By james art Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster has become one of a group of leaders in Birmingham and the West Midlands who have pledged to make the city an anti-racist city.
The PCC made the pledge at the Birmingham Race Impact Group’s biennial summit, alongside other leaders from every sector in Birmingham – city, regional, civic, community, education, private, religious, cultural, community and voluntary.
The PCC has signed a landmark pledge marking an important step forward for the future of the region. He recognized that it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist and promised that:
“We are committed to working collectively to create an anti-racist Birmingham and West Midlands.”
It is important that city and regional leaders work together to create an anti-racist Birmingham and West Midlands.
Police and Crime Commissioner Simon Foster said: “To eliminate all unlawful discrimination and racism from society, it is not enough to be non-racist, we must be anti-racist.
“We must commit to working collectively to create an anti-racist Birmingham and West Midlands
“I am delighted to be one of the leaders from across Birmingham and the West Midlands to stand up and take this pledge.
Ranjit Sondhi, Chair of BRIG, added: “Bringing together city and regional leaders to proactively tackle racism should be a game changer.
“It cannot be left to stagnant policies and procedures that essentially manage existing inequality without trying to change anything. For decades, we have worked tirelessly to get the city, the region and its institutions to seriously address racial inequalities.
“Inaction is not an option. Because of the many barriers that racial communities face, we know that this has resulted in a difference in life expectancy of around 10 years between ethnic minorities and their white counterparts. The system’s answer for decades has been “it takes time”, frankly, we didn’t get it.
“We have learned from anti-racism campaigns that have come before us how difficult the fight to eradicate deep, persistent and occasionally violent racism in Britain is. But we are now at a point in history where all major public institutions and community groups have pledged to make Birmingham an anti-racist city. We are delighted that BRIG has played a significant role in this development.”