Northamptonshire Police invited to discuss #BlackLivesMatter on social justice talk show

A Northamptonshire Police superintendent was invited to take part in a talk show last week where young people were able to air their concerns about racism and social justice.

Superintendent Dennis Murray joined Dalitso Tembo & Rumbi Mukoyi from African Youth Arise (AYA) as well as Benjamin Humanise from Active Horizons as part of a panel on Rumbidzai Bvunzawabaya’s live talk show last week.

Rumbidzai Bvunzawabaya is a solicitor with an interest in social issues that affect the diaspora communities. Her talk show covers all manner of topics with stories from real people and the challenges they face.

Last week's show focused on the #BlackLivesMatter movement and included young people talking about how they have been affected by racism and unconscious bias as well as presentations from professionals on topics including the impact of peaceful protests.

The invite to take part was extended to Northamptonshire Police after the two youth organisations facilitated an online workshop themed ‘Know Your Rights’ for over 50 young people on June 7.

The purpose of the workshop was to create a platform where young people could air their views regarding the #BlackLivesMatter movement and initiate a dialogue with different organisations. As part of the workshop, Inspector Robert Offord from Northamptonshire Police attended and talked about how the police can support the current protests. A barrister was also on hand to educate young people on their legal rights.

Superintendent Murray was invited onto this week’s talk show to answer questions from the young people including ones on stop search, how we are policing the protests and what the Force is doing to combat inequality.

Superintendent Murray, said: "I was really pleased to be invited onto Rumbi's talk show and there was some really thoughtful and insightful questions from the young people taking part.

"It's really important to us as a Force to understand how the police and our communities can work together to tackle the issues at hand here and there was a real appetite last week from the young people to get involved and help influence policy in the future which can only be a good thing." 

Rumbi Mukoyi, Founder of African Youth Arise (AYA) said “We need to break the barriers between the police and young people from the black community by initiating a continuous dialogue and hopefully increase transparency on how police deal with these matters. 

“It is important to create a platform for our young people to air their concerns as they are disproportionately affected by stop & search, racism and social injustice.

“We need to equip and educate young people on how to participate in societal issues which will enable them to implement change that they want to see.

“Black Lives Matter - now is the time and this cannot wait.”