We can all contribute to create positive change

When the former US police officer Derek Chauvin was convicted for the killing of George Floyd during an incident in Minneapolis on May 25 last year, it certainly felt like a victory of the global protests last summer.

Finally a verdict that might bring more changes in the law in America and indeed a judgement that perhaps it is worth demonstrating for justice. People are standing together. People are progressing from "I can't breathe" to saying, "We can breathe."

How far has Britain come since the death of George Floyd? In Britain, we too demonstrated over George Floyd's death from the little villages to the metropolises of Birmingham and London – hundreds of thousands of people on the streets.

Last year I went on a modest protest on the streets of London with a group called Ministers of Colour. The results of our demonstration gave us a chance to speak to Labour and Conservative members of parliament. We asked Labour to sort out their attitude towards the Jewish community. We challenged the Conservative Party to honour the 200 recommendations made by various race inquiries over the last 40 years.

The Conservatives told us that they were commissioning a new report and that we should wait. We waited a long time for this report. It came out at the beginning of last month and is now called the 'Sewell Report’. What did it say and what was its main headline? ‘Britain is not institutionally racist’. In a time where we have still seen black people die in police custody in the UK; when we've seen black footballers constantly facing abuse on social media by the supposed football fans, the report said that Britain was not institutionally racist.

This report done by Tony Sewell, chairman of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, was condemned by many church leaders and theologians because it has been said that it has always been known that Mr Sewell, who is a black man, has never thought that Britain is institutionally racist.

The overriding thought of the recent Churches Together in Great Britain and Ireland seminar was that this report brought nothing new by way of recommendations and was flawed in its conclusion. It seems tailored to suit the Conservative Party rhetoric that everything is okay.

So why are the churches complaining? Taking a look at the book of Ruth in the Bible chapter one, verses 16 and 17, Ruth pledges to stand by Naomi no matter what. Ruth shows her uncommon loyalty to an Israelite mother-in-law Naomi, despite their different ethnic cultures. Because of this attitude their circumstances change.

Pandemic impact

The pandemic has laid bare unfair injustices in race, the judicial system, health and poverty among other things.

However, whatever culture we belong to, we can be the catalyst for change if we stand together.

Going back to the Ministers of Colour protest march in the summer, one of the great things I've reflected on is that the marchers, just like in Martin Luther King Jr's days, consisted of black, brown, yellow and white, young and old Christians marching together for civil rights. It was beautiful to behold. We can all contribute to change.

In 1 John, it says: "Those who say, I love God, and hate their brothers or sisters are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen." The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must also love their brothers and sisters and stand alongside them. (1 John 4 verse 20).

We've been on marches, sports people have taken the knee, footballers will ban social media for a time to make a point. If they can stand together, we can stand together. We can make a difference. How do we stand together? Learn to love, learn to understand the issues, learn to lobby and campaign, learn to stand together.

The conviction of George Floyd's murderer doesn't mean we have reached the end of racial justice; it just means we are at the beginning. We've got such a long way to go, but we've started.

We won't have justice until all have justice.