Black History Month

Judith Cummins Excerpts

Thursday 22nd October 2026 Commons Chamber

[Dawn Butler (Brent East) (Lab)]

Oh, that has made my day, Madam Deputy Speaker, because normally it is only my mum who remembers, so thank you so much. As the first black female MP Minister of this country—I was the first black female MP to stand at the Government Dispatch Box—it makes me really proud to see other black female MPs doing the same, such as the Minister for Homelessness, Democracy, Communities and Faith; I thank for her powerful opening speech. I am as proud today as I was last year when I witnessed the speech of my hon. Friend the Member for Erith and Thamesmead (Ms Oppong-Asare) at that Dispatch Box, and the year before when my hon. Friend the Member for Coventry North West (Taiwo Owatemi) was at that Dispatch Box. Watching generations of women coming after me makes me extremely proud.

The only thing I would ask the Government to do is to make sure that this debate is scheduled in the diary every year, so that we do not have this merry-go-round of applying to the Backbench Business Committee and then being told that the debate will be held in Government time. Let us just put it in the diary and have a set date, because this debate is becoming more and more fundamental. As was mentioned earlier, we are witnessing the unapologetic rise of the far right, the rise of racism and the rise of white supremacy. When Reform-led St Helens council shamefully announces that it will no longer formally observe Black History Month, we know that the rest of us have to make sure that we observe it, put it in the books and fight to ensure that black history is not erased, because black history is indeed a part of British history.

I want to start by acknowledging the man, who was mentioned earlier, who brought Black History Month to the UK—Mr Akyaaba Addai-Sebo. We owe him a great debt of gratitude for his tireless work to ensure that black history, black achievement and black identity are not erased, but celebrated. The theme this year is “Honouring Our Communities.” Recognising the everyday contributions of black people across the whole UK, whose work often goes unseen, is vital.

We have lost many of those people over the last year, and I apologise in advance for the many deserving names that I will not mention: Yvonne Brewster, the pioneer who co-founded Talawa Theatre Company; Gerlin Bean, the British black feminist and community organiser; Uriah Rennie, the trailblazing premier league referee; Syd Lawrence, the pioneering black England cricketer; Trevor Toussaint, the British television and theatre actor; and Sonny Blacks, one of the founders of Notting Hill carnival. Some of my personal friends have passed away: one of my closest friends, Kanya King, the British businesswoman and founder of the MOBO—Music of Black Origin—awards, who created that awards ceremony to recognise black music when the major industries did not; Bonnie Greer, the playwright, novelist and critic; Rennick Thomas, affectionately known as Tom, who had a bakery in Forest Gate and on Ridley Road, who was in a bakery war with my dad over who could produce the best hardo bread and bun, and who was my mum’s best friend after my dad died; and, lastly, Professor Jason Arday, who was an exceptional scholar of race and inequality. He joined the faculty of education at the University of Cambridge in 2023, and in August 2026 he was hounded to his death, the hunt started by a self-proclaimed eugenicist and white supremacist.

It would be incomplete to honour our communities without acknowledging what has been taken away. Last Saturday, I attended a reparations conference organised by my hon. Friend the Member for Clapham and Brixton Hill (Bell Ribeiro-Addy) and it made me think of something. Madam Deputy Speaker, if I stole your Rolex watch, would it become mine? Of course not. If I gave that Rolex watch to my daughter, would it become hers? Of course not. A gift does not erase a theft. If she passed it to her child, would it suddenly become a family heirloom? Of course not. Time does not turn theft into ownership.

Now imagine, Madam Deputy Speaker, that your daughter discovers the truth that your watch was stolen. Would she not have every right to ask for that watch back? Suppose I used that stolen watch as collateral to get a bank loan and bought a house, and passed that wealth on to my children? The benefit of that theft would be in my family for generation after generation. Some will say, “But today’s generation did not commit the wrong.” That would be true, but your daughter did not suffer the theft. Others will say, “But the past is the past. Leave it alone.” But if the benefits of the injustice are still being enjoyed, then the consequences are not in the past at all, but are actually in the present.

That is the principle behind reparations. It is about recognising that the passage of time does not transform an injustice into a rightful inheritance. If time alone can turn stolen property into rightful ownership, what we are actually saying is that stealing is okay—we merely have to wait until people die and hope that the truth is not exposed or told. The issue is not about inherited guilt, but about inherited benefit and inherited loss. If we would not accept that argument for a stolen watch, why should we accept it for stolen labour, stolen wealth, stolen land or stolen opportunity?

When we look at the world today, we still see the legacy of historic injustice. Across Africa and the Caribbean, the effects of centuries of exploitation remain visible. We can all recognise the iconic Louis Vuitton pattern, but where did it originate from? The Adinkra symbols of the Akan people of Ghana predate many luxury brands by centuries. These are symbols rich in meaning and history. The oldest surviving Adinkra cloth is kept in a place that holds the largest collection of stolen property in the world: the British Museum. Where is the line between appreciation and appropriation? Appreciation acknowledges and credits the source; appropriation too often profits from culture while erasing its origins.

Exploiting indigenous cultures for profit should not be normalised or accepted. That is why the theme of honouring our communities is so important. The Maasai Intellectual Property Initiative is so powerful, because it was established to address the unauthorised use of Maasai branding. It enables businesses to work with the Maasai tribe ethically, ensuring that the benefits flow back to the Maasai people. It is so important in this debate, when we are honouring communities, that we give back, especially what is stolen and what is owed.

Madam Deputy Speaker, I do not just talk the talk; I walk the walk. I created the Bernie Grant leadership programme, the £1 student fees to get young people engaged in politics, and the parliamentary black caucus, because change will not happen without action. Sometimes this period of time feels extremely overwhelming when we think about the rise of racism and the far right, and all that is thrown at us. The civil rights activist John Lewis said:

“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Ours is not the struggle of one day, one week or one year. Ours is the struggle of a lifetime, or even many lifetimes, and each one of us, in every generation, must do our part.”

So, my question to those of us here and to the country is: have you done your part in this struggle? For me, I want to see the end to racist practices and structures in different institutions all across the world in my lifetime. We should not be afraid to call out wrongdoing. Whether it is violence against women and girls, paedophiles, class war, genocide or racism, we need to call it out so we can end it in our lifetime.

John Lewis also said:

“Never be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble”.

I am known to get in a little bit of trouble from time to time. I may have got into trouble earlier; we will soon see. But I show up. International Women’s Day debates—I show up. International Men’s Day debates—I show up. Debates on white working class boys—I show up. LGBTQI+ debates—I show up. If we are going to beat the racists, we have to show up. We have show up for each other. We have to speak out and show up to protect black and brown people. We have to show up for them when they are being abused and discriminated against online. We have to show up. When we show up and when we unite, we will never be defeated.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

Order. Before I call the next speaker, I further remind Members that the Jason Arday case is sub judice, because the inquest has been opened and adjourned. While tributes are welcome and allowed in this debate, Members should not stray into the circumstances on contributory factors to his death.

--- Later in debate ---

[Olivia Bailey (Reading West and Mid Berkshire) (Lab)]

It has been a real privilege to listen to so many powerful speeches this afternoon. My hon. Friend the Member for Brent East (Dawn Butler) reminded us to ask the question, “Have you done your part?” and told us never to be afraid to make noise, which are really important points. My hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Adam Jogee) reminded us that black history is correctly British history. My hon. Friend the Member for Clapham and Brixton Hill (Bell Ribeiro-Addy) just gave a really powerful speech, reminding us of the stark reality today, where we find that racism is not just whispered but amplified.

As this is my first speech in the Chamber as the newly elected Chair of the Women and Equalities Committee, I would like to start by paying tribute to my predecessor, my hon. Friend the Member for Luton North (Sarah Owen). She is a brilliant campaigner who in her time as Chair shone a light on critical issues and secured significant policy change. Her work on bereavement leave for pregnancy loss in particular leaves a lasting legacy. In such debates, I always admired the way in which she shared stories that are not told often enough in this place, often from her own constituency. Therefore, when preparing for this important debate on Black History Month, I decided to spend some time looking in the royal Berkshire archives to tell one story from Reading’s black history.

I came across a man called Harvey De Pass. Harvey arrived on the HMT Empire Windrush in June 1948. After a brief dalliance with Staffordshire, he and his family moved to Reading. Harvey took up the role of Reading’s first community relations officer at the Reading council of community relations and spent years serving our community, in particular working with local schools.

In October 1970, Harvey organised a conference entitled, “Children in a Mixed Community”. At the time, he told the local paper:

“Our children aren’t immigrants…they know no home other than Britain”—

words that are just as poignant today. After a decade in that role, Harvey set up a local business, DePass Travel, on the Oxford Road. When Harvey died in 2012, he was remembered by the local community for his big heart and his love of cricket.

Harvey is just one example of the wonderful Windrush generation who have brought so much to Reading, with many working in iconic local businesses such as the Huntley & Palmers biscuit factory as well as at our Royal Berkshire hospital and on the town’s bus network. I am reminded of their stories every day when I drive through Reading as I pass the Reading black history mural, which depicts global figures alongside the local heroes who built Reading’s black community. When the site faced redevelopment, which threatened the mural’s future, it was local community campaigners—today’s Harvey De Passes—who successfully ensured that it was preserved for future generations.

As we have heard a lot today, the theme of this year’s Black History Month is “Honouring Our Communities.” As other hon. Members have said, this is about not just telling stories but confronting the inequalities that black people in our country continue to face at work, in healthcare and on the streets of our communities. The work of the Women and Equalities Committee shows how much more we have to do in that regard.

The Committee’s work on health shows that black women are still more than twice as likely to die in childbirth as white women, more likely to experience life-threatening complications, more likely to be admitted to an intensive care unit and more likely to give birth preterm and to lose a baby to stillbirth. Black people are almost four times more likely to experience homelessness, and experience worse outcomes as they progress through the homelessness system. In the workplace, it is more difficult to progress and there are more barriers. Throughout all the Committee’s work. there is one terrible constant: wherever people are adversely affected—be that by policies, attitudes or actions—those impacts are disproportionately worse for people who are black.

That is why, as Chair of the Committee, I am determined to use our platform to hear from black voices on the issues that matter, to ensure that the Government listen, and to hold the Government to account on the promises they have made to the black community, whether on ethnicity pay gap reporting, improved maternal care, or ensuring that those affected by the Windrush scandal receive the support and compensation they are owed, because commitments are meaningful only when they lead to change. Our history is important, but honouring our communities means that we must actively confront inequality to truly commemorate the contributions of those who have made progress. I look forward to building on the Committee’s important work and ensuring that we continue to challenge inequality wherever we find it.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call the shadow Minister.