At the end of June the first Black-led, majority Black and people of colour (BPOC) organisation in Europe, Systemic Justice, who work with community partners for racial, social, and economic justice through strategic litigation curated an amazing space for all things racial justice! To support organisational thinking in the development of BSWN’s racial justice approach to its Access to Justice work strand, BSWN’s director Sado Jirde and Dr Barbara Brown attended the Community Visions for Liberation – Towards Racial, Social and Economic Justice in Europe Conference, which brought together researchers, creatives, activists, and racial justice practice from across all disciplines opening up learning, sharing research outcomes, creating new connects and building coalitions for action.
The jam-packed agenda took us on a journey of understanding and planning against systemic injustices including climate justice, strategic litigation, mapping deaths in police custody in Europe as well as surfacing harms of racial injustice and building strategies of resistance. Held in Berlin, delegates came from across Europe sharing experiences of building evidence to tell our stories of injustice and how alliances across communities and borders can support in fighting for racial justice. Systemic Justice managed the space well by balancing the demand of the work with gently restorative inspiration, through spoken word performances, musical renditions, art spaces, beautifully nourishing community commissioned food and open spaces for discussion and reflection.
Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice, International Women* Space and Weaving Liberation followed with the European Colour of Surveillance Conference focusing on liberation practices in times of fascism. The work over two days centred around migrant justice organising with regard to digital surveillance across Europe. It was sobering to hear of the development and practice of policies that support the marginalisation of Black and racially minoritised people specially relating to migration and movement. We were left with the truth that there is still so much to do within the space of racial justice – and we cannot do it alone.
Photo of the panelists at the ‘Organising for Migration justice in Germany under (digital) surveillance’
BSWN has recently launched a pilot project led by Dr Barbara Brown, which seeks to understand and address systemic racism at a strategic and policy level, building from our Race and Justice Conference where the co-produced question was positioned - ‘In an ideal world, what can we do to achieve racial justice and better access to justice?’.
The project seeks to position racial justice outcomes by testing them against the Public Sector Equality Duty (PSED) responsibilities within the areas of health and education. The aim of this project is to apply scrutiny to responsibilities held under the PSED in key areas of the public sector such as health and education as it relates to outcomes and impact for racial equity. Using the PSED, we will map and prioritise current policy and practice outcomes within these sectors, creating accountability processes for change based on emergent evidence and developing ambitions for racial justice.
Our purpose is to unearth the disparity that exists for our communities in organisations that are funded to positively advance outcomes for Black and racially minoritised communities, and where disparity exists through policy or practice shortfall, to name it. This project seeks to respond to the collective voice of the community[1] for better outcomes, by using the public sectors own strategic and legal framework to lever conversations of accountability. This is a strong call to action. We welcome alliances with experts in understanding race disparity within the areas of health and education, and encourage members of our communities with experiences of disparity or interest in racial justice to sign up for more information.
[1] BSWN Race and Justice Conference September 2023