A response to the recent racist riots

At a Better Way ‘drop-in’ in August, we began a conversation about the recent display of racism, islamophobia, xenophobia and thuggery around the country. We know that these attacks will have affected members of our network particularly people with lived experience of racism. 

Some of us have lived through similar situations in the 1980’s, 1990’s and more recently in 2011. The more recent display of overt racism feels targeted, orchestrated, and has left many of us feeling challenged, dismayed, and concerned for our safety. Seeing the community response against the violence shows that there is much good will and understanding on which to build, however we know that many people and communities have been left traumatised by their experience.

The spotlight from the press and others has moved on but what is not going away is the violation we have experienced, and the resulting lack of safety and insecurity black, brown, and other minoritised people must live with. Many of us have also come out in support of people directly affected and made our feelings clear.

A few members of the Better Way Justice, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion working group have already started to come together to plan our response. There was a feeling amongst the group that a network-wide conversation could be helpful in guiding how we might all respond, in our own environments as well as collectively through A Better Way. In any case, we believe that some fresh thinking and action is needed, and that we have a duty and a responsibility to address this if we are to live by the principles and behaviours of A Better Way and in the spirit of A Bigger We. Issuing a statement is of course only a start but there needs to be more than that if we are serious about our role in allyship and speaking out.

It is wonderful that we are talking about this and that it is driven by members of the network. We are keen to support a group of people with living experience to come together and find a way forwards for the network and the bigger group who are interested in anti-racism. In doing this, we acknowledge power imbalance and championing the voices of those who live, and breath anti-racism work every day.

We will be facilitating a network-wide conversation soon. Look out for dates and if you have any ideas for the conversation and how we might take collective action or are keen to get more involved, please drop the co-convenors an email: