City's vow to stand up to racism

August riot did not reflect "Janner spirit" but Plymouth still has a journey ahead

Plymouth councillors have vowed to stand up to racism, hate and violence in the city and promote community cohesion.

They say riots at the beginning of August did not reflect the values and opinions of most residents or the “Janner spirit”.

But at a full council meeting this week councillors shared their experiences of racism in the city, admitting that even though Plymouth had come along way from the 1970s, it still had a journey ahead.

The city was one nationally which became a target for protests following a knife attack in Southport which left three little girls dead. Fuelled by misinformation about the identity of the attacker on social media, anti-immigration and anti-racism protesters confronted each other in Royal Parade and violence broke out.

One hundred and fifty officers in riot gear were sent to deal with the incident, following which 26 people were charged in connection with the violence and damage and 19 have been sentenced.

Council leaders described the riots as “thuggery on tour” with many coming from outside the city.

In a motion this week Cllr Daniel Steel (Lab, Plymstock Radford) called for the council to ask the government for a robust counter–extremism strategy to identify and address the drivers of violence and for annual funding for Plymouth’s Community Safety Partnership to identify people susceptible to radicalisation and vulnerable groups.

He also asked that all councillors undertake equality and diversity training and that all schools be encouraged to use a new Plymouth syllabus for religious education to promote understanding of different communities and encourage respect, tolerance, and willingness to learn from others.

Cllr Steel said damage was caused not just to people’s property on the night of violence but to their sense of safety.

“What happened that night is not a true reflection of the Janner spirit. Plymouth is and always should be a proud and outwardly looking city,” he said.

But Cllr Maria Lawson (Lab, Plymstock Dunstone) spoke of the fear she had for her teenage black son and his friends that night.

She told councillors of the “open and covert” discrimination and racism suffered by her child throughout his life at school, on the football pitch and whilst shopping.

She said he had suffered name calling and been followed by security guards. He had questioned his sense of belonging and identity and didn’t seem to understand he was black British, she said.

She said her British born husband ‘s parents had come to England from Jamaica to answer a call from the mother country to help the NHS.

“Britain encouraged people to travel by boat to England to fill the void in workforce and help build the country after the second world war. They travelled with hope and a sense of duty to a country which needed them.”

A nurse for 41 years in Plymouth, Cllr Lawson said she also had the privilege of working with a global workforce, many of whom now felt unsafe and uncomfortable travelling to and from work on public transport.

Cllr Bill Stevens (Lab, Devonport) said as a child growing up in the 1970s in Ernesettle, he and his father, who was from an ethnic minority group, suffered abuse for “looking and sounding a little bit different”.

But he added: “We have made enormous progress in the city. My young children do not give their schoolfriends’ ethnicity a second though and that makes me proud as a parent and of our education system and our city.

“Having seen that progress, there is no way I am going to let anyone turn the clock back.”

Cabinet member for housing, cooperative development and communities Chris Penberthy (Lab, St Peter and the Waterfront) added: “We talk about a welcoming city where everyone can feel at home and from the position of white privilege it might be how to us it looks to us

“I know the city has changed, but the experience Cllr Lawson told us about is not uncommon.”

He said discussions with the police two years ago about hate crime revealed racist experience from “just about every school in Plymouth”.

“At the weekend Cllr Jemima Laing and I saw a young black man racially abused by a Janner-sounding drunk man.

“Despite everything we wish for, the city still has a journey to go on.

“We have to continue to seek change and to be the change in order that this is a city is welcoming to people of all colours and all races, people with and without disabilities, to women, men, young and old and people of different genders and sexuality.”

Cllr Tess Blight (Lab, Eggbuckland) highlighted the work of Global Plymouth’s international dinner, which brought together 60 to 100 guests every month, with 48 countries represented, and the Plymouth Centre for Faiths and Cultural Diversity which visits schools and arranged meetings between students and local people with different religious beliefs and diverse backgrounds.

Members supported Cllr Steel’s motion, which also recognised the contribution council officers, the police,  court and Crown Prosecution Service staff made to ensure public safety, clean up the city and bring the perpetrators to justice.

Plymouth will receive £600,000 from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government in response to August's disorder.

It is part of a £15 million Community Recovery Fund intended to support people in cities affected by the unrest.

Riots and demonstrations took place in 27 towns and cities, promoted and attended by far-right activists fuelled by false rumours the suspect for killing three children was a Muslim asylum seeker.