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Do we still need a ‘BME Forum’ when Croydon is now 51 percent Black and Minority Ethnic population, predicted to rise to 55.6%. by 2025? We need a conversation about to move on in today’s world… Croydon has pockets of real deprivation – this should be the focus.
My own feeling is that we need a BME forum for as long as BME residents feel it is of benefit, and it has a real purpose, which changes in response to changing times.
We need groups in the UK as well as Croydon alone, who seek to promote positive race relations, understanding, and acceptance of difference, as well as better educational and employment opportunities specifically for people of BM ethnicity, and supporting knowledge of BME histories.
I am sure that there is a role for a BME forum that actually works to create a better world, where young people of all ethnicity are engaged in society, are rewarded for their inputs, and are safe and wanted by society.
BME means people– people who might be from African, Afro-Caribbean, South Asian, and other non-white ethnic groups.
BME people in the UK are sadly still suffering prejudice and discrimination, an aspect of the unwanted legacy of slavery and colonialisation, so there is still a need for forum or focus groups in the BME area, for some way into the future, if they remain positive and proactive, and not inward-looking.