UCU: Reparative justice and the rise of anti-Black racism

Motion

Motion text: Congress notes
1. UN experts issued a warning that people of African descent continue to encounter racial discrimination and erosion of their fundamental rights in the UK. Discrimination is structural, institutional and systemic.
2. A UCL report found psychological distress significantly increased among people of Black Caribbean heritage after the 2014 Immigration Act, and after the Windrush scandal.
Congress believes
a. UCU has a duty to explicitly acknowledge and confront anti-Black racism across our union and post 16 education sectors.
b. Congress further believes UCU policy on Reparative Justice, Black women, intersectionality and equity must be grounded in an understanding of the legacy of the enslavement of Afrikan people, colonialism, continuing structures of racial hierarchy, misogynoir and Afrophobia.
Congress resolves to:
i. commission research into anti-Black racism to inform a national campaign on Reparative Justice
ii. embed anti-Black racism in training/CPD
iii. gather evidence on the lived experiences of Afrikan and Caribbean heritage members