Doreen Lawrence and Patrisse Khan-Cullors: Fighting for racial justice

At the 2018 Women of the World Festival in London, Kim Chakanetsa brings together two extraordinary women who have been instrumental in the fight against racism and police brutality.

In 2013, three women came together to form an active response to systemic racism in the US. They'd just learned that the man who shot dead an unarmed black teenager called Trayvon Martin had been acquitted for the killing. They said simply: Black Lives Matter. One of them was Patrisse Khan-Cullors. Patrisse grew up in Los Angeles and became an activist at an early age, having witnessed how her own family members had been treated at the hands of police. In January 2018, she published her memoir, When They Call You a Terrorist.

Baroness Doreen Lawrence has campaigned for police reform ever since the murder of her son Stephen in London in 1993. He was stabbed to death at a bus stop in an unprovoked racist attack. Doreen's tireless fight for justice finally resulted in two of his killers being convicted, and in a public inquiry. This resulted in the landmark Macpherson Report, which identified institutional racism in the police service, and led to widespread police reform. Doreen Lawrence has become an important public figure in the UK and was made a life peer in the House of Lords in 2013.

Image: Doreen Lawrence and Patrisse Khan-Cullors at the WOW Festival in London
Credit: BBC