Southall Black Sisters are organising a public meeting to raise awareness about Black women’s experiences of institutional racism in the criminal justice system and the duality of over-policing and under-protection they are subjected to.
In September last year, our Executive Director Selma Taha and her friends, Divina Riggon and Danae Thomas, were subjected to an extremely violent racist attack while on the London Underground, in the presence of an off-duty Met police officer. This included the assailant, a white woman, making monkey sounds at Selma and her friends, and calling them “Black bitches” and “slaves” among other vile racist slurs. The assailant subsequently attacked Selma and her friends, pulling clumps of hair off Selma and Danae and biting Selma’s flesh, leaving a deeply embedded imprint of her teeth which necessitated tetanus and hepatitis injections and antibiotics.
In a shocking development, a few months after the incident, the Crown Prosecution Service made the decision to charge Selma, Divina and Danae with common assault by beating. Divina and Danae had also been charged with public order offences, with racial aggravation for Danae, in relation to alleged conduct towards a white British Transport Police officer on the platform at King’s Cross after disembarking from the tube, which were eventually dropped on 2nd July 2024. The assailant was offered and has accepted a caution for racially aggravated conduct in relation to one instance of racist abuse. No further action is to be taken against her in relation to the assault or other instances of racist abuse by her during the incident.
The CPS intended to pursue prosecution against all three for the charge of common assault by beating. However, on the first day of trial, 10th July 2024, the CPS finally dropped this charge citing ‘not enough evidence to provide a realistic prospect of conviction’. In the interim, in a highly unusual move, the CPS made applications for special measures such as screens and reporting restrictions to protect the anonymity of the police officers involved, which were rightfully denied.
While the discontinuance of the racist charges against Selma, Divina and Danae – the KingsCross3 – should be celebrated, their case has demonstrated the depth of the issue of Black women being disbelieved and criminalised when they resist abuse. There is an urgent need to demand accountability from the criminal justice system, in the KingsCross3’s case as also in response to the historically persistent pattern of disparate criminal justice outcomes for Black, minoritised and migrant communities.
As a first step, the Met police must accept the findings of institutional racism and misogyny in the Casey Report. This must be accompanied by measures that build trust with Black, minoritised and migrant communities, including an end to discriminatory policing, the institution of safe reporting mechanisms such as a firewall, and increased data transparency disaggregated by ethnicity.
This public meeting is intended to be a collective call to action. We look forward to having you join the conversation.
Speakers Include:
Bell Ribeiro-Addy MP (Labour MP for Clapham and Brixton Hill)
Andy George (President, National Black Police Association)
Selma Taha (Executive Director, Southall Black Sisters)
Rajiv Menon KC (Joint Head, Garden Court Chambers)
Sarah Ricca (Partner, Deighton Pierce Glynn)
Symeon Brown (Correspondent, Channel 4 News)
Melissa Sigodo (Community Reporter, Daily Mirror)
Chair – Sukhwant Dhaliwal (Member, Management Committee, Southall Black Sisters)
Date: Wed, 18th September 2024
Venue: Conway Hall, 25 Red Lion St, London WC1R 4RL
Time: 6.30pm to 10pm
Join us from 6.30pm onwards for a 7pm meeting start. Reception to follow.
All welcome!
