MOTION FOR CHANGE
The City of York is the first in the North of England to declare to a commitment to become an Anti-Racist and Inclusive City. The motion was put forward by Haddy Njie and her organisation, Speak Up Diversity with the support and endorsements of several agencies across the city.
In October 2021, the motion was unopposed and approved by all City of York councillors from all political parties.
The overarching goal of the motion is to develop a long-term anti-racism and inclusion strategy and action plan for York. The action plan will provide an evidence-based set of initiatives to tackle and dismantle casual and systemic racism, promote equality and fairness and champion diversity and inclusion in the city of York.
The long-term anti-racism and inclusion strategy and action plan was submitted to the City of York Council in July 2023 which was unanimously ratified and approved.
Creating an Inclusive City that tackles Casual and Systemic Racism –
Making York an Anti-Racist and Inclusive City
Council notes that York and North Yorkshire has seen a 239% increase in race-related recorded hate crime since 2010, increasing from 152 to 515 incidents last year. See below Appendix
IT FURTHER NOTES THAT:
York is the UK’s first Human Rights City;
race-related hate crimes tend to account for around 60% to 80% of all local hate crimes each year;
systemic racism continues to affect the lives of those significantly and disproportionately from marginalised ethnic and refugee communities;
marginalised ethnic groups continue to be under-represented in local governance structures;
despite the efforts of many agencies, racism remains a problem in York.
COUNCIL BELIEVES THAT:
racism is detrimental not just to those who suffer from it directly but to whole communities across our city;
rising race-related hate crime highlights why tackling racism must be prioritised;
taking urgent actions to make York an anti-racist and inclusive city will send an important message about how civic leaders want York to be seen locally, nationally and internationally;
working collaboratively, by engaging representation from marginalised ethnic groups to formulate and implement a long-term anti-racism and inclusion strategy and action plan, is an important first step that this council can take to help tackle racism.
Council resolves to aspire to make York an Anti-Racist and Inclusive City, and requests that Executive:
1) supports the setting up within three months of an independent, ethnically diverse and intersectional working group, to include people with lived experiences, that will: work to its own terms of reference, collaboratively develop and implement a long-term anti-racism and inclusion strategy and action plan for the city that:
identifies, acknowledges, and tackles structural barriers to understanding the impacts of racism and to implement change in all public bodies in our city;
identifies, acknowledges, and works to tackle institutional racism wherever it exists in all public bodies in our city;
encourages the participation of marginalised ethnic groups in all aspects of civic and city life;
works to ensure equitable representation from marginalised ethnic groups in local governance;
ensures equal access for those same groups to health (including mental health) and social services;
ensures that the narratives and visibility of York's history are acknowledged and that citizens from marginalised ethnic groups are promoted and celebrated for what they have to offer
2) agree to receive the strategy and action plan after 12 months and act swiftly to implement the latter; and
3) collaborates with the working group to assess what resource it will require to support it in producing the strategy and action plan before bringing a resourcing proposal back to Council.
APPENDIX
Strands of Hate Crime
MESSAGE 1
Race is consistently the dominant type of recorded Hate Crime.
MESSAGE 2
There has been a 239% rise in race-related recorded Hates Crimes since 2010. The 2021 data only represents the first three months of the year.
Source: North Yorkshire Police. Data received in March 2021.