Following the broadcast of an interview with Mr Kenneth Fraser, former Head of the Executive Office’s (TEO) Racial Equality Unit on BBC Northern Ireland’s The View on Thursday 24 November, representatives of the migrant and minority ethnic sector drafted a statement for public release. The statement commends Mr Fraser, and deplores the lack of racial literacy demonstrated by examples he cited during his interview. The statement further calls for "appropriate racial literacy training at every level of the civil service...tangible progress on the Racial Equality Strategy...ethnic monitoring" and the implementation of hate-crime law in Northern Ireland.
Without wishing to focus on the actions of any one individual, the MME Thinktank endorses this statement, and, in particular, calls upon decision makers urgently to address the institutional failure to act on numerous commitments made in this area over a period of years - indeed stretching now into decades.
The full text of the statement, including a list of organisations endorsing it as of today's date, can be downloaded below.
28 November 2022