Tangible demands to combat racism:

Please read before signing. We don’t want anyone to blindly sign anything.

Right now people are protesting because they want accountability for the death of George Floyd and countless others. But who is really accountable? Is it the police officer who had his leg on his neck? Is it the 3 police officers who didn’t do anything about it? Is it the people who stood there filming and watching? Or is it society?

Every single one of us is accountable! Society is accountable. We are accountable for just letting it go, every time we hear a racist slur. We are accountable for not doing something sooner. We are accountable for letting it even get as bad, as someone dying. We need to change this! And we need to change this NOW.

If we want a good chance to fight racism, we need to stop it before it starts, this means we need to change the education system. However, racism is a real problem right now! So we also need to try and combat these problems.

Below we have some demands that we think, will help:

Education:

•History lessons: We shouldn’t only be taught about the history of the UK. Yes, learning about our history important, but we need to focus less, on Henry the 8th and his wives (one of the only things I remember from history), and focus more on learning about humanity’s history. About the Civil war, about slavery, about the British empire. Why are we only taught about the positives the empire bought about. Why aren’t we taught about when the British invaded America and forced people out of their own homes. We call the original American People “American Indians”- think about that for a second. They need to learn about the mistakes we made in the past as a civilization, so that the new generation can learn from them and not repeat them.

• Books: In English, the books in the curriculum need to be reviewed. We need more books that talk about racism- so that kids can really understand what is like. And more books written by people of colour.

•Rights: ln life skills, it is imperative that young adults learn about the rights they have as citizens of this country.
•School Plays: School plays that portray racism need to be considered. The kids are more likely to understand what racism feels like, if they are put in to the shoes of a person experiencing it.
•Movies: Most schools play movies for the kids to watch, different movies should be taken into consideration. Including those who have POC’s in their cast. As well as movies that portray racism in the real world- so they are aware it is still happening.
•Describing words: Children in Primary school should be taught more describing words to help them refer to people. More often then not, the first word that comes into mind when describing someone, is the colour of their skin. This is not necessarily a bad thing  to start off with, but can lead into implicit bias in the future. Being taught not to do this, from a young age, will mean that the colour of ones skin is not the first think that comes to mind when  describing them.
•Teachers: This is the most important point in my opinion. Teachers must be trained to make sure that, they don’t participate in implicit bias.
•“World history” week: A series of events during 1 specific week, every year, that everyone should participate in, to learn more about the history of humanity.
•University International Students: Universities must put in place measures, that make international students feel welcomed.

Police:

•Training: As part of training, polices officers should have to read case studies- about cases where police officers have shown racism in the past.
•Actions: If a police officer is seen performing a move, that was not part of training, or that was not necessary in that context, they are subject to assessment. As well as getting a strike on their record.
•Strikes: Anyone who has 4 strikes or more on their record, should not be allowed to work until they go through training or counselling.
•Help: Counselling should be made more easily available, for those that want it.
•Statistics: Every month, the number of arrests at every police station should to be tallied up, and split into different ethnic groups. This data must be statistically analysed, and compared to the population of those ethnic groups in that specific jurisdiction. If the results don’t match up, new leadership should be considered, as well as other penalties. This should also be done internally, at every police station, to see if specific teams of officers, arrest more people from specific ethnic groups, than their colleagues.

Council:

•World History week: The council should also participate in world history week, having a range of events open to the public.
•Schools: The council has a responsibility of trying to make schools as diverse as possible.
•Workshops: Provide free workhops to the public, where they can learn about their rights.

Public workers:

•Implicit bias: Every public worker is subject to having an implicit bias test. If the results come back positive they should have to participate in workshops etc.
 

There are many minority communities suffering racism in the UK and all over the world. Educate yourself to try and stop implicit bias. I have listed some useful links below:

•Britain’s role in the slave trade: https://youtu.be/eyoJXTohKOE
•Kashmir's semi-autonomy: https://youtu.be/ItDjy2q9_d0
•Concentration camps in china (happening right now- that the world is doing nothing about): https://youtu.be/ZxvYcByv2M8
 

If you disagree with any of the points, please contact us anonymously on- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6538048

If you have any demands that you would like to add to the petition, please also contact us on- https://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=6538048