Main content

Racial justice: Who are the allies?

Who can bolster black activists seeking meaningful change - and what is their role now?

Black protesters across the United States and the world have been joined by white people calling for lasting change in the way societies deal with systemic racism. But this isn’t the first time a cross-section of society has voiced its desire for radical action on race. In most instances calls for revolution die down and the moment brings only incremental change. So what else can history teach us? South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up after the fall of apartheid in the 1990's and was praised for its ability to bring to light the facts surrounding black oppression in the country. So are white allies of black and other ethnic minority communities in the US, UK and other countries gripped by protest now willing to engage with their own difficult truths? Will they embrace policies that target racial inequality and a greater redistribution of government funds - polices that would reduce their own families’ access to opportunity? As the economic crisis sparked by the pandemic leaves record numbers out of work, will the coalition of voters taking to the streets still have the same priorities when they go to the polls? When it comes to addressing systemic racism, who are the allies of black activists - and what is their role now?

Available now

53 minutes

Last on

Sat 13 Jun 2020 03:06GMT

Contributors

Ruby Sales - Veteran African-AmericanΒ human rights activist, public theologian and social critic who joined the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) as a teenager in the 1960s

Mark Naison - Professor of African-American Studies and History at Fordham University,Β The Jesuit University of New YorkΒ 

Kehinde Andrews - Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University and chair of the Organisation of Black Unity in the UK

Edward Webster - Emeritus Professor at the Southern Centre for Inequality Studies at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg in South Africa

Photo

A protester shouts to police officers during an "I can't breathe" vigil and rally in New York, following the death of African-American George Floyd. Reuters / Brendan McDermid.

Broadcasts

  • Fri 12 Jun 2020 09:06GMT
  • Fri 12 Jun 2020 23:06GMT
  • Sat 13 Jun 2020 03:06GMT

Featured in...

The Real Story Podcast

Subscribe via your favourite podcast app...

Podcast