The Monitoring Group (TMG) is an anti-racist charity in the UK. It was established in

Southall Southall () is a large suburban county of West London, England, part of the London Borough of Ealing and is one of its seven major towns. It is situated west of Charing Cross and had a population of 69,857 as of 2011. It is generally divid ...

in the early 1980s, and originally known as the Southall Monitoring Group. Its director is Suresh Grover.Jasbinder S. Nijjar
Building from the base, starting from the streets

Institute of Race Relations The Institute of Race Relations (IRR) is a think tank based in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 1958 in order to publish research on race relations worldwide, and in 1972 was transformed into an "anti-racist think tank". Proposed by ''Sund ...

, 22 October 2020. Accessed 21 December 2020.

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 Clement Blair Peach (25 March 1946 – 24 April 1979) was a New Zealand teacher who was killed during an anti-racism demonstration in Southall, London, England. A campaigner and activist against the far right, in April 1979 Peach took part in ...

in 1979, and confrontation between skinheads and local young people in summer 1979. The concept of a monitoring group was taken from the

Black Panthers The Black Panther Party (BPP), originally the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was a Marxist-Leninist and black power political organization founded by college students Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton in October 1966 in Oakland, Calif ...

. The Southall Monitoring Group was active in campaigns for justice by several families: that of Kuldip Sekhon, killed in 1989; that of

Stephen Lawrence Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; h ...

, killed in 1993; that of Ricky Reel, killed in 1997; and that of Michael Menson, also killed in 1997. After the

Macpherson Report Stephen Lawrence (13 September 1974 – 22 April 1993) was a black British teenager from Plumstead, southeast London, who was murdered in a racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Well Hall Road, Eltham on the evening of 22 April ...

the group created a national network, and renamed itself The Monitoring Group.

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. The group joined with the Awaaz Network to demonstrate against the visit of

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (; born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician serving as the List of Prime Ministers of India, 14th and current Prime Minister of India since 2014. Modi was the List of chief ministers of Gujarat, Chief Minist ...

to the UK in November 2015. After the 2016

Brexit referendum The United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar to ask the electorate whether the country shou ...

, The Monitoring Group reported a rise in racist violence, and two years later confirmed that there had been a rise in race hate crimes. The group continues to call for an inquiry into the death of Blair Peach, They criticized the secrecy surrounding

Hampshire Police The Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight in South East England.Hampshire Constabulary, 2012 Retrieved 27 April 2012 The force area inc ...

's internal investigation into homophobia and racism at the force's

Basingstoke Basingstoke ( ) is the largest town in the county of Hampshire. It is situated in south-central England and lies across a valley at the source of the River Loddon, at the far western edge of The North Downs. It is located north-east of Southa ...

investigation centre. They have supported the mother of Christopher Kapessa in her complaint against

South Wales Police South Wales Police ( cy, Heddlu De Cymru) is one of the four territorial police forces in Wales. It is headquartered in Bridgend. The force was formed as South Wales Constabulary on 1 June 1969, by the amalgamation of the former Glamorgan Cons ...

's inaction after her 13-year-old son's death. In 2020 the group urged attention to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

-related race hate against Chinese communities, as well as other groups. The group participated in

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (abbreviated BLM) is a decentralized political and social movement that seeks to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people. Its primary concerns are incidents of police brut ...

demonstrations in 2020, and supported a teenager injured by

far right Far-right politics, also referred to as the extreme right or right-wing extremism, are political beliefs and actions further to the right of the left–right political spectrum than the standard political right, particularly in terms of being ...

protestors, who was then stopped and searched by a Metropolitan Police officer whom he had asked for help. In August 2020 the Monitoring Group criticised the appointment of

Tony Sewell Cleveland Anthony Sewell, Baron Sewell of Sanderstead, (born 1959) is a British educational consultant and founder and chair of the educational charity Generating Genius. In July 2020, Sewell was appointed chair of the Commission on Race and ...

, who had earlier minimised the effect of

institutional racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of racism that is embedded in the laws and regulations of a society or an organization. It manifests as discrimination in areas such as criminal justice, employment, housing, healt ...

, to chair a new Government Commission tasked with looking into racial inequality.Kevin Rawlinson and Vikram Dodd
Race equality chief faces legal challenge over appointment
''The Guardian'', 11 August 2020. Accessed 21 December 2020.

References

External links

The Monitoring Group: Tackling Racism since 1981
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monitoring Group, The 1981 establishments in England Anti-racist organisations in the United Kingdom Southall Black British culture in London Non-profit organisations based in London