North Lanarkshire Council on August 13^th 2020 passed two historic motions endorsing the ideals of the Black Lives Matter movement and to implement anti-racist education within all schools within the local authority.

The composite motion between the Deputy Leader of the administration and myself (SNP Equalities Officer) has established that there will be a review of all statues, historical symbols, buildings and schools in North Lanarkshire to properly understand their history and context. Furthermore, a steering group with real power will be established to bring progressive race conversations to the forefront of North Lanarkshire Council’s engagement with wider society so that as a local authority we can further support our minority ethnic communities.

The motion was produced in response to the death of George Floyd in the United States that ignited a conversation long overdue about racial injustice across the globe. As a local authority, we may not be able to change the world but we have the ability to show leadership and ask ourselves – how can we do better and address racial inequalities within our community.  This is just one small step but a necessary one to ensure race equality within Scotland can become a reality.

As part of my speech, I highlighted many issues I have come across during my time as a Councillor since 2017 in North Lanarkshire. We are aware as a local authority that black men are three times more likely than the general population to be unemployed, but there aren’t any programs actively trying to combat this issue. Racial diversity in approving grants isn’t considered either, which is important when we factor that many of our minority ethnic communities also come from some of the lowest socio-economic backgrounds within our society. Equality impact assessments during committees are not used adequately, despite being one of the top employers of modern apprentices in Scotland we have in successive years failed to hire anyone with a BAME background, we should be conducting a BAME pay gap review across all of our employees and the list goes on with my suggestions. 

I am ecstatic that this work has now begun and I cannot wait for our local authority to make a success of it. Hopefully through our hard work and perseverance other local authorities will implement similar reviews of their processes.

The second motion that was passed works hand in hand with the Black Lives Matter motion. The anti-racist education motion was proposed by Councillor Danish Ashraf and I was very happy to be seconding the proposals. Anti-racist education is vital for ensuring race equality within Scotland is achieved. In practice this new policy is asking for our young people to be taught of their history in more depth. This includes the actions of the British Empire during the trans-Atlantic slave trade as well as incorporating the contribution of Commonwealth nations to Scotland. During my speech, I gave a personal anecdote that despite being the grandson of migrants that came to Scotland post-World War 2 to rebuild the nation, I was never taught of the contributions of British-ruled India. 

In school we learn a significant amount about the World Wars, but I was never told about the contributions of Indian soldiers who were still under British rule at the time and who played a major role in both wars on Britain’s behalf. I was never told about the approximately 1.3 million Indian soldiers that served for Britain in WW1 where over 74,000 Indian soldiers lost their lives fighting in the British Army. And a far higher number wounded. These stories of heroism, contribution and sacrifice have been left largely omitted from the explanation of our history in Scottish schools, or have been left to the footnotes.

This is not only my history, this is the history of the British Empire, the history of all of us in Scotland and just one example of centuries worth of colonial rule. It is often said in equalities work that there is more that brings us together than divides us. And it is true that through the Commonwealth a large proportion of the Earth is intrinsically linked with the UK due to our history. And I believe that by teaching more of this history in full we can improve community cohesion with one another.

Further to teaching our history in more depth, this new policy will seek to establish training and guidance for teachers to discuss sensitive topics about racism and the effect our past has on today’s society.

Now more than ever, real change rather the tweets and empty words are required. It takes real courage to pass these proposals, to take a long hard look at ourselves and really question if we are being inclusive of everyone. I believe with the passing of these policies, North Lanarkshire Council has the ability to be at the forefront of the most progressive change for race equality within Scotland. This is truly the proudest moment of my political career to date and I hope that there is much more positive work to come as a result of the landmark moment achieved with the approval of these new policies.

This article was originally published in the Scots Independent (September 2020)