THIS year the TUC Black Workers Conference will be a virtual affair with a range of online workshops, panel debates and meetings, including a virtual art exhibition.

Over the past year black workers and their communities have faced a tremendous battle against a tidal wave of racism — inluding the murder of George Floyd and a number of other black people at the hands of the state in the US and in Wales at the start of this year with the death of Mohamud Hassan.

Black people here in Britain and globally have protested against the impacts of systemic and institutional racism and the TUC has established its Anti-Racism Taskforce.

In addition to this, the coronavirus pandemic has disproportionately impacted black people due to the systematic discrimination, disadvantage and barriers we already see in every aspect of our lives.

Black people are also losing their jobs at a higher rate and are more at risk of Covid-19 than others, due to precarious work and inadequate support from employers. As black people we are of course intersectional so face multiple impacts of disadvantage and disproportionate impacts as black women, disabled and black, black and LGBT+ and young black people.

In a week where the rights of women in opposition to gender-based violence and abuse has been at the fore, we should not forget that when black women are murdered and go missing there is zero response from the masses.

Our hearts are with the loved ones of Sarah Everard but we also remember Sarah Reed — and we need to know what happened to Blessing Olusegun. We saw a police spokesperson this week state that the vigil for Everard was not about Black Lives Matter, it was “a sensitive issue” — absolutely disgraceful that the murder of black people at the hands of the state is not seen as “a sensitive issue.”

Women face horrific misogyny but black women face misogynoir — these multiple impacts of abuse and discrimination must not be forgotten or disregarded.

It is in this context that the programme for the virtual TUC Black Workers Conference has been set. We are quite rightly angry — often as black people we are wrongly labelled aggressive when we express a view about racism but we have a right to be angry and it is also right that we channel our anger into action.

Whilst there are many disadvantages in not being able to come together physically, the online programme gives an opportunity for many more people to participate as it is not limited to the traditional format of union delegations — anyone that identifies as a Black and Minority Ethnic worker can register to attend and select the sessions they are interested in.

You can hear about how the TUC Anti-Racism Taskforce plans to fundamentally change how the union movement organises, negotiates and publicly campaigns on anti-racism. The Taskforce is also working on making the trade union movement more representative of black workers in their elected and full-time structures.

There will be workshops run by members of the TUC Anti-Racism Taskforce to put forward your views and make suggestions on what trade unions need to change to improve Black and Minority Ethnic workers’ lives.

A webinar on race, Covid-19 and the vaccine will provide an opportunity to hear more about drug development and safety what the vaccine does to your immune system and the day-to-day impact of the vaccine programme.

Our annual TUC Black Workers’ exhibition is moving online and will be launched in conjunction with the Artists’ Union England — an opportunity to see and hear from young creative and radical black artists.

For several years I have curated the Roots Culture Identity annual art exhibition on behalf of the TUC Race Relations Committee which is launched every year at the TUC Black Workers Conference. Sadly last year the conference and the exhibition were unable to take place due to the pandemic.

This year we have taken the art exhibition online and I am very proud to have curated it, not just as a British exhibition but as an international one, with artists participating from around the globe.

The theme for this year’s exhibition was how we as black artists have responded to the onslaught of racism and racist outcomes we have experienced through our art with two topics covered: Black Lives Matter and responding to the impacts of the pandemic.

The exhibition is now open at www.mstar.link/roots. There are ten participating artists including myself and it will run until June 30.

The exhibition was established on the recommendation of the TUC Stephen Lawrence Task Force — it weighs heavily on my heart that so many years later we have seen racism and injustice faced by black people deepen and found it necessary to establish another TUC Anti-Racism Taskforce.

The conference coincides with the UN Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and its theme this year is youth leading the fight.

In addition to the global rally on the Saturday, separate to the TUC Black Workers Conference I would like to invite readers to an event on Sunday March 21 which I am hosting with the London Borough of Newham — Youth Standing Up Against Racism, at www.mstar.link/Newham.

Another event taking place on Saturday evening unrelated to the conference but important still is the Free Siyanda London rally which I will also be speaking at to bring solidarity to Siyanda and her family: www.mstar.link/Siyanda.

Fighting racism is exhausting but it is important we come together and organise. The TUC Black Workers Conference plays a crucial role in bringing black trade unionists together but we need the whole union movement to stand up to racism every day.

Our lives begin to end the day we are silent about the things that matter. Black Lives Matter is not just a hashtag to pick up one day and drop the next — for some of us these three words are an act of survival and resistance.

Zita Holbourne sits on the TUC Race Relations Committee, is the national vice-president of the PCS union and joint national chair of the Artists’ Union England.

Visit www.tuc.org.uk/BlackWorkersConference2021 for full listings.