One year on, what have we done to combat racism in our community?
One year on from the death of George Floyd and the BLM protests, and in light of the recent death of Daunte Wright and others throughout the year, JW3 and JCORE revisited our discussion about how we can tackle racism in the Jewish community and the broader society. We discussed what had been done in the past year and ask what still needs to happen to ensure an equitable society for all.
We heard from Lord Simon Woolley (Founder and Director of Operation Black Vote), Stephen Bush (New Statesman & Board of Deputies Commission on Racial Inclusivity) and Dr Edie Friedman (Founder and Director of JCORE). The discussion was chaired by journalist Nadine Batchelor-Hunt.
Nadine Batchelor-Hunt
Nadine Batchelor-Hunt is a UK-based writer and journalist who has been vocal about the importance of embracing her identity as a Jewish woman of colour, and of tackling antisemitism and racism respectively within Black and Jewish communities. Nadine currently works as a political correspondent for Politics JOE UK.
Lord Simon Woolley
Lord Simon Woolley is the Director and one of founders of Operation Black Vote, a national and internationally renowned race equality organisation.
In the last 25 years Lord Woolley has helped transform our political and civic institutions, ensuring they are inclusive and representative. In 1996 there were 4 BAME MP’s now there are 65. In 2017 Operation Black Vote, launched the ground breaking-The Colour of Power, the most in-depth look at the racial make-up of Britain's top jobs across 28 sectors that dominate British society. Lord Woolley is seen as the inspiration and one of the architects for the United Kingdom’s Race Disparity Unit and served as the Advisory Chair since its inception.
Lord Woolley received a Knighthood in the 2019 Birthday Honours for his services to race equality and was nominated for a life peerage in the same year.
Dr Edie Friedman
Dr. Edie Friedman was born in Chicago. A student in the 1960's, she was heavily influenced by the civil rights and peace movements. She came to England to study in Leeds and subsequently worked for Oxfam and the Community Relations Council in Ealing, west London. In 1976 she founded the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE), of which she is now the executive director. In 2008 she co-authored Reluctant Refuge - The Story of Asylum in Britain. She has also authored and co-authored a series of race equality education resources covering the primary school to adult age ranges. She is a ‘distinguished friend’ of the Migration Museum and is a regular speaker and writer on race and asylum issues.
Stephen Bush
Stephen Bush is the political editor of the New Statesman. He is a journalist, political commentator and podcaster, who has also written for the Guardian, the Financial Times and the i, and is the Chair of the Board of Deputies' Commission on Racial Inclusivity in the Jewish Community.