The use of Stop and Search by police against Black people in Dorset has reached unprecedented levels. Black people are now 31 times more likely than white people to be stopped under these powers. This is the highest rate of Stop and Search of an ethnic group of any police force in the country. It is also a 100 per cent increase in Dorset over the past two years.

Diane Abbott has been an inspiration to many ethnic minority communities. Just like many ethnic minorities, she experienced racist abuse on social media. We are saying that enough is enough. Black Lives Matter! We want a statue of Diane Abbott outside Hackney Town Hall!

West India Dock facilitated the transatlantic slave trade, to store the sugar from the West Indian plantations where enslaved men, women and children worked. Our successful campaign led to the removal of slave trader Robert Milligan’s statue. This was a step forward in reconciling with the history of systemic human exploitation to amass wealth. However, this is not enough. It is equally important to install a monument to represent the movement against institutional racism by honouring a Black African abolitionist. Olaudah Equiano was born around the year 1745 in Guinea. At eleven he and his sister were kidnapped while out playing and were enslaved. In 1786 in London, he became involved in the movement to abolish slavery. He was a prominent member of the 'Sons of Africa', the first Black political organisation in Britain to campaign for abolitionism. In the spring of 1789, he published his autobiography, 'The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano or Gustavus Vassa, the African'. It is one of the earliest books published by a black African writer which contributed hugely in setting the scene through religious and economic arguments for the abolition of slavery. Equiano’s work had the overt anti-slavery agenda and a more subtle anti-racist project to dispel some of the racist myths existed in eighteenth-century England. Equiano did not just publish the book and leave it to fend for itself. Instead, he vigorously promoted it by going on lecture tours around England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, and by promoting his book he was also promoting the idea of the abolition of slavery. During the early 1790s, Equiano had not just turned his life story into a document opposing slavery but had transformed his entire life into an anti-slavery document. Equiano is a symbol of resistance to the slave trade and slavery. To honour the millions of slaves who were exploited to the benefit West India Dock, to honour all those who suffered from the transatlantic slave trade, we demand a memorial of Olaudah Equiano. You can read more about Olaudah Equiano at https://brycchancarey.com/equiano/biog.htm The short bio of Olaudah Equiano is compiled from Brycchan Carey's blog entry. He is an academic and author on slavery, emancipation, and abolition. #Black Lives Matter

Because being a 1950's woman myself I know the harm stress worry and the impact it has had on my life and the mental issues it has caused me

Thousands of people are in dire circumstances after being deprived of most public funds since the coronavirus outbreak because of strict visa restrictions. Under current rules, people here on short term visas are subjected to the “no recourse to public funds” policy, meaning that they are prevented from accessing many benefits, such as Universal Credit. Councils are prevented from giving them certain help, including access to housing. This harsh rule is leaving thousands of families really struggling to survive during the coronavirus pandemic. We’re calling on the Home Secretary, the UK Work and Pensions Secretary and the government as a whole to scrap the “no recourse for public funds” status for migrants during Covid-19.

Equality. We deserve the same.

Over the past month, the UK has witnessed the unprecedented spread of Covid-19 – it has infected around 90,000 and killed more than 11,000 people in hospitals (mid-April 2020). As we know the true numbers infected and/or died, is under-represented due an absence of wide-spread testing (front-line staff and community) and through a lack of data from Britain’s care homes. The disturbing images we see via our televisions and social media channels of those who have died make uncomfortable viewing. We see a selection of faces of doctors and nurses, bus drivers and care home workers all killed. All of whom represent our frontline workers in this battle against the spread of the virus. The evidence from the deaths of these frontline workers clearly show that a disproportionate number of people from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME), who have been infected, are dying from Covid-19. Although BAME people represent some 14% of the UK population, available evidence suggests that some 35% of this group have been impacted (Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre, 4 April 2020). Government experts are suggesting causes include social and economic factors, overcrowding and multigenerational living. However, they fail to acknowledge some of the well-known, deeply entrenched inequalities which pervade British society, and which adversely impact BAME communities. In most aspects of life, including education, housing and employment, BAME communities experience institutional discrimination, which has an adverse impact on life chances. Furthermore, several decades of health research consistently show that BAME communities experience worse health outcomes for conditions such as high-blood pressure, diabetes, coronary heart disease, HIV, breast and prostate cancer. Many of these ‘underlying conditions’ are associated with poorer coronavirus outcomes, so it is little wonder that BAME frontline workers are being infected with Covid-19 to this extent. The Ubele Initiative is a BAME led national organisation which supports BAME communities and recently co-produced a statement which supports this campaign. Ubele will set up a Call to Action with a 10 point Community Action Plan which will be launched on Monday 27th April 2020. Ubele call on the government to urgently conduct a full independent public investigation into why and how BAME front line staff including clinicians, care home workers and transport staff and the wider BAME communities are being disproportionately infected. We urge the government to release Covid-19 data based on ethnicity from across all UK regions. Furthermore, the government also needs to deliver on its’ testing policy and target the above groups of staff as well as the wider community.

Hate crimes towards the LGBTQ+ community are on the rise. The Home Office reported from 2018 to 2019 police recorded 14,491 crimes committed against people because of their sexual orientation an increase of 25% and a further 2,333 offences against transgender people because of their gender identity an increase of 37%. This only accounts for crimes reported with Stonewall reporting that four in five LGBT people (81 per cent) who experienced a hate crime or incident didn't report it to the police. Despite the rise there has been no amendments to the law to count homophobic, biphobic or transphobic hate crimes as aggravated offences. Sections 29 to 32 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 created specific racially or religiously aggravated offences, which have higher maximum penalties than the non-aggravated versions of those offences, hate crimes towards the LGBTQ+ community should be brought up to the same level.

As last night's Bulgaria vs England football match showed, racism in the sport is still rife in Europe. People were captured on TV making monkey chants and Nazi salutes towards black players. The racist abuse was so bad that the game had to be stopped twice in the opening 40 minutes. The current Uefa penalties are completely unacceptable and do not deter racists. Issuing financial fines, anti racism posters and partly closing stadiums simply does not work. It's time Uefa got tough.

BBC Breakfast host, Naga Munchetty, was found to have broken the corporation’s editorial rules following her criticism of Donald Trump for telling politicians of colour to “go home”. Racism is not a valid opinion which you can have an “impartial” stance on. For communities and people who experience racist abuse – including Munchetty – being expected to treat racist ideas as somehow valid can have a devastating effect on their dignity. Along with many other celebrities and campaigners, we believe that the BBC’s decision to uphold the complaint made against Munchetty is deeply flawed, potentially illegal and goes against the spirit and purpose of public broadcasting. The BBC’s current position will also have a huge effect on future diversity within the BBC, to suggest that future BAME broadcasters will be hired at the BBC, providing that they remain “impartial” about how they feel about their experiences of racism is ludicrous.

Spotlight is “the industry’s leading casting platform”. As such, and in such a competitive field of employment such as Stage and Screen, Spotlight is gatekeeping to prevent Non-Binary and Gender Non Conforming persons from even entering the field to apply for a large percentage of the work due to their binary choices of gender options available to register. This prevents us from both applying for work as so many casting calls require spotlight, but also, from applying honestly. This wastes both the time and money of both performers and professionals seeking artists to cast for specific roles. Non Binary people are valid and performers should not have to identify as other than who they are in order to apply for a very necessary Spotlight membership.

For years, the Jeremy Kyle Show has turned the real-life suffering of people into entertainment. Now, after the death of a guest, ITV have suspended the show - and calls are growing for it to be cancelled permanently. The Jeremy Kyle Show is famous for humiliating people on national television with lie detector and DNA tests. Guests are goaded into arguing about personal conflicts and relationship problems in front of a studio audience. A judge described the show as a “human form of bear baiting". Sign the petition and tell ITV to end the Jeremy Kyle Show for good.