"Fear of everything from my childhood came rushing back" - how Brexit sparked new racism fears after 50 years and the death of George Floyd started to fix it

Alison Lowe said she felt scared and backed off from engaging with people for fear of having racist remarks shouted at her in public.

However, as she speaks to the Yorkshire Evening Post as part of a series of features to promote Black History Month - she reveals that for the first time she is hopeful for meaningful and real change in what has been a world of 'white privilege'.

Ms Lowe, who has lived in Leeds all her life, has served as a councillor for the Armley ward for 29 years, deputy Lord Mayor, chair of the West Yorkshire Police and Crime panel and is CEO of Leeds based mental health charity Touchstone among many other things - says it is only in the aftermath of the death of George Floyd while in American police custody, and Black Lives Matter movements which followed, that she has finally started to see doors "open a crack."

The 56-year-old who grew up in Seacroft said: "It is illegal to call someone the 'n' word which I was called on a daily basis in Seacroft. People were not evil, they were ignorant, frightened and did not know it was wrong or was hurting me.

"That was in the 60s and the 70s were just as bad. There were negative stereotypes on television, such as Love Thy Neighbour, and those types of programme reinforced that it was okay to have racist views. Things began to change in the 80s, there was more awareness and legislation (the Race Relations Act 1965) had been in place for 20 years. By the 90s, and every ten years, you could feel there was some progression".

Ms Lowe's sister was racially abused on Armley Town Street and for the first time in years, she says she felt scared to go out.

She recalls: "I remember going to Morrison's after she told me and I was proper frightened. I had my head down and did not look at anybody, normally I would be chatting away, but I did not look at anyone. I felt someone would say something racist and I could not bear it.

"That fear of everything from my childhood came rushing back. I completely disengaged from people around me and that lasted a while."

However, Ms Lowe says there are three key things, and despite the tragic outcomes of them, they have moved the issue of racism and equality, inequality and opportunity more further forward in the last six months than the last six decades.

The death of George Floyd and the resurgence of Black Lives Matter led to white people in power recognising this was not a world they wanted to be part of and, as a result, are now actively seeking ways to include black people who have been abused and excluded for generations. In addition the coronavirus outbreak categorically proved that there are huge health inequalities for BAME members of our communities.

Very soon after lockdown it was revealed that black people are twice as likely to die from COVID than white people and if you are black and in your 60s and 70s, you are five times more likely to die.

She said: "COVID, in a way that has never happened, before really shone that light on how unfair health inequalities are if you are black. That alongside George Floyd and Black Lives Matter were the three ingredients that triggered that change. People needed evidence and facts and COVID gave that. It is indesputable."

Moving forward, Ms Lowe says she is having conversations now that would not have been possible six months or a year ago and later this week there is set to be a meeting of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership, which encompassses CCGs, councils, NHS trusts and voluntary and community groups from across 50 localities, to look at a review into Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic health inequalities and to make recommendations on how that will change.

Ms Lowe said: "We will see how this movement for change manifests itself in a practical way. I would not have believed a year ago there is acknowledgement about structural racism and people saying we have white privilege.

"I am overwhelmed because I am so used to banging on doors that closed. They are open a crack and people are seeing the same thing. This is about people contributing to the world and black and white people contributing equally. We need education and I am not hearing that, we need the curriculum to evolve and to be more inclusive.

"We have started a journey but if it was Leeds to London, we are not even on the motorway yet. We have got a long way to go."

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Thank you

Laura Collins