Black grandad of white grandkids left living in fear, alleged maternity investigation security breach and other stories from Black, Asian and Arab communities in the UK- curated by Melissa Sigodo

Over half way through the year now

Good morning, afternoon or evening,

Thank you for subscribing to The Source.

I am keeping it brief with my introduction today as I think the stories pretty much sum up where we are as a country. The door to racism has been swung open and it’s hard to say if it will ever close.

As ever, The Source will continue to give you the recap you deserve to know as well as our own independent journalism telling the stories from the Black community that often go underreported. This week’s story was by journalist Serena Richards who goes by Serena Richards here on Substack. Thank you for the lovely comments on her piece. When we think about how Black fathers are perceived, which is very much underscored in this week’s recap - it is vital that we have stories like this uplifting story Serena wrote.

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

News

A billboard honouring Kelso Cochrane who was stabbed to death in a racist attack by white youths in Notting Hill, London, in May 1959 has now been unveiled following a GoFundMe set up by Black history expert Kayne Kawasaki. The murder of the Antiguan carpenter contributed to the founding of the Notting Hill Carnival which takes place this weekend. Read the full story by Sinai Fleary at The Voice Online.

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A dad who started an African and Caribbean themed puzzle business after worrying how his now 13-year-old daughter would be ‘perceived in the world’ says she’s now helped him save ‘thousands of pounds’ with her keen eye for detail. Read the full story by Serena Richards for The Source.

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A Black man who works as a musician was racially abused, falsely labelled a paedophile & was suspended by his management after a family video of him playing outdoors with his white grandkids was shared by Tommy Robinson asking, ‘where are the parents?’. Read the full story by Robyn Vinter at The Guardian.

Crime

Police have arrested six people who ‘protested’ outside a hotel housing immigrants in Canary Wharf. The Metropolitan Police said the grounds for arrests were possession of Class B drugs, assaulting an emergency worker and breaching Section 14 Public Order conditions. Read the full story by Sam Hall at The Standard.

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A 70-something Sikh taxi driver has ‘suffered two broken ribs’ while another Sikh man in his 60s needed hospital treatment for bad bruising in what police are treating as a racially aggravated attack in Wolverhampton. Three men aged 17, 19 and 25 were arrested and later released on bail. Read the full story by Eleanor Lawson at BBC.

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Legal

A 47-year-old man who wore a balaclava and carried a fake gun causing a mosque to go into lockdown has been sentenced to 12 months in prison. A jury found Scott Hodgson guilty of possessing an imitation firearm with intent to cause fear of violence. Read the full story by Tony Earnshaw at Asian Image.

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The mother of a charity worker who was killed by her cannabis-addicted boyfriend has criticised the criminal justice system who dropped the murder charge against him following expert psychiatric evidence they received. Gogoa Tape, 28 who killed Kennedi Westcarr-Sabaroche, 25, then drove around with her body in his car and stopped for cigarettes. Read the full story by Tristan Kirk at The Standard.

Refugees and Asylum Seekers

An asylum seeker being housed at an Essex hotel that a court ruled could no longer accommodate them says that they are being treated as ‘rapists, paedophiles and thieves’. The man from Somalia said that a woman ‘shielded’ her kids away when they saw him on the street which he described as a ‘painful’ experience. Read the full story by Matthew Weaver and Diane Taylor at The Guardian.

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Refugee support organisations have set up safe rooms and have been forced to relocate to ‘less visible sites’ following the threat of far-right violence. Heads of refugee support organisation also claimed they received ‘credible death threats’. Read the full story by Diane Taylor at The Guardian.

Tributes

Tributes have been paid to a woman who was killed in Romford, east London. ‘Kind & loving’ Zahwa Salah Mukhtar, 27, was attacked in the early hours of Saturday morning. Four arrests have been made. Those involved are believed to be known to each other. Read the full story by ITV News.

Policing

The Metropolitan Police has been criticised over its use of live facial recognition technology with UK's equality regulator saying the way in which it is being deployed is breaching human rights law. Read the full story by Charlotte Edwards at BBC.

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A member of police staff has been suspended after information was ‘allegedly changed or deleted from its systems’ in an investigation into deaths and serious injuries allegedly related to maternity care at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust. Read the full story by Sophie Robinson at The Independent.