We are forgetting to remember, and so giving our permission for the killing of more BME people

At some point yesterday [21st March 2013] I became aware that I had not fallen across much in the media, political or public sector worlds which reflected the fact that it was the day on which we take time out to ponder racial discrimination, not as something far away but as something very close to home.

The day is backed by the United Nations and reminds us that in 1960 on the 21st of March, police opened fire and killed 69 people at a peaceful demonstration against the apartheid "pass laws" in Sharpeville, South Africa.  In 1966 the UN declared 21st March as the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination.

Some of us have used pivotal events like Sharpeville to provide a backstop to the work we do on identifying and eliminating discrimination.  In the UK we have the death of Stephen Lawrence to remind us of the racism which is part of the fabric of our own institutions and culture.  Part of our work is in reminding our colleagues, our neighbours, our families and friends that while apartheid and pass laws may have been ended in South Africa, while the Macpherson report into the death of Stephen Lawrence may have acted as a catalyst for real work starting in the UK on race equality, across the world and here in the UK, discrimination is still an everyday experience for far too many black minority ethnic people.  

Oddly, the ubiquity of smartphones and social media means we can now play and replay incidents of racism, and remind ourselves of the ugly reality that the country many of us call home is bigoted and racist.

I searched the internet for evidence that the opinion formers, the great and good, our public institutions, were using the UN Day to trigger some fresh thinking, some innovative actions with which to renew efforts on tackling the hydra-headed forms of racial discrimination taking place each day across the UK.

I looked on the web site of the Equality & Human Rights Commission.  Nothing.  Zilch.  Nada.  Same big fat zero on the web site of the Scottish Human Rights Commission.

The brothers and sisters of the STUC, the TUC, Unison and Unite had nothing on their web sites to affirm to visitors that fighting racism was part of the trade union agenda.  I browsed the web sites of Labour, Conservative, Lid Dem and SNP political parties.  Nothing.

I looked at the home pages of the Guardian, Telegraph, Glasgow Herald, Independent and Scotsman newspapers and found the same, nothing.  I looked at the home pages of the BBC, STV and Channel 4 news and found news landscape where racial discrimination is rarely featured.

I looked across our public institutions.  Scottish government, its Equalities Minister Alex Neil and its Equality Unit allowed the defining moment in world history of Sharpeville to go unremarked, as did our NHS, our city Councils, Cosla, the churches and many, many others.  Scotland's Parliament had nothing to say on the day and the business bulletin of the Parliament that day had no remembrance. 

We are forgetting to remember.

We are forgetting why we need to remember.

Sharpeville, 21st March, 1960

By forgetting to remember, we also forget the death of people at Sharpeville, the death of Stephen Lawrence, and the too many other deaths.

By forgetting those deaths and the lessons they taught us, we are giving our permission for the killing of more black minority ethnic people in years to come.