Your Views: ‘Black Lives Matter protest in Kenilworth was a great show of unity - and hope for our future’

Hundreds of people gathered at Abbey Fields in Kenilworth last month to show their support for the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement. In the last few weeks, the movement has gathered pace both here in the district and internationally. Here are the views from two people who were at the march - Madeleine Rogers and Ire Soda - on what it meant to them and what is needed for the future.

MADELEINE ROGERS: WE CAN AND MUST DO BETTER - THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING

In the weeks following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer on May 25, the protests that began in Minnesota have spread across the world as the Black Lives Matter movement has gained momentum.

Across the world, citizens have taken to the streets to denounce white supremacy, structural racism and police brutality in unprecedented numbers.

As someone who grew up in Kenilworth and has lived here for most of my life, I was unsure whether these global protests would reach our small town – so I was pleased and excited to find out that Ire Soda (see opposite page) had organised a rally. On June 13, my sisters and I walked down to Abbey Fields expecting to find a small group of other young people with similar views to us. We were overwhelmed to instead see the park full of people who had come to hear Ire speak and to stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement.

An estimated 400 people were in attendance, who represented Kenilworth residents of all ages and backgrounds. Families with young children stood alongside members of the older generation (while maintaining social distancing, of course) as we listened to Ire speak about the history and current reality of racism in the UK and the USA.

The atmosphere was by turns lively and excited, as we stood together in solidarity and expressed our support of the BLM cause, and respectful and reflective as we listened to Ire and others speak about their own experiences of racism in Kenilworth, and when we knelt together for eight minutes and 46 seconds of silence (the length of time for which Derek Chauvin knelt on George Floyd’s neck) to consider the changes we can make as individuals and as a community to combat racism in our own lives.

The protest in Abbey Fields and the march through the town centre that followed – which stopped traffic along Warwick Road for a good hour on a Saturday afternoon – was an excellent opportunity for two reasons. The first was to listen to black and other POC members of our community in order to understand the ways they experience racism in our town, and to be educated and think critically about wider structural racism and its roots in Britain’s violent colonial history which is so often glossed over in our schools. The other was to vocally express our support for the Black Lives Matter movement and denounce racism in a visible way. So many of us present were long-term or even lifelong residents of Kenilworth who cannot remember a protest of this size ever happening in our town before, and it has given us much to think about and reflect on since. But as Ire said during her speech, a protest in itself is not enough – it must be the starting point for further action. In the weeks that have followed the protest, we have been asking ourselves (and must keep asking ourselves): what more could we be doing?

Our first step as a community has been to use social media to facilitate discussion and education, by setting up a Facebook group to discuss anti-racist concepts and share resources. Many of those who were present at the protest have expressed the importance of continuing these conversations, particularly those with children. We hope that by having these conversations, we will be better equipped to confront racism wherever we may encounter it.

Unfortunately, it is clear that racism is still a serious problem to be dealt with in Kenilworth. While much of the reception we received as we walked through town was positive, with cars beeping their horns and pedestrians clapping, the protest was marred by a gathering of drunken counter-protesters “defending” the War Memorial, who shouted racial slurs and violent language at what had been an entirely peaceful protest. That anyone could feel emboldened to use such disgusting racist language in public is damning of Kenilworth as a whole and makes me feel ashamed of this town, even as I’m proud of all those who protested.