S1 E7: Solidarity with Suresh Grover, Shabna Begum and Karis Campion
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Release Date: 12/12/2023
S2 E2: Migration, Marginalisation and Mobilisation: Leicester's South Asian Diaspora and Labour Rights Activism
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Leicester is home to a large South Asian community and often praised for being one of the most diverse cities in the UK - presented as a model of multicultural integration. However, labour exploitation strongly impacts the poorer demographics in the city, especially people with a recent history of migration that are employed in garment manufacturing. In May 2024, we dedicated an episode of our podcast to the Imperial Typewriters Strike of 1974 to mark the 50th anniversary of this seminal event in the political history of the South Asian diaspora in the UK and of Leicester’s trade union...
info_outline
S2 E1: The Imperial Typewriters Strike of 1974: The South Asian Diaspora in the UK, Trade Unionism, and the Struggle for Social Justice
Race and Racism in our Modern World
This episode is dedicated to the memory of Shardaben Chandarana, the leader of the 1974 Imperial Typewriters Strike. The Imperial Typewriters Strike was a major and iconic event in the history of South Asian Trade Unionism in the United Kingdom. It comes within a broader history of struggle for recognition and social justice, racial discrimination, and attempts towards integration and dialogue. In this episode Dr Fatima Rajina is joined by Amrit Wilson and Professor Sundari Anitha as they discuss the Imperial Typewriters Strike of 1974. More information on the strike, as well as visual...
info_outline
S1 E4: Greenwich Echoes: A Mother-Daughter Perspective on the Murder of Stephen Lawrence
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Content warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language. When Stephen Lawrence was murdered in 1993 to what extent did the media or academic scholarship explore or acknowledge the grief of Doreen Lawrence and other black mothers who were once again reminded of how unworthy society perceived them and the lives of their children? This episode led by Rayann Bryan will explore the impact of Stephen’s murder on black mothers who may have felt some proximity to the grief and anguish of Baroness Lawrence. Claire Davis and her mother talk about their experience living and...
info_outline
S1 E5: Place and Space in the Making of Race and Racism "Part One"
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Content warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language. In part one of this episode, Yusef is in conversation with Brixton residents Valcie, Hurley and Patrick. The discussion draws on experiences of life in Brixton. Juxtaposing this with Rayann’s episode on life in Eltham in the UK, we hear about a neighbourhood where Black cultures are shared and celebrated, but also how racisms and inequalities have restricted access to housing, security and opportunity. When listened to in conjunction with the rest of the series this episode helps us to understand the...
info_outline
S1 E6: Place and Space in the Making of Race and Racism "Part Two"
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Content warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language. In part two of this episode, Yusef is in conversation with Brixton residents Valcie, Hurley and Patrick. The discussion draws on experiences of life in Brixton. Juxtaposing this with Rayann’s episode on life in Eltham in the UK, we hear about a neighbourhood where Black cultures are shared and celebrated, but also how racisms and inequalities have restricted access to housing, security and opportunity. When listened to in conjunction with the rest of the series this episode helps us to understand the...
info_outline
S1 E7: Solidarity with Suresh Grover, Shabna Begum and Karis Campion
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Content warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language. Our bonus episode is a collaboration with our friends from the Sociological Review and our former colleague Dr Karis Campion. This episode was first released on the Sociological Review podcast in May 2023 In 1993, Black British teenager Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racist attack that sparked a long fight for justice and led the UK to ask questions of itself and its institutions. Three decades on – with The Runnymede Trust’s Shabna Begum, and Suresh Grover of The Monitoring Group – Karis...
info_outline
S1 E3: Race and Racism in the 1990s "Part Two", with Gus John and Adam Elliott-Cooper
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Content warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language. In part two of the first episode, the conversation continues with Professor Gus John and Dr Adam Elliot Cooper joining SLRC Legacy In Action research fellow, Dr Fatima Rajina, to discuss the way Stephen Lawrence’s death stirred the nation in a way that changed the entire landscape of conversations around race relations throughout the 1990s. The most intriguing aspect of it all was how it was covered in the media, primarily print media. The discussion for this podcast focuses in on different clippings...
info_outline
S1 E2: Race and Racism in the 1990s "Part One" with Gus John and Adam Elliott-Cooper
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Content warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language. In part one of the first episode Professor Gus John and Dr Adam Elliot Cooper join the SLRC Legacy In Action research fellow, Dr Fatima Rajina, to discuss the way Stephen Lawrence’s death stirred the nation in a way that changed the entire landscape of conversations around race relations throughout the 1990s. The most intriguing aspect of it all was how it was covered in the media, primarily print media. The discussion for this podcast will focus in on different clippings from the newspapers that covered the trial...
info_outline
S1 E1: Welcome to the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre Podcast
Race and Racism in our Modern World
Content warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language. To mark the 30th anniversary of the tragic racist murder of Stephen Lawrence on the 22 April 1993, in South East London in the UK, the SLRC have produced a podcast series in collaboration with Weyland Mckenzie-Witter to commemorate the monumental meaning and significance of this anniversary. The SLRC opened its doors in 2019 with the intention of being a uniquely positioned physical space in the UKHE landscape to study the politics of race and racisms in its many forms and guises. The SLRC is the current home of...
info_outlineContent warning: May contain examples of extreme racist violence and language.
Our bonus episode is a collaboration with our friends from the Sociological Review and our former colleague Dr Karis Campion.
This episode was first released on the Sociological Review podcast Uncommon Sense in May 2023
In 1993, Black British teenager Stephen Lawrence was murdered in a racist attack that sparked a long fight for justice and led the UK to ask questions of itself and its institutions. Three decades on – with The Runnymede Trust’s Shabna Begum, and Suresh Grover of The Monitoring Group – Karis Campion of the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre hosts this special episode to ask: who are we now? What happened to anti-racist solidarity and how can it progress?
Karis and guests reflect on the fragmentation of “political blackness”, “monitoring” as a radical act inspired by The Black Panther Party, and the importance of showing systemic racism while doing justice to individual lives. Plus: what does social media offer to anti-racism when the internet provides fertile ground for prejudice? And what are the costs of fighting for change in an unjust world?
With reference to the activist writer Ambalavaner Sivanandan, the feminist scholar Audre Lorde, the social geographer Ruth Wilson Gilmore, and more.
A collaboration between the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre and The Sociological Review.
Guests: Suresh Grover, Shabna Begum
Host: Karis Campion
Executive Producer: Alice Bloch
Sound Engineer: David Crackles
Music: Joe Gardner
Artwork: Erin Aniker
Find more about Uncommon Sense at The Sociological Review.
Episode Resources
From Karis, Shabna and Suresh
- Karis’ work at The Stephen Lawrence Research Centre
- Shabna’s book “From Sylhet to Spitalfields”
- Suresh in conversation with Paul Gilroy
Further reading
- “Abolition Geography” – Ruth Wilson Gilmore
- “Another Day in the Death of America” – Gary Younge
- “Here to Stay, Here to Fight” – Paul Field, et al. (eds)
- “I Write What I Like” – Steve Biko
- “Policing the Crisis” – Stuart Hall, et al.
- “Race and Resistance” – Ambalavaner Sivanandan
- “The Uses of Anger” – Audre Lorde
Online resources
- Over-policed and under-protected: the road to Safer Schools – The Runnymede Trust
- The Baroness Casey Review (this episode was recorded prior to this publication)
- The Black Panther Party – US National Archives
- The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry – Sir William Macpherson
Find out more about Quddus Ali and the cases of Michael Menson, Ricky Reel, Rolan Adams and Rohit Duggal, as well as the activist Claudia Jones.
And check out The Monitoring Group and The Runnymede Trust, as well as The Stephen Lawrence Centre Archive.