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If you want to tackle poverty you need tackle racism - THREAD 
Liz Truss's attempts to 'overhaul' the equalities work in the UK is nothing short of a whitewashing of British history and its relationship with race 1/
It is time that equalities ministers in this government are held accountable for their words 
BME communities represent at least 14% of the UK population. 2/
BME communities represent at least 14% of the UK population. 2/
For them to hear from a Minister of the Crown that the centuries long battle against racism in which this country has been engaged is a fad, or a “fashion”, is an affront to every single one of those millions of voters. 3/
Figures like William Wilberforce, Phillis Wheatley, Paul Stephenson and Bernie Grant confirm that Britain’s historical fight against racism cannot be compared to a fashion like Brit Pop or the Rubik’s Cube. To even intimate as much is a gross offence. 4/
This mentality reveals a deeply institutionalized lack of awareness around racism that is entrenched in the Conservative Party that was yet again on view for all to see when the PM argued that race is not a factor in the disproportionate number of BME people dying from Covid 5/
All this begs the question of how BME communities can trust the revisionist policies of such a government? 6/
As representatives of BME communities, we have felt a profound sense of solidarity from White Britons through the Black Lives Matter campaign. 7/
We believe that the thinking of this government on race equality is not just far removed from the views of the majority of voters in the country, but also the majority of “Compassionate Conservatives”. 8/
Class and race are not mutually exclusive. Bangladeshi and Pakistani families experience greater levels of poverty than white counterparts and suffer discrimination based on their religion and skin colour. 9/
We do not see a greater focus on class in opposition with racism. We know that you must root out structural racism and loosen the grip of poverty on all our communities at the same time. If you want to tackle poverty you need tackle racism /10.
