Inspiring Social Change Through Race Equality

Bangor School of History, Law and Social Sciences teamed up with Race Council Cymru on Monday 19 July 2021 to host an event Inspiring Social Change Through Race Equality.  It was a tribute to the significance of the subject - highlighted over the last sixteen months by the Covid-19 pandemic, BLM protests and, more recently, the racist aftermath of the World Cup and Hamilton’s Silverstone Formula 1 win -  that the event attracted so many influential speakers. The event was opened by Judge Singh CBE, chair of Race Council Cymru and  the first ethnic minority judge on the Welsh Bench and chair of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Commission, followed by

by an endorsement by Jane Hutt AM, who spoke about the Welsh Assembly’s commitment to working towards Fairness and Equality and to respond proactively to scientific research knowledge and recommendations to create an anti-racist Wales through the new administerial office for Social Justice.

The audience then heard a moving account of a succession of racial abuse incidents and a recent brutal racist attack in Bangor, that highlighted poignantly the lived realities of difference and the ongoing fear of racism and of racist attacks that many people have to endure in our communities which

The day was designed as an inspirational event, publicising the important work that is taking place at government, community and educational settings.

Keynote speakers included: Professor Emmanuel Ogbonna, who discussed Wales’s Race Equality Action Plan, and and Professor Charlotte Williams OBE. Professor Ogbonna is a member of the First Minister’s BAME Covid-19 advisory group, chair of the Black, Asian and minority ethnic Covid-19 socio-economic subgroup, and is Chair of the steering group developing the first All-Wales Race Equality Action Plan.  He eloquently highlighted the importance of developing policy through involving community members at all levels to help develop an effective policy and calling on those involved in working for social justice to ”be that beacon of light”.  Professor Charlotte Williams OBE has recently headed the working group ‘Communities, Contributions and Cynefin: Black Asian Minority Ethnicities in the new curriculum'. This group, which reported in March 2021, is set to have far reaching impacts, embedding the themes and experiences of ethnic minorities into the national curriculum in Wales. Taking an holistic community and curriculum educational approach spanning all subject areas it is due to be introduced in Primary and Secondary schools in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

In the Words of Dr Marian Gwyn, RCC,“To have the event opened by Jane Hutt, Minister for Social Justice, was such an endorsement, and to have the support of Judge Ray Singh, Prof Emmanuel Ogbonna and Prof Charlotte Williams, was just superb”.

Other contributors included Nneka MacGregor from Canada, an Intersectional, anti-carceral, abolitionist feminist and co-founder and Executive Director of the Women’s Centre for Social Justice (WomenatthecentrE). Neka talked about empowering women through social action. Dr Omotolani Somoye, Black History Officer for Race Council Cymru,  talked about celebrating diversity through engagement with local communities.  Dr Corinna Patterson’s presentation discussed decolonising the curriculum and provided information about the work being done within the School of History Law and Social Sciences and more broadly within and by Bangor University and identified where change is still needed.

Two recent graduates  provided excellent examples of recent important work carried out in the School. : Isabelle Middleton, examined whether the British Museum’s recent attempts to contextualise and address its artifacts and their acquisition go far enough and Kayleigh Manton addressed the role of social movements and the role digitization is playing in evidencing behaviours, events and in generating movements. The vevent was rounded off by Dr Dana Brabocova reported on some preliminary findings of the WISERD/Bangor project ’Borders, boundary mechanisms and migration’, exploring how the pervasiveness of structural racism continues to create disadvantages against the Roma minority in the Czech Republic.

In summing up the event Dr Marian Gwyn had this to say, “I am delighted to confirm that the event was a huge success; it brought together so many people – those from the highest level of state, academics, the professions, students and grassroots activists – to share their knowledge and to encourage learning and action. Responses have been hugely positive. But action is what matters; let us at least hope that we have inspired some positive change after today”.

Publication date: 25 August 2021