Goldman Sachs Talks

Right Honourable David Lammy, Member of Parliament for Tottenham

In this episode of Talks at GS, David Lammy, member of Parliament for Tottenham, discusses race relations in the UK, his work campaigning for social justice and the impact of the coronavirus on the Asian, Black and minority ethnic communities. 

On confronting structural racism: “The debate now is about whiteness. It’s about majority communities having a conversation and acting. And, there’s a new phrase that the millennials use, and they’re talking about allies in this struggle. ‘Ally’ is a verb. It means doing. And so the challenge now is not to talk, it’s to act.”  

On coronavirus and the recent protests: “There are real issues I think that COVID is throwing up, and some of that does lie behind the protests that we’re seeing, because if black lives matter, then that’s got to be real. And literally we’re seeing that inequalities that have existed in broader society – in our education system, in our health system, in our criminal justice system, in private workplaces – the kind of economic power and money that communities need to prosper.”