#I just know that health is one of the biggest determinors of racial injustice that there is

[starkey]

are you going to any of the protests?

Sorry for the delay in replying, I’ve been out all day.

I live in Glasgow, where there were originally three protests organised, and where, for the record, lockdown is still fairly tight.

The first protest is a kneel-in demonstation, which the organisers have asked people not to come to the city centre attend - it’s a limited protest to allow for social distancing measures. The second protest was organised by Taliah Simumba, however after discussing the issue with BLMUK, community leaders and health professionals, it was decided that the event would be cancelled. She is working to organise an online protest space with Clyde Built Radio. The third appears to be organised by white students, and does not seem to be so well organised, or in touch with black community leaders. The organisers have gone as far as posting a photo of a first aid kit with the caption ‘not first aid trained but we’ll have this if things go south.’

The reasons for the limitations of the first protest and the cancelling of the second can be read through the links but essentially it comes down to this: an estimated 21000 people from BAME communities in the UK have died in the past 10 weeks as a result of covid. They constitute 34% of all deaths in the UK—which already has one of the worst death tolls in the world. The percentage within BAME hospital professionals is higher still. This abject and systemic failure of the government to protect the BAME population in this country constitutes one of the most significant acts of racial violence in the UK in recent times. It is absolutely reprehensible, and we need to urgently hold our government to account for it.

I’m inclined to agree with the BMA and other public health professionals who are currently warning that the government (specifically the british government) eased lockdown too prematurely, with the number of new daily infections and deaths still being too high, and without an adequate track-and-trace system in place. A second wave of infections would inevitably impact on BAME people disproportionately, and I think we have to think very carefully about how we protest in this setting. Having attended many protests in the past, I honestly can’t see how a protest with thousands of attendees in a location like a city centre can safely socially distance - given that masks do very little to prevent the spread infection.

I know this isn’t what anyone wants to hear at a time like this, but I would prefer to look to black community leaders in my area, in the context of my own country, before acting rashly or performatively, or in a way that risks the lives of people who are already vulnerable. Scotland’s history in oppressing racial minorities is as brutal and devastating as the rest of the UK—the country is a relic of imperialism and it’s economic success was built on the back of the slave trade (which anyone who’s walked along Jamaica street or Virginia Court should reflect upon). While I’m proud of my country and my city for the steps it has taken towards combating racism in more recent years—things like granting Nelson Mandela freedom of the city in the 80s and UoG’s system of reparative justice—it is still a country that is mired in racism and xenophobia. That’s something we all need to keep fighting, every day, year in and year out, until things change.