Sher

Trade Unionist | Anti-Racist |Football fan #LFC | Train Driver | ASLEF

[Nels Abbey @nelsabbey]

Sky News are the first media organisation I am aware to to put my "Seven Rules for Surviving a Kemi Badenoch Victory" in proper context. All this fury over a clearly satirical piece? This is why Black political satirists who deal with racial issues in Britain normally just perform dance sketches.

Yes, it was a sketch intended for what would have been today's @uppityhq, but don't fret: Uppity returns next Tuesday.

Link: https://t.co/LIO6jwgira

[ASLEF @ASLEFunion]

ASLEF are proud to join transport workers from 132 countries at @ITFglobalunion Congress this week.

[Sher @SherAmore]

@ITFglobalunion @lmjrocker #Thisisourworldtoo #Itfcongress24 Women Transport Workers' Conference

[Taj Ali @Taj_Ali1]

One of the best books you can read on British South Asian history.

[Nels Abbey @nelsabbey]

"For my brothers with daughters"

Because, believe it or not, Black girls have Dads too.

[Sinai Fleary 🇬🇩🇻🇨 @S_Fleary1]

Today for #BlackHistoryMonthUK I salute Dame Jocelyn Barrow 🇹🇹 who was the FIRST Black woman in teacher training in Britain.

She helped to pave the way for the 1965 Relations Act, which was the 1st piece of legislation in the UK to address racial discrimination. ✊🏾

[Melissa Sigodo @melissasigodo]

As Black History Month continues, I’m paying tribute to Learie Constantine, an excellent cricketer & the 1st Black man to sit in the House of Lords for his racial equality work. In a landmark case, he took legal action against a London hotel that refused him entry due to racism

[ASLEF @ASLEFunion]

Today we remember drivers Brian Cooper and Michael Hodder along with the 29 others who sadly lost their lives 25 years ago today in the Ladbroke Grove rail crash 🕯️🕯️ #railwayfamily

[Orgreave Justice @orgreavejustice]

Important documentary ‘Strike - An Uncivil War’ on Netflix from Wed 18 Sept. Hear directly from the miners & others about the preplanned state & police violence at #Orgreave Read our latest report here:
https://t.co/3PEZY9zD8o #OrgreaveJustice #OrgreaveInquiry #MinersStrike

[Taj Ali @Taj_Ali1]

Today marks 38 years since the murder of 13-year-old Ahmed Iqbal Ullah. The Bangladeshi heritage schoolboy had a strong sense of justice and stood up to bullies. He was stabbed to death in a Manchester school playground after defending a younger Asian boy from racist bullying.

[The Secret Barrister 🦋 @BarristerSecret]

Why did Huw Edwards avoid prison?

Is this evidence of “two-tier justice”?

Let’s take a quick look. 🧵

TLDR: This is an entirely expected sentence for offences of this type.

[Taj Ali @Taj_Ali1]

Because too often it isn't. Just 8% of people in film and TV come from a working-class background compared to 60% from upper-middle-class backgrounds. Journalism has a similar problem. It means the stories of working-class communities are rarely accurately or adequately told.

[Sher @SherAmore]

Wow! JUBILEE line signaller really don't want anyone to get to Stanmore right now 🙃🙄 #jubileeline #londonunderground #terminatehere .....and No nothing to do with any of the drivers, I asked lol #tubedriver

[Mohamad Safa @mhdksafa]

Police don’t prevent crime. They show up after it happens. Crime prevention starts with funding social programs and creating opportunity.

[BladeoftheSun @BladeoftheS]

EastEnders actor Harry Rafferty spared jail after slashing woman in stomach, chest and face with knife because she rejected his sexual advances.

But Just Stop Oil are so dangerous they must be imprisoned.

They don't care about people, only profits.

[Michael Morgan @mikecmorgan]

Met Police officers sacked after Bianca Williams stop and search set to appeal in October.

These cops are finished. Let’s remember a panel found they had lied about smelling cannabis when they pulled over Williams and her partner Ricardo Dos Santos. https://t.co/b6AFyyDD9Y

[Diane Abbott @HackneyAbbott]

Part of Labour's core vote has been Black and Asian people. They also more likely to be poorer. Issues of race and class cannot be ignored.
So there must be an honest accounting for these losses.

Labour lost almost a third of its Black & Asian voters
https://t.co/TqUzN1vSa0

[Apsana Begum MP @ApsanaBegumMP]

Bangladeshi people must be able to exercise their fundamental human rights — including the right to protest.

I stand in solidarity with Bangladeshi people facing repression.

[Melissa Sigodo @melissasigodo]

TW: Women are being forced to have sex with soldiers in exchange for food for their children after being unable to flee war-torn Sudan. Nearly 26 million people or more than half the population are facing high levels of acute food insecurity. Devastating
https://t.co/6rCwF2BZ6j

[Jacqueline (Jacqui) Mckenzie @JacquiMckenzie6]

A few years ago I was in one of those ramshackle hair salons in South London having my hair braided. The salon was run by a fabulous woman of African heritage & to pay the high rent, she rented out corners of the shop to people who provided other services including nails, false eye lashes, eyebrow threading etc. I didn't always appreciate the place as it was noisy & untidy. But there was always something equally enjoyable about the experience; the gossip, the unsolicited advice about improving my appearance or relationship, the craziness, the music, the people trying to sell you pretend Gucci bags, & the children running around if you went at the weekend. It was a place of escape & one where I felt safe.

I happened to be there one day when immigration enforcement turned up. Everyone froze, including me, as the operation is one of true terror; it could easily have been an armed robbery such was the menacing command to stay where we were. I noticed a customer returning from the bathroom make down a side corridor which I knew led to a back exit; I've seen the movies & thought I didn't fancy her chances as they'd have had that covered. They hadn't & I never saw her again.

The immigration officers went straight for the nail person who was of Vietnamese heritage. She had all the right papers. They then turned to the African heritage staff who were all British citizens. The owner was made to go to her flat above the business to retrieve evidence of her British status.

None of us customers were questioned. One burly red-faced officer said something that sounded like false intelligence, but I can't be sure. I watched on curiously but angry, promising myself that I'd only intervene if necessary. Immigration enforcement came & immigration enforcement left after about an hour of questioning & checking.

When they'd driven off, the only white member of staff, doing the eye lashes, looked ashen! I looked quizzically at her. She was unsure of her immigration status as her father had told her he'd sorted it but she was unsure. She was Albanian. She was the only person working in the place not to be questioned which was not lost on any of us including white customers waiting for nails and eye lashes.

The workers all laughed, & it was business as usual but not for the owner who said that that was the third time & she was fed up of it. She felt targeted & harassed. She wanted to close shop. She did though I don't know if this was the reason.

In the next few weeks, the Home Office will mount similar operations across countless businesses. There are issues in some of these industries, sure. I've long worried about some of the women in the nail shops. I also know that a large number of them have regularised their stay in the UK & if they started off as trafficked victims, have managed to escape this evil & live their lives on their own terms. This is not an easy feat but it happens. Others won't be so lucky. But the exercise afoot is not concerned with whether people have been trafficked, or of their working conditions.

What will happen is that British people, settled people, people with leave to remain, mainly Black & Brown people, will be harassed & terrorised in front of petrified & suspicious customers, thereby causing much harm to legitimate businesses.

And like the #HostileEnvironment, the exercise will impact more on people legitimately in the UK, like the experiences of the #Windrush victims, than it will to curb illegal migration as the National Audit Office reported of said policy. This will be all the more the case that the operation was announced ahead of time.