Plans for York to become first "anti racist city" in the North

A new 5 year strategy has been unveiled today

Author: Kathy GreenPublished 6th Jul 2023
Last updated 6th Jul 2023

Campaigners have come up with a new plan to tackle racism in York.

A new five year strategy is being unveiled today which includes asking businesses to sign an anti-racist pledge and running outreach programs for underrepresented groups.

It's hoped the project will mean York can become the first official "anti racist and exclusive" City in the North of England.

The campaign group Inclusive Equal Rights UK (IERUK) has developed the plan in partnership with academics from the Institute for Social Justice at York St John University.

Haddy Njie, Chair of IERUK, said: “This work matters because the data widely documents that racism in York is casual, systemic, and structural. It is manifested in many forms that disproportionately and negatively impacts the lives and livelihood of people of colour.”

She tells us the report makes for difficult reading: "It was incredibly painful, to see what we believed was the case, the evidence and the data, telling us our stories and our experiences, that we were right to think we have a serious issue in York."

"Subtle things happen on a day to day basis, I've talked about this where, taking a walk and you go past people and they sometimes hold their phones and bags, they will see them and they will on tighter to their stuff, or hold it onto the other side, giving the impression I am going to steal. We've been to supermarkets where we have been racially profiled and chased by the security, we've been to a restaurant and we were told they are not accepting people, when we could clearly see there are people seated, these things happen on a day to day basis, the micro aggressions, they subtle racism and it chips away at your confidence and self esteem."

You can sign the anti racism pledge here

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