Worthing councillors vote down Black Lives Matter motion
One called for the debate to be stopped for 'contempt of court' reasons
A Worthing councillor tried to stop a debate about Black Lives Matter, saying that talking about the death of George Floyd would be ‘contempt of court’.
Noel Atkins made his astonishing claim during a meeting on Tuesday (October 20) after Henna Chowdhury – the borough’s only non-white councillor – tabled a motion calling on the council to ‘stand in complete solidarity with black people in America, in Britain and around the world’.
Mr Atkins (Con, Salvington) said: “This motion is sub judice, and that means Latin for ‘under a judge’.
“Discussion constitutes contempt of court and carries an unlimited fine or two years’ imprisonment.
“An organisation in New Zealand were thus fined for beaching sub judice.
“I therefore believe this motion should be withdrawn.”
Mr Atkins was unable to provide evidence to back up his claim and, unsurprisingly, it was pointed out that Worthing does not fall within the jurisdictions of courts in the USA.
The issue of racism was raised a number of times during the meeting and the council did not cover itself in glory during the discussions.
The Black Lives Matter motion was voted down by 19 votes to 14 with three abstentions.
As well as the call for solidarity, it called on the council to write to the government to address the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on the BAME community; and to work with Sussex police to ensure policing was ‘proportionate and fair to all residents’.
Kevin Jenkins (Con, Gaisford) said he was ‘troubled’ by the wording and was worried that it ‘risked raising anxieties within our community which are unfounded’.
He was given short shrift by Carl Walker (Lab, Selden) who said those anxieties were real, adding “We don’t feel them because we are shielded by privilege.
“We’re an overwhelmingly white council.
“The problem is not that we inflame anxieties, the problem is that we just cut ourselves off and don’t hear these anxieties.”
Mark Withers (UKIP, Northbrook) acknowledged there was ‘still much work to be done to combat racism in the UK’ but did not want to see the council aligned with the BLM organisation, calling the group ‘radical’ and linking it to anti-Semitism.
Shaking as she spoke, Ms Chowdhury described the vile name calling, abuse and calls to ‘go home’ faced on a daily basis by non-white people.
She told her fellow councillors that they were ‘very privileged because they can do anything they want and they can never be picked on. But we get picked on all the time’.
Earlier in the meeting, Paul High (Con, Heene) tabled a similar motion reaffirming the council’s commitment to condemn racism and make sure local groups had all they needed ‘to fight and prevent racism and xenophobia’.
His inclusion of a comment from the Prime Minister raised hackles with some, who spoke about ‘racist comments’ made by Boris Johnson in the past.
A number of amendments were proposed by Helen Silman (Lab, Heene), removing mention of Mr Johnson, acknowledging that there was more work to be done to fight racism, and committing the council to remove the disadvantages experienced by BAME people across the borough.
None of those amendments were agreed and the entire Labour contingent voted against Mr High’s original motion.