The Monitoring Group

The Monitoring Group (TMG) is an anti-racist charity in the UK. It was established in Southall in the early 1980s, and originally known as the Southall Monitoring Group (SMG). Its director is Suresh Grover.[1]

History

Meetings to establish the Southall Monitoring group began in December 1981, after the racist murder of Gurdip Singh Chaggar in 1976, the police killing of Blair Peach in 1979, and contfrontation between skinheads and local young people in summer 1979. The concept of a monitoring group was taken from the Black Panthers.[1]

The Southall Monitoring Group was active in campaigns for justice by several families: that of Kuldip Sekhon, killed in 1989; that of Stephen Lawrence, killed in 1993; that of Ricky Reel, killed in 1997; and that of Michael Menson, also killed in 1997. After the Macpherson Report the group created a national network, and renamed itself The Monitoring Group.[1]

Recent activity

In 2015 the Monitoring Group petitioned the UK Home Secretary to guarantee that police whistleblowers would not face punishment for revealing the extent of their undercover spying on UK political groups.[2] The group joined with the Awaaz Network to demonstrate against the visit of Narendra Modi to the UK in November 2015.[3] After the 2016 Brexit referendum, The Monitoring Group reported a rise in racist violence,[4] and two years later confirmed that there had been a rise in race hate crimes.[5]

The group continues to call for an inquiry into the death of Blair Peach,[6] They criticized the secrecy surrounding Hampshire Police's internal investigation into homophobia and racism at the force's Basingstoke investigation centre.[7][8] They have supported the mother of Christopher Kapessa in her complaint against South Wales Police's inaction after her 13-year-old son's death.[9][10] In 2020 the group urged attention to COVID-19-related race hate against Chinese communities,[11] as well as other groups.[12] The group participated in Black Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020,[13] and supported a teenager injured by far right protestors, who was then stopped and searched by a Metropolitan Police officer whom he had asked for help.[14] In August 2020 the Monitoring Group criticised the appointment of Tony Sewell, who had earlier minimised the effect of institutional racism, to chair a new Government Commission tasked with looking into racial inequality.[15]

References
  1. Jasbinder S. Nijjar, Building from the base, starting from the streets, Institute of Race Relations, 22 October 2020. Accessed 21 December 2020.
  2. Rob Evans, Whistleblowers must be protected and allowed to speak out about undercover spies, say campaigners, The Guardian, 16 March 2015. Accessed 21 December 2020.
  3. Nayantara Narayanan, Modi Not Welcome: Meet the UK activists who projected their message on the British parliament, scroll.in, 9 November 2015. Accessed 21 December 2020.
  4. Dan Bilefsky, As Migrants Face Abuse, Fear That ‘Brexit’ Has Given License to Xenophobia, New York Times, 27 June 2016. Accessed 21 December 2020.
  5. Vikram Dodd, Brexit will trigger rise in hate crimes, warns police watchdog, The Guardian, 19 July 2018. Accessed 21 Decembe 2020.
  6. Vivek Chaudhary, Forty years on, Southall demands justice for killing of Blair Peach, The Guardian, 21 April 2019. Accessed 21 December 2020.
  7. David Mercer, Hampshire Police criticised for 'scandalous' response over 'racism' investigation, Sky News, 8 June 2019. Accessed 21 December 2020.
  8. David Mercer, Eight Hampshire Police officers to face misconduct hearings after 'racism' inquiry, Sky News, 4 October 2019.
  9. Mum's police complaint over Christopher Kapessa river death, BBC News, 17 July 2019.
  10. Cherry Wilson, Christopher Kapessa: A mum’s fight for justice for her son, BBC News, 12 July 2020. Accessed 21 December 2020.
  11. David Mercer, Coronavirus: Home secretary urged to act on 'unacceptable' rise in anti-Chinese hate crimes, Sky News, 6 May 2020. Accessed 21 December 2020.
  12. Alex Hudson, COVID-19 Has Unleashed 'Tsunami of Hate and Scaremongering,' Says U.N. Chief, Newsweek, 8 May 2020. Accessed 21 December 2020.
  13. Annie Gouk and Anahita Hossein-Pour, Southall stands as one with George Floyd and Black Lives Matter in peaceful anti-racism demonstration, MyLondon, 8 July 2020, updated 9 July 2020. Accessed 21 December 2020.
  14. Damien Gayle, Injured boy 'stopped and searched' by Met officer he asked for help, The Guardian, 1 July 2020. Accessed 21 December 2020.
  15. Kevin Rawlinson and Vikram Dodd, Race equality chief faces legal challenge over appointment, The Guardian, 11 August 2020. Accessed 21 December 2020.
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