Labour leader of Brighton & Hove City Council, Nancy Platts, on Black Lives Matter, and recognising the troubling history of our city:

More than 10,000 people took part in a peaceful, physically distanced, Black Lives Matter protest in Madeira Drive in Brighton last weekend.

As someone who was proud to be there, I can testify it was a moving and powerful event.

The Black Lives Matter movement has rightly shone a spotlight on the legacy of colonial statues and street names in the UK.

It is important that we reflect on Brighton and Hove’s Georgian history, which meant much of the investment that led to its growth came from Caribbean sugar plantations and the enslavement of people.

Today we pride ourselves on being a city of sanctuary that people from all backgrounds can call home.

In that spirit, the council is reviewing all plaques, monuments, statues and street names on public land to ensure that we are celebrating legacies that reflect our city’s values.

We will talk to our Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities and historians to ensure we fully understand our complex heritage…

Read Councillor Platts’ full article in Brighton & Hove News: https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2020/06/19/protest-reminds-us-of-our-desire-to-celebrate-legacies-that-reflect-our-citys-values/