Thread by @BameFor

Not one African Caribbean individual or community organisation has been consulted or involved in the recruitment process for the New Met Commissioner. This is in a city where 2m people are of African descent. bit.ly/3ablzeM @ukhomeoffice @CollegeofPolice @TheVoiceNews

This is a fundamental error when considering the profound crisis in relations between the @metpoliceuk and London's African, Asian and Caribbean communities. A group of predominantly white men will be responsible for assessing the two candidates' understanding of institutional...

..racism and let's remind ourselves institutional racism is a reality that is totally rejected by @BorisJohnson @pritipatel and @kitmalthouse The @MayorofLondon is more sympathetic but even he has been sidelined in this whole process rendered silent by his @TfL budget crisis...

So the reality is @pritipatel and @BorisJohnson will decide on the successful candidate, with the @MayorofLondon having no more than a lukewarm consultation role. Of course, the Mayor could dig in, however on race, but given his budget woes, he may choose to keep quiet.

The Tories have once again misread the room and have no idea how strained and angry relations between the Met and Londons black communities are right now. The intergenerational seeds of anger and distrust are already sown. The cumulative impact and effect of over a decade of...

...has resulted in relations today that are in many ways worse than they were in 1981. One incident, be it black women and children being violently arrested, a black death in police custody, violent respect, trust and confidence, or a violent #StopandSearch gone viral...

...could be the spark that sees the fire next time. Boris has been responsible for this crisis as both Mayor of London and PM. Boris declared in a 2010 report into racism at the Met entitled... The Race and Faith Report that the Met was no longer intentionally racist.

London Mayor Mr Johnson said 'The report asks "have we discovered a wholly dysfunctional, institutionally racist organisation, riddled with conscious and unconscious bias and prejudice".

'And concludes, "no, unquestionably we have not".

dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1…

Boris's declaration was followed by a massive 300% upsurge in stop and search his declaration gave support and a green light to Met police racism. What followed? Well, we all know what happened in 2011. Since then, we've endured a decade of denials from...

...successive Boris appointed Met Commissioners, Sir Paul Stephenson, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, and Dame Cressida Dick, maintained the Mayoral line throughout the last decade. A decade that has seen the successive year-on-year deterioration of relations, unprecedented decline...

Here's the last six-year trend charting the massive decline in public trust in the @metpoliceuk

In March 2022, 49% of people agreed that the police were doing a good job in their local area (down 11% from last year). That the police are dealing with the things that matter to their community was 60% (down 12% ) and the police treat everyone fairly was 62% (down 11%).

And here's why allowing the issue of institutional racism in the Met to go unchecked is very bad for the UK. London's African and Asian communities are growing and growing fast. The 10 yr long intergenerational nature of the crisis means this inevitability is now priced in.

Now add to this combustible scenario the fact that the Met has a long historical backlog of horrendous cases of racism, misogyny, and Islamophobia not in the public domain that will plague any new Commissioner from day one and you can see how their destiny is already set.

You can see the overall trends here and they do not look good. All the lights are flashing red at this time.

london.gov.uk/what-we-do/may…

The @MayorofLondon has recognized the reality of this crisis whilst @BorisJohnson and @pritipatel refuse to do so. The Mayor's plan is a good but insufficient response to racism. It's simply not radical enough - though tbf Khan's restraint is Boris's
bbc.co.uk/news/uk-englan…

..refusal to acknowledge institutional racism is real. If you want to detail Johnson's record on race as Mayor of London, you can do so here... The Watermelon Files. Boris Johnson's record on racism...leejasper.blogspot.com/2019/11/the-wa…

The decision of who is the Met's new Commissioner is so important, and whoever gets the job must resist the siren call of the Gov to reject the realities of institutional racism in policing from day one or face immediate opposition from Black Londoners.
voice-online.co.uk/opinion/commen…