MP Dawn Butler has launched a new Parliamentary Black Caucus to tackle racial inequality as she says the UK is in a "scary place" and "difficult conversations" need to be had
A cross-party Parliamentary Black Caucus has been launched with aims to fight racial inequality and band together against "those stoking divisions".
Founding chair, Labour MP for Brent East Dawn Butler says the group will unite Black and minoritised politicians after being inspired by the US Congressional Black Caucus founded in 1971, which put forward legislation and policy to achieve equality for African Americans.
Ms Butler says that sensible conversations about racial inequality need to be had
Speaking to The Mirror, Ms Butler said: "Some people are deliberately stoking divisions for their own personal gain so it is incumbent on the rest of us to band together because the bad guys are banding together. Working class people and Black people historically always have a lot more in common than those at the very top - the one per cent, and I think we have to get back to that.
"This is about looking factually at society and the structural inequalities that exist and then having sensible conversations about how we make the country fairer. At the moment there is structural racism embedded in some of our systems. Some of deliberately, some of it unconscious".
The MP stated that equality across the board was under attack after a recent study by Ipsos UK and the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership at King’s College London found 47 percent of Britons say that women's rights had "gone far enough", leaving little optimism for the rights of Black people.
Ms Butler said: "Right now we’re in a very scary place where rights are being rolled back and people are saying things have gone too far.
"47 percent are saying women's equality has gone to far. Can you imagine what they’re saying about Black and minoritised groups?"
Ms Butler, who was the first African-Caribbean woman to become a Government Minister in the UK added that although some people may see her achievements and believe that Black people are already succeeding, it wasn't about "getting a position and pulling up the ladder".
She said: "This isn’t about whose in front, whose leading, whose, 'I’m alright Jack'. It isn’t about that and that’s why you can't do it as an individual. This is about structural inequalities that exist and how we can make the country fairer for all.
"It isn’t about one person and 'you’re alright so why are you bothering?'. Some people are like that and are happy to get to a position and pull the ladder up, that’s not what this is about."
Members of the new Black Caucus include the first Black female MP and the Mother of the House Diane Abbott, Labour MP for Norwich South Clive Lewis, Labour MP for Brixton Hill and Clapham Bell Ribeiro-Addy as well as Simon Wooley, Lord Woolley of Woodford.
The group is set to convene for their first meeting at the end of the month as they hope to hold debate in parliament and in the House of Commons, with hopes of discussing issues such as sentencing and other matters that concern Black and minoritised people.
The MP said: "We have to look to talk about it so everybody comes on board because the name of the game is about fairness, equality and equity."