A workplace culture where fathers are encouraged to take paternity leave would result in stronger families, a more equal labour market and a better economy.
David LammyRead
Like many black men growing up in London, I have been stopped and searched by several policemen. I was 12 years old when I was first groped and frisked by police for walking down the road. It terrified me so much I wet myself.
Interpretation
The quote exemplifies the fear and trauma experienced by individuals of certain demographics during encounters with law enforcement.
David Lammy's quote sheds light on the lived experiences of many black men, particularly in urban settings like London, who face unjust scrutiny and violations of their personal safety and dignity by police. The visceral description of fear and humiliation highlights the broader systemic issues of racism and the profound impact of such encounters on a young person's psyche.
In practice
During a speech about police reform, I shared this quote to highlight the personal impact of systemic racism.
A workplace culture where fathers are encouraged to take paternity leave would result in stronger families, a more equal labour market and a better economy.
People don't contest that I'm British as a black man, but they do contest that I'm English. Too many people are going back to an ethnocentric idea of what being English means.
We cannot afford to lose talented young black people, who make it to university, overseas, or worse, to let other talented black people be put off by the notion that university is somehow not for them.
The idea of a family sitting round the kitchen table and carefully planning their future family size based on the certainty of years to come is a complete fantasy. Back in the real world, jobs are lost, livelihoods taken away, families break apart, partners leave or pass away.
Many black youths are defying stereotypes, achieving good academic results, finding employment and contributing to their communities. But helping those who fall behind is not an exercise in political correctness, it is a precisely what a compassionate - and sensible - state should concern itself with.
Dads are not a risk to be managed, but a resource to be used for the benefit of the whole family.
You got to be brave. If you feel something, you've really got to risk it.
We call for the end of bigotry as we know it. The end of racism as we know it. The end of child abuse in the family as we know it. The end of sexism as we know it. The end of homophobia as we know it. We stand for freedom as we have yet to know it. And we will not be denied.
Cowardice asks the question, is it safe? Expediency asks the question, is it politic? Vanity asks the question, is it popular? But conscience asks the question, is it right? And there comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but one must take it because it is right.
What makes a heroine? I think I can answer that. A heroine is a woman who risks going too far in order to find out how far one can go for a cause greater than herself.
Wherever there was injustice, war, discrimination against women, gays and the disadvantaged, I did my best to show up and exert moral persuasion.
Freedom is a hard-bought thing and millions are in chains, but they strain toward the new day drawing near.
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