THE POLICE BILL seeks to infringe on our civil liberties, giving increased powers to police to impose conditions on protests and cultural events — and while the Bill has an impact on many groups, black and brown people already face racial profiling and disproportionate stop and search — as well as police brutality which has led to far too many deaths at the hands of the state.

These deaths devastate families who have to become campaigners in their quest for justice, like the case of Mohamud Hassan in Wales who died after being kept in custody in a police cell overnight a year ago — and like the family of Jay Abatan who was killed by racists in Brighton and who 23 years later are still fighting for justice: the killers are known but were arrested and released and there have been collective failures by Sussex police as there were in the case of Stephen Lawrence.

So being targeted by police if you are black or brown becomes far more dangerous, because you don’t know if your life will be taken — and even if you survive an arrest, the criminal justice system hands out harsher sentences. Policing and the criminal justice system are institutionally racist.

We already know from history and our lived experience to this day, that when black and brown people protest, they are singled out by police. Just this week we have seen the IOPC report about the actions of police at Charing Cross which often deploys officers to central London demos where black and brown protesters have been singled out.

The IOPC report exposes the vile misogynistic, racist, homophobic, disablist and Islamophobic comments used by 16 officers. We must not forget the horrendous actions by police either in respect of sisters Bibaa Henry and Nicole Smallman.

The IOPC report makes 15 recommendations for action and refers to the Macpherson report following the Stephen Lawrence inquiry — recommendations which have yet to be implemented over 20 years down the line.

The proposals in the Policing Bill conflict with the recommendations — how can the government introduce racist legislation which seeks to give police additional powers to target us if they are serious about these recommendations?

In any case, we have no faith in them ever being implemented because we have seen far too many reports and recommendations published then ignored when it comes to race discrimination.

Protest is both a democratic and a human right — from votes for women to the Montgomery bus boycott to contemporary protests against austerity, for workers’ rights and against climate change, it is vital.

The Borders Bill is another racist piece of legislation which comes on top of an ever-deepening “hostile environment” which my organisation Barac has been campaigning against since its inception 12 years ago. This has included opposing the Immigration Act, campaigning for the Windrush generation, opposing mass deportations by charter flight, campaigning for refugee and migrant rights and against the tidal wave of racism and xenophobia that comes hand in hand with government anti-migrant policies and laws.

That is why my organisations Barac and Bame Lawyers for Justice have joined with others to form the Citizenship is a Right Coalition to oppose the Bill which seeks to make it even more difficult to seek asylum here, to revoke citizenship with no notice or recourse for not just migrants but those born in Britain who have a parent born in another country — and to push back small boats of migrants into the sea to their deaths.

Last week the coalition organised a protest outside Parliament to coincide with the Bill’s amendments being debated in the House of Lords — we have more actions planned.

It’s crucial for black and brown communities to be aware of what these Bills mean for our communities and it’s also crucial for trade unions to challenge and oppose these draconian and racist Bills.

Not only do they impact directly on trade union rights in respect of our democratic right to protest, organise picket lines during strikes and so on, they must be opposed in respect of our black members being impacted disproportionately when they take part in these actions and singled out by the police — and also in respect of the right to work for those who are migrants and the impact of citizenship being stripped on those workers.

Britain is dependent on migrant labour, the economy would collapse without it and trade unions have a duty and responsibility to stand up for the rights, dignity and equality of all workers — including those who face the most marginalisation and discrimination in the labour market and employment.

Zita Holbourne is national chair of Barac and national vice president of PCS.

Sign Barac’s petition opposing the push back of boats here: www.mstar.link/pushboats.