Lewisham Anti-Racist Action Group (LARAG) have a public meeting coming up on Tuesday October 2nd from 7pm at Goldsmiths College, New Cross.
The meeting will be on the subject ‘Who Polices the police’ and will feature a short film, then a discussion with Marcia Rigg-Samuel (brother of Sean Rigg) and a speaker from the campaign group Inquest. LARAG say 'This is an important meeting given no police officer has been successfully prosecuted despite 1439 deaths in custody or following police contact since 1990, of which 199 were from the black and minority ethnic community'.
Sean Rigg, aged 40, died at Brixton police station in 2008 shortly after being arrested and restrained. At the inquest into his death at Southwark Coroners Court last month, the Jury criticised both the Police and South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (Sean was being treated for schizophrenia).
The meeting will be on the subject ‘Who Polices the police’ and will feature a short film, then a discussion with Marcia Rigg-Samuel (brother of Sean Rigg) and a speaker from the campaign group Inquest. LARAG say 'This is an important meeting given no police officer has been successfully prosecuted despite 1439 deaths in custody or following police contact since 1990, of which 199 were from the black and minority ethnic community'.
Sean Rigg, aged 40, died at Brixton police station in 2008 shortly after being arrested and restrained. At the inquest into his death at Southwark Coroners Court last month, the Jury criticised both the Police and South London and Maudsley NHS Trust (Sean was being treated for schizophrenia).
Don't get me wrong, I admire LARAG - and the way they stood up to the NF in the 1970s and continue to be vigilant today. But could that statement be expanded, please. If it relevant to say how many of that shocking total figure of nearly fifteen hundred deaths in police custody are from the BEM population (approx 15% doing the rough sums in my head) it has to be stated in the context of how many from the Black and Ethnic Minorities have been taken in into custody over that period as a percentage of the total so one can see whether the figure 199 is disproportionate.
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