Basingstoke ObserverTHE 9th of June marked the second anniversary of Basingstoke Unites Against Racism (BUAR).
Stop and search ethnicity facts and figures published on 27th May indicated that in England and Wales between April 2020 and March 2021 there were 697,405 searches in England and Wales, excluding vehicle searches.
There were 7.5 stop and searches for every 1000 white people, compared with 52.6 for every 1000 black people. Effie Blankson, co-founder of BUAR, in her speech remarked: “Make no mistake. The facts are clear. The disproportionate numbers of black people stopped and searched is as alarming as it was over a decade ago which is why we have made no apologies when we began on this journey to prioritise our black youth in arming them with the knowledge of their rights and responsibilities in this event. It is a matter of life and death. Nonetheless the vision is to empower each one of us regardless of race and ethnicity. If we are to teach our youth on true allyship then we must equally equip them.”
Together with Queen Mary’s College (QMC) and Hampshire Constabulary, the stop and search awareness advocate scheme was launched at QMC. This adds to the already successful youth awareness workshops that have run in the last couple of years within our secondary schools and colleges.
Katherine Bejide, a teacher of psychology at QMC who spearheaded the advocate model reflected on how discussions around negative experiences between the youth and the police led to the creation of this model.
The model, currently aimed at secondary school and college young people, will enable police and young people to grow and help with learning on both sides regarding stop and search and stop and account. Through the model, schools can have a designated member of staff within their team who is trained in understanding the process. Young people know there is somebody in house for them who will be their champions in the event something goes wrong. She reiterated: “It’s not about catching anybody out, this model is to ensure care of our young people, open communication with the police and equal access to knowledge about their rights. To be an advocate is to ensure transparency, accountability, education, a safe space and a bridge. I believe it’s the first of its kind. As a model, it’s unique and most importantly it demonstrates the power of community and teamwork.”
Superintendent Karen McManus, former District Commander of Basingstoke commented: “The local BAME inquiry gave the police a good starting point. We welcome the challenge and thanks for being so challenging in your questioning of us, making us stop and think. It has made us try to do better all the time to effectively serve you.”
Deputy Chief Constable Ben Snuggs added: “Stop and search is a really important tactic. It receives bad press largely because of what the police over the years have done or not done and I’m delighted to see such a positive and proactive way of us explaining what we do, how we do it and being open minded when we don’t do well enough.”
Martin Flood from BUAR who designed the logo explained, the logo created speaks of all the beautiful multifaceted colours of humanity working together to actually build something beautiful more beautiful than exists already. He also remarked “for those of us in the majority culture from which I know I am part and from where I speak it should not be that we only speak about the things that make us comfortable or uncomfortable. If we see pain, grieving in our family which is all of humanity we should grieve too and share that burden. We need a shift from not just being well I’m not racist to I’m absolutely anti-racist”.
The Stop and Search Awareness Programme is a holistic one that will see the youth awareness workshop run yearly and advocates working all year round to help our youth feel confident.
The view is to roll this out to the rest of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and nationally in coming years.
It is a great move for Basingstoke to be leading on such a significant initiative. Advocates who have been trained, officially graduated. Each one received a 100-pack of GO WISELY cards for distribution, a website link for resources, a lapel pin to be easily identified in their schools and granted use of the logo on their website. Seven schools are currently signed up including QMC, BCoT, The Vyne, Brighton Hill, Aldworth College, Ashwood Academy and Bishop Challoner.
You can see the launch tomorrow, Friday 24 June on BBC South Today.
Find out how you can get involved by visiting www.basingstokeunitesagainstracism.com.
By Effie Blankson
