87-year-old kidnapped, Black mums dismissed, public inquiries should be shortened & other stories from Black, Asian and Arab communities you shouldn't have missed this week - curated by Melissa Sigodo

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Hi all,

I hope you’ve had a good week.

This week, I spoke at the Southall Black Sisters public meeting in London and it was great to meet some of you who used to read my threads on Twitter before it became a newsletter.

(By the way, if you don’t recall who Southall Black Sisters are, you can read their shocking story here.)

Anyway, one lady I met at the event said that people should “buy me a coffee” for the work I do in putting it together, to which I was really pleased to tell her that I had set up my newsletter and that people are paying for it!

Some of you who were at the Southall Black Sisters event may have even subscribed to my newsletter this week. Thank you so much and welcome to the informed community.

It is slowly approaching the six-month mark and I’m so grateful to still be able to do it. It’s very fulfilling to have this at the end of the week and be able to keep you all abreast. As much as I do this for you, I also learn a great deal from reading the work of other journalists who make sure that people know what’s happening in the world around them.

As you know, I made the decision to turn this into a paid newsletter in order to be able to commission writers of colour to do opinion pieces because our work is valuable. I want to change the narrative that the voices of people of colour aren’t worth paying for and with your help, that has been possible.

But we still need to keep going. If you’re not signed up to paid, do have a think about it. Instead of paying the price of a coffee in London, you can enjoy the dopamine hit you get from directly supporting the work of brilliant writers.

The Read will be back next week so today I’ll cut to the chase. After staying up till 2/3am last week, I need a good long rest.

Without further ado, here’s the news you shouldn’t have missed this week.

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Health

A Black woman’s pregnancy resulted in still birth after not having been assessed properly despite attending triage multiple times, while another mum who asked for help before her baby died was dismissed, as a report has revealed racism is rife in NHS maternity care. Full story.

Housing

A family has been battling a bed bug infestation for two years, while another has slugs seeping into the foundations of their home as their children have been left suffering skin rashes and have difficulties breathing in properties run by Peabody. Full story.

Crime

A mum and her eight-year-old son suffered racist incidents where eggs were thrown at their house as thugs shouted racists slurs, which was then followed by a gang who spray painted "EDL" across their front door. The mum has been forced to take her son out of school due to racist bullying. Full story