from the truth as this story from the summer of football fans in Birmingham marching against racism shows.

news, UK

37 saved from Jamaica deportation but 13 gone is still too many


By Zita Holbourne (reproduced from change.org)

I  have mixed emotions today.  We are really happy that  37 of the 50 people given a removal notice to Jamaica  were not deported. Only 13 were taken. But that’s  still 13 too many, it’s  still 13 families ripped apart, most with children who are distraught, traumatised and confused.

I spoke last night with a  partner of one of those being deported. She had the unbearably painful experience  of telling her children that their daddy was being deported and they had to say good  on the phone. Her ten year old son asked her as he was half Jamaican was he going to be deported too.  

This evening I spoke to their  ten year old and five year old children and it broke my heart. Their five year old daughter said that thing she would miss the most is watching movies and eating popcorn with her dad and that it is making her sad.  Their ten year old son told me that what he will miss  is seeing his dad and hugging him. He told me that he feels really angry about it and he would like to speak to the person who made the decision to deport his dad and he would like to tell them that they are breaking families apart. 


But it was through people power that we were able to have an impact that made a difference. 


The pressure we applied collectively led to all those who arrived in the UK aged under 12 being taken off the flight, then others were taken off due to the right to family life because they have children in the UK and because they were the victims of modern day slavery. 

So we would like to thank the other campaign groups, the lawyers, public figures, politicians and every single one of you for signing this petition, sharing our updates, taking part in the various actions. 

I was proud but also saddened  that it was needed, to co-sign a letter with black celebrities and public figures calling on 5 airlines known to carry out charter flight deportations: https://www.elle.com/uk/life-and-culture/culture/a34818984/naomi-campbell-thandie-newton-stop-windrush-deportation-plane/


 But once we had heard from all the airlines  we wrote to that they were not operating the flight, attention focused on Privilege Style airline who we subsequently found out were the airline that operated the plane from Stansted .


As predicted the Home Office started gathering people to transfer them to the airport early last evening . But during the course of the evening and before this the days running up to it, we received calls from several of the #jamaica50 telling us they had been taken of the flight.


Even once people had been taken on board the aircraft where they were shackled from the waist down, cuffed  to two guards, four more people were physically taken off the plane and returned to detention. 

Flight P69139 operated by Privilege Style airline departed Stansted at 1.10am for  Norman Manley airport Kingston, Jamaica.

As the thirteen ( never has 13 felt like such an unlucky number as now), arrived in Jamaica this morning they would usually have been taken to  Harmon barracks to be processed at the  police station there but I have received news from Jamaica that they were taken to a hotel for two days  for covid testing. The Jamaican health minister said that once they have undergone tests they will be sent home to quarantine. If only that was the case and they were sent home to the UK. Quite what he meant by home I don’t  know. 


Many of those we have spoken to over the past couple of weeks said they have nobody in Jamaica.  If there is no family or friend to take you in, you are dependent on charities and forced to go to a shelter.  


People find themselves destitute,  with the stigma of screaming news headlines about them being hardened criminals of the worse kind hanging over them and nobody wanting anything to do with them let alone employ them.


In the past some people deported have sadly taken their own lives. My thoughts are with those families who lost a loved one.


News coverage has been International  with coverage in fashion magazine Elle as well as Forbes magazine who interviewed  me this evening  and I talked there about the multiple sentence / punishment , prison, then detention, deportation,  destitution, isolation, exile, trauma and pain, not just for them   but punishment for their families here in the UK including their children. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/chantaldasilva/2020/12/02/uk-moves-ahead-with-jamaica-deportation-flight-on-first-day-out-of-lockdown-despite-opposition/

The government  claim people had ample time to get legal representation  and have again criticised lawyers for successful  last minute appeals, branding them ‘activist lawyers’ but in reality those targeted for this flight had less than two weeks notice and for some  as little as 5 days to get legal representation and make their case, in the middle of a pandemic and lockdown, with no funds, with no access to the computer room at one detention  centre , with misinformation  by immigration  officers at another and caseworker not answering the phone for days and immigration officers  taking days to fax paperwork to lawyers, during a period of trauma and confusion  for them and their families. Then when legal action is taken the government claim it should have been done months before. How are people supposed to get legal representation  for a deportations they don’t  even know is going to happen let alone impact on them personally? Attacking lawyers for doing their job and representing their clients is disgraceful.  


We need your continued support for this campaign please. This petition is about all mass deportations,  not just this one, plus we are campaigning  on the ‘hostile       environment’ including compensation  for the Windrush generation, for the 30   Windrush lessons learned recommendations to be implemented and for an independent public inquiry into the Windrush scandal. 


Please share and sign our petition opposing the Warehouse K  immigration enforcement centre the Home Office want to move to Newham with 35 holding cells, in close proximity to London City Airport.

https://www.change.org/p/home-office-oppose-warehouse-k-immigration-enforcement-centre

Thank you for all your responses to  letters to MPs, these are still  arriving even tonight, thank you  for sharing updates on social media, lobbying those complicit and more.

We are overwhelmed  by the messages of thanks and support  we have received today, there have been so many that we haven’t  been able to send a personal reply to everyone.  But we appreciate  them and they keep us uplifted knowing you are all with us, after what has been a tiring and stressful fortnight. 


Stay updated via @baracuk and @bamefor on Twitter and @baracukoriginal on Instagram, but we will update you on here too.


Our work for migrant rights includes supporting people who are displaced – refugees  – due to climate change,  persecution,  poverty and /or conflict and those here  with no recourse  to public funds, providing food, blankets, toiletries and clothes plus other essential  items, this is another way to support  our work. 

https://www.gofundme.com/f/BARACHumanitarian

 
#jamaica50 #rememberthe13.


To the 13 families impacted – our thoughts and hearts are with you at this terrible  time for you. 


Regards and thanks


Zita 


Zita Holbourne 
National Chair BARAC UK 


On behalf of BARAC UK and BAME Lawyers for Justice 

Change.org petition:

https://www.change.org/p/stop-all-charter-flight-mass-deportations-to-jamaica-other-commonwealth-countries-jamaica50/

news, UK

Shukri Abdi death: “I accidentally pushed her into the deep end”

Shukri Abdi died on 27 June last year after drowning in a river in the northern town of Bury. Now one of the children with her at the time of death has admitted pushing her into the “deep end”.

Since the 12-year-old’s suspicious death, her family and supporters have been fighting for justice. She was the subject of one of the large BLM protests in central London.

Currently, the inquest into her death is taking place and already there has been a startling and disturbing revelation, confirming the family’s worst fears – that Sukhri didn’t just wonder into a river all by herself and mysteriously drown.

The inquest, which actually began earlier in the year but was adjourned, restarted at the end of November.

One of the children who was with Shukri has told the inquest that she pushed her into deeper water in the River Irwell.

The identities of the children giving evidence at the inquest can not be revealed and instead can only be referred to as Child One, Child Two, Child Three and Child Four.

Child One spoke via video link about the incident involving Shukri: “She was holding my legs at the back. I pushed her, I accidentally pushed her to the deep end. I couldn’t swim like that, I pushed her.

“She thought she could swim but didn’t know how to swim. She got into the water next to me. She was grabbing my hand. Something happened, she went down in the water to get back up, she didn’t make it. We were calling to Shukri to get up. She didn’t get up. We were all crying and shouting. She’s like really small. We were panicking. We were like: no, this cannot happen.”

A paramedic named Gillian Fenton who attended the scene said no one appeared to be distressed among the four children standing at th bank of the river, and none were wet – suggesting their had been no attempt to rescue Shukri.

“No one appeared to be crying or in any state of distress,” said Fenton.

The family accuses the authorities of institutional racism and the school she attended of failing to stop her being relentlessly bullied.

Anti-racism activist Maz Saleem, who has been helping the Justice 4 Shukri campaign, told Al Jazeera: “Shukri’s mum has clearly told us she wants justice for Shukri. She came here so her children could be protected. They fled from a war-torn country.

“This is why we decided to get the campaign together, to hold those very institutions to account that should have protected her.”

Shukri was a child refugee from Somalia.

Sign the petition for Shukri here.

news, UK

Tories back down on deporting to Jamaica those who came to UK as kids

According to the Guardian the government has partially backed down on the deporting to Jamaica those who were children when they came to the UK will not now be deported.

That could be more than half of the flight of 50 detainees originally slated for deportation.

Thankfully the Jamaican government has made representations to the UK government to stop the cruel and barbaric action but unfortunately still leaves many other individuals facing deportation.

The flight is still scheduled to depart the UK on Wednesday 2 December.

Stop deporting to Jamaica people who have been in UK most of their lives

Karen Doyle from the  Movement For Justice says of a sample of 20 cases due to be on the fight on Wednesday, none had arrived in the UK before the age of 12.

Doyle told the Guardian: “With previous flights the proportion who arrived here as children was always much higher. This is a welcome change and something that has been fought for for many years. But the secrecy around it is disturbing. A backroom deal just for this flight is not acceptable. The change must apply to all those who came as children regardless of their country of origin.”

Bella Sankey, the director of Detention Action, also questioned the secrecy surrounding the deal, urging for the law to be changed to prevent people who arrived as children (under 18) being deported: “If true, this agreement marks progress in reforming our barbaric deportation system, but why the secrecy? To be effective, this rule must be written into the law so that it can provide protection in practice and should be applied equally to all who arrive in the UK under 18, wherever they may have arrived from.”

news, UK

Jamaica50: stop this mass deportation flight! Tories are the real criminals

The Jamaica50 detainees have won support from eighty-two Black British public figures, who have spoken out against the proposed mass deportation of Black people to Jamaica.

Among the celebs joining the fight are model Naomi Campbell, historian David Olusoga, actors Thandie Newton and Naomie Harris, and writer Bernardine Evaristo (author of Booker Prize-winning novel Girl, Woman, Other).

The group is appealing to the airlines to boycott the flights and believe that the government in all probability will be breaking the law through rushing to deport the detainees.

As we reported previously, the deportation scheduled to take place on 2 December.

Many of the Jamaica50 individuals having spent the majority of their adult lives in the UK, and their deportation deprives families of their loved ones, as the government steps up its racist immigration policies.

According to campaign group Movement for Justice, eight of the men slated for deportation have 31 children between them, but the government couldn’t care less.

The last flight to Jamaica took place in February, when 17 men were deported – a reduction fro the original number after intervention by the courts.

Tories are the real criminals

The government justifies its stance by saying those threatened with deportation are “foreign criminals”.

Any ‘foreign national’ who has committed an offence that has led to a custodial sentence of 12 months or longer can be summarily deported.

Rayan Crawford, who had been in the UK since he was 12, was kicked out of the country on the February flight for minor burglary offences. His partner Jana says Ray had a problem with a gambling addiction at the time.

Rayan suffers from a rare bone condition called Blount’s Disease and inflammatory arthritis. He hasn’t been able to get hold of the medication he requires apart fro a month’s supply from a charity. All health care has to be paid for in Jamaica.

Speaking from Jamaica, Ryan reports: “There is no free medication in Jamaica—even if you want to see a doctor, you have to pay for it. There was a charity organisation, but it said it could only give medication to me for the month.”

According to human rights lawyer Jacqueline Mckenzie, the majority of people who have been singled out for deportation have committed drug offences.

A number of Tory ministers (Michael Gove) have admitted to taking drugs, as has the prime minister Boris Johnson, but neither of them face deportation or prison.

McKenzie says that no one who has been in this country since they were children should be facing deportation to a country they know nothing about and have no connections with.

“If you have been in the UK as a child, you shouldn’t be deported irrespective of what your offence is. Whether you’ve got the right documentation or not, you’re culturally British, you’re part of this society. You’ve offended here, you are punished here, and your punishment is going to prison. People should not be punished twice,” says McKenzie.

Jamaica50 – the Windrush Scandal rolls on

Most of the Jamaica50 being held prisoner in the removal centres are the descendants of the Windrush Generation of migrants to the UK, who were invited here by the government after the war to plug the huge labour shortages facing the country at the time.

The fear the deportations are spreading through the African-Caribbean community are immense, as people who don’t have the correct papers now live in fear of possible deportation.

Not surprisingly, the government wants to forget the part played by Britain’s Jamaican colony in making the country what it is today. Without the slave trade and the wealth created in Jamaica, there would probably have been no industrial revolution in the UK.

jamaica50 - art by Zita Holbourne - poet artist activist

And of course, during the time when Jamaica was a colony, those who resided there were told they were British.

But even after taking all that into account, we should not let the government divide people into ‘good’ migrants and ‘bad’ migrants, as they try to whip up racial division. to deflect attention from their own failings.

Sadly, the government’s dirty work is being fronted by daughter of immigrants Priti Patel, backed up by the new Equalities minister Kemi Badenoch.

Zita Holbourne from campaign group BARAC UK, speaking this afternoon at a People’s Assembly event, said there is no Covid safety in the detention centres, apart from the taking of temperatures.

“Detainees are mingling and moving around, but families are banned from coming to the detention centre,” Zita explained. “This is unlawful according to the European Court of Human Rights because of the right to family life.”

Zita continued: “Each person is chained to two guards… there will be no social distancing – it will be a full flight. The Jamaican government are also out of order.”

Jamaica, a poor country, is handling the pandemic much better than the UK government, but this flight will help to spread the disease on the Caribbean island.

TUI Airways doing the Home Office deportation charter?

TUI Airways looks like it is the airline that will be carrying out the deportation – their customer service number is 0871 231 4787

BARAC UK have launched a petition to #stoptheplane on change.org – click here.

There’s a Twitter storm taking place this afternoon, using the hashtags:

#stoptheplane

#jamaica50

Zita also mentioned that an immigration reporting centre in Newham in east London, which has a large population that comes from Black, Asian and minority ethnic population – as a way to further intimidate Black and Asian people. Watch this space for more on that to follow.

Thanks to Zita Holbourne for the art featured here

news, UK

13 police being investigated for sharing photos of murdered sisters

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) has referred the Met police to the Crown Prosecution Service over their officers’ sharing of photos of murdered sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman that we reported on in early summer.

The sisters were killed in June and the police, despite requests from the family, refused to lift a finger to search for them when they failed to return from an outing to Fryent Park, Wembley, west London.

It was left to one of the boyfriends of the sister to go looking for them and to find the body.

Not only did the police not bother to search for the sisters, presumably because it was only two Black women, but when the bodies were found and they were forced to start a murder investigation they thought it would be amusing to pass around in a WhatsApp group the photos of the bodies of the deceased sisters.

Sharing photos of murdered sisters shows racist depravity of police

The appalling level of depravity and dehumanisation that this sort of behaviour requires is a shocking indictment of the institutional racism that blights the Met police in London.

Two police officer have since been arrested and altogether 13 police officers are under investigation.

The arrests took place on 11 June with the officers charged on suspicion of misconduct in a public office. They have been suspended from duties but are still on full pay.

When this case gets to court, we expect there to be prison sentences handed out. If there are not, there will be hell to pay, to put it mildly.

The IOPC has also made two recommendations to the Met:

  1. To ensure officers “within a single police station in the North East Command” conform to the expectations of their behaviour under the Code of Ethics both on and off duty.
  2. The Met must review whether supervisors and senior management at that police station “are taking personal responsibility to identify and eliminate patterns of inappropriate behaviour”.

As with so many recommendations concerning matters regarding London’s racist police force, nothing much will come of the IOPC’s strictures unless there are militant protests on the streets, as seen during the upsurge of around BLM in the summer.

We will need to be ready to hit the streets again to demand justice for Nicole and Bibaa.

news, UK

Jamaica deportation flights resume next Wednesday despite Windrush

updated: 28 November 2020 8pm

The Tories are planning a mass deportation of people to Jamaica on the day the lockdown in England ends on Wednesday 2 December.

On eo fthose faced with deportation is John, not his real name.

“My life would be in danger. If I go back there, I know what would happen to me,” he said, in a report from left-wing newspaper Socialist Worker.

After reporting to the Home Office’s Eaton House last week, he was sent into detention at the notorious Colnbrook Immigration Removal Centre.

Speaking to Socialist Worker, John explained: “No visitors are allowed to come inside this place. My partner and my 12 year old daughter were sat outside for five and a half hours, waiting for the decision about me. 

“When I was detained on that day, I couldn’t say anything to them.” 

John says the family “did everything by the book”.

“My solicitor sent off the paperwork, with recorded delivery, to the Home Office a few weeks ago,” continued John.

“The Home Office said they’d tried to take £65 from my partner’s account and couldn’t, and that’s why my application was refused.

“But that’s not true, my partner went to the bank and no one tried to take no money out and there is money in there.” 

Jamaican deportation flights being used to criminalise the victims

Zita Holbourne from anti-racist campaign group BARAC UK said: “Those targeted for deportation are branded by government as hardened criminals. But the reality is that some are criminalised by virtue of their immigration status and for others, they have committed lesser offences, [are the] victims of county lines, or have been convicted under the now defunct joint enterprise law.”

There are at least eight people that campaigners know about who the Tories want to deport next week.

The government refuses to allow detainees to receive visits at the detention centres, where violence and filth are common place according to accounts. The government makes it hard to get exact numbers on deportations and is willing to go to great expense to make its racist point.

Two brothers born in the UK – Darrell and Darren Roberts – whose campaign BLMM has been supporting, have also been threatened with deportation to Jamaica even though they have never been to the country.

The Home Office also wants to deport Osime Brown, a 21-year-old autistic man, to Jamaica, a country he left when he was 4 years old and where he has no family connections.

The threatened deportations come after the Equalities and Human Rights Commission said in a report on Windrush that the government broke the law by not doing an equality impact assessment when they introduce their racist “hostile environment policies”.

Between 2004 and 2015John had indefinite leave to remain in the country but was arrested on a minor drugs charge, and that’s when his troubles began.

The government is pushing ahead with deportations to send a signal to its racist supporters and wider society that it is migrants and Black people that should be blamed for the inequality and poverty that is crashing like a tsunami across the country.

It is no accident that the flights are restarting now, as the Tory racists seeks to divert attention from their own criminal Covid failures and the coming pay and benefit cuts they want to impose on ordinary people to pay for the mess they created.

Latest: TUI Airways may be the airline doing the deportation flight – more here

news, UK

Black woman violently assaulted by police in Lewisham

A video of a Black woman violently assaulted by police in Lewisham has emerged months after the incident.

The graphic video shows as many as eight police officers forcefully restraining the woman, with one officer punching her while she is on the ground.

The woman – who provided her first name to the BBC’s Newsnight – reports how she was lifted off the ground by the handcuffs placed on her and by her braids, leading to hair being pulled out of her scalp.

The video was taken by concerned bystander Umer Khan in May this year.

Black woman violently assaulted: “if you can talk you can breathe” says racist cop

When she complained that an officer who was pinning her to the ground was killing her, the officer said, with a smirk on her face, “if you can talk you can breathe”.

The officer said they were arresting Janet for obstructing a drug search.

The violent assault, which took place in Lewisham, south-east London, didn’t end on the street.

Back at the police station there was more violence from the police thugs.

Janet was repeated punched by an officer and was illegally strip-searched in the presence of male officers.

It has been well documented that the police use disproportionate amounts of force when interacting with Black people.

BBC’s Newsnight discovered that ‘Use of Force’ – a legal level of violence that the police are allowed to use as part of their duties – has increased markedly:

From BBC News:

BBC Newsnight has obtained Use of Force data from 37 out of the 44 police forces in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

During the lockdown months of April and May, 27 out of the 37 police forces saw a rise in Use of Force, compared with the same months in 2019.

The Metropolitan Police – the UK’s biggest force – saw a rise of 26% from 25,993 Use of Force incidents recorded in April and May 2019, to 32,705 in the same months in 2020.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/av/embed/p08zbyl4/55019778

news, UK

Slaves sold on a Friday racist graffiti shocker at Tesco

2 Comments

Updated 27 November 2020 15:00 GMT

Updated 2 December 2020

Slaves sold on a Friday – that was the shocking racist graffiti that appeared in a Tesco store in Tottenham on 8 November.

BLMM can reveal it follows a complaint made two months ago to top management of the UK’s largest supermarket in response to alleged routine racist abuse of workers at its South Tottenham store by the white manager.

That is the claim of a worker at the store, a copy of whose statement to Tesco bosses is in the hands of Black Lives Matter Movement.

BLMM has reached out to Tesco for a response, but as yet have not heard back.

One of the store managers (there are several store managers at large Tesco outlets) stands accused of using the N word repeatedly in her interactions with Black members of staff.

One of the victims of the vile racist abuse initially delayed making a formal complaint to Tesco in the hope that action would be taken without him needing to do so, given the the serious nature of the allegations, but to date there has been no progress, with XXX still working at the store.

Suffice to say, the atmosphere in the workplace “has significantly changed”, says the worker whose written statement we have seen.

There is an investigation ongoing, but two months on from lodging the complaint no action has yet been taken, not even a suspension of the manager.

We have since received a response to the allegations from the supermarket.

A Tesco Spokesperson said: “We take all allegations of racism and discrimination of any kind in the workplace extremely seriously. We cannot comment on individual cases but any allegation is investigated thoroughly by a trained and impartial colleague and we always take action where necessary.”

The complainant – who wishes to remain anonymous at this stage – sent BLMM a copy of the written statement outlining the unacceptable and shocking racism that exists at the store:

“I personally feel very uncomfortable working with XXX, having had her say the racial slur to my face on the day in question (10th November 2020).

Racist manager refuses to apologise or show any remorse

“XXX has offered no apology or shown any remorse for her language and has displayed in her behaviour that she does not understand or acknowledge the deep offence, pain and revisited trauma that word causes many of us.

“As someone who grew up in Britain during a time of racial tension when the N word was used to intimidate, insult, ridicule and belittle in a demeaning manner, with the intent of causing pain and distress, I was triggered back to very painful and upsetting times when the use of the word and its intentions were deemed acceptable in society.”

The statement continues: “It appears that Tesco is in support of XXX and her deplorable behaviour and that is totally unacceptable. I no longer feel that Tesco is a safe working environment free from abuse, both verbal and physical, be it from customers or staff and colleagues.

“I do not trust that should any future incidences of any nature occur between colleagues and customers that Tesco management team will be fair and impartial in its handling and processing of such matters.”

For 10 years the Tesco worker has been complaining about racism at the store and says the latest incident is part of a catalogue of discrimination issues.

The Tesco group that the store comes under has seen at least 20 complaints made about racism at stores in north London, with Lee Valley, Chesthunt and Ponders End stores all said to have seen racist incidents involving Tesco managers or other employees.

Black Friday promo at South Tottenham branch of Tesco: “Slaves sold on a Friday”

The latest such occurrence was on Sunday 8 November when the words “Slaves sold on a Friday” was scrawled across a Black Friday promotional display.

update: The display was positioned in the staff canteen, which narrows down the number of possible culprits. After being contacted by the Daily Mirror, Tesco management finally called in the police.

The manager failed to take action until workers at the store demanded its removal.

slaves sold on a friday graffiti at tesco store
This racist comment appeared at the South Tottenham branch of Tesco on 8 November 2020. The manager failed to take action until workers at the store demanded its removal

The alleged racism at the Tesco store follows a furor over the company removing two Black actors from its Christmas TV advert.

Perhaps in response to Black Lives Matter, UK supermarkets – notably Sainsbury’s which has received a racist backlash for featuring a Black family in its Xmas advert – have been trying to pay more than just lip service to anti-racism and diversity.

But many might be forgiven for concluding that it is really just window dressing in Tesco’s case, given the blatant racism that has been making the working lives of its employees at the South Tottenham store a living nightmare.

Racists have become much bolder in the wake of the racist agenda of the government in recent years, and a prime minister who is yet to apologise for the many racist comments he has made. And of course the likes of Trump across the pond giving legitimacy to white supremacists and fascists hasn’t helped matters.

There has been an increase in racist abuse and attacks across the country, with Muslims (and by inference Asian people generally, as the racists don’t differentiate) and Black people bearing the brunt.

David Burke of the Daily Mirror has now followed up on our story:

https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/anger-black-friday-sign-defaced-23079568

We have been requested to remove the name of the individual who is at the centre of the allegations and have now done so – 2 December 2020