Islington Council launches programme to tackle inequality, racism and injustice

The tragic deaths of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on Black and minority ethnic communities have unmasked the systematic racism and inequality that continue to exist in society. The council is committed to challenging inequality, racism and injustice in Islington, to making its community, services and workplace fairer.

This means a borough that is safe for everyone to live and work in, a borough that provides the best possible start in life so that everyone growing up in Islington has the same chances in life, and a borough where the council listens to the concerns of our communities, learn from them and acts.

The council’s new Challenging Inequality programme sets out how it will achieve this. Initial commitments include:

• Ensuring we lead the way as an exemplar employer tackling issues around recruitment and selection, staff development and ensuring we have a representative workforce at all levels of the organisation
• Working with partner organisations to ensure we are collectively working towards tackling racism, inequality and injustice
• Ensuring our Covid-19 recovery plans focus on supporting Black and ethnic minority communities and other disadvantaged groups
• Working with the police to understand the reasons for the high rates of stop and search for the Black community and what we can do to address this
• Investigating the history and origins of all statues, artworks and heritage plaques across the borough to ensure they do not represent issues and events which go against Islington’s long history of equality and fairness
• Working with schools to ensure the school curriculum highlights issues of racism, inequality and injustice and is honest about the role of Britain in history
• Creating forums for staff and the community to engage with and be at the heart of our challenging inequality programme

You can read more about our initial commitments on the council website.  If you have any thoughts on things we should consider doing to tackle inequality, please email equalities@islington.gov.uk

Cllr Una O’Halloran, Islington Council’s executive member for community development, said: “We’re strongly committed to challenging inequality, racism and injustice, and creating a fairer Islington for all.

“Racism and injustice are huge issues in the UK and their effects can be felt across our communities.  We want Islington to be a fairer, better place, where Black and minority ethnic people and all disadvantaged groups are safe, get the best possible start in life and have the same life chances, and where their concerns are heard.

“Our new Challenging Inequality commitments set out how we will work with other organisations and Black and minority ethnic residents and all disadvantaged groups to challenge inequality, racism and injustice and drive change.”