race and racism

Humiliation, trauma and mistrust: why we must scrap Section 60

The founder member of police accountability group Bristol Copwatch explains why the Avon and Somerset force must stop running racist and ineffective suspicionless stop-and-search operations.

Enduring trauma, and a struggle for justice: one year on from the Barton House high-rise evacuation

On 14 November 2023 an east Bristol tower block was evacuated over fears it could collapse, making national news. A year on, residents tell the Cable about the disruption to their lives, the ongoing impact on their wellbeing and their children's – and how a community has been left traumatised.

Listen: The Debrief – what a leaked police report revealed about racial inequalities in stop-and-search

A report leaked to the Cable showed the shocking fact that Black people are 25 times likelier to be strip-searched than white peers. Sean Morrison and Priyanka Raval ask what the findings say about police institutional racism.

Listen: People Just Do Something, with Jendayi Serwah on what reparations are and what real progress would look like

Reparations campaigner Jendayi Serwah explains what the term means, how it differs from other racial justice movements and how grassroots organisations are pushing for real change.

‘There’s a price to be paid’: one woman’s mission to highlight historic buildings’ slave trade links

Gloria Daniel has spent years tracing the connections between the UK’s built environment and its colonial trade in humans. An exhibition at Ashton Court and a new memorial in Bristol Cathedral are pushing back on hidden injustice.

Watch: How Section 60 contributes to rifts between police and the communities they serve

Youth workers, community leaders and the founder of a police monitoring group explain the damaging and traumatising impact of controversial 'suspicionless' search powers in Bristol.

Listen: The Debrief – race riots, trade union resistance and lessons from history

Priyanka Raval interviews journalist Adam Quarshie about trade unions’ response to far-right unrest, how they can do more for migrant workers, and whether their past relationship with racism needs to be reckoned with.

Listen: The Debrief: No far right in sight… Bristol’s victory over hatred

Join Cable journalists discussing what’s driving the far-right violence across the country, and our city’s incredible show of solidarity as thousands took to the streets to say no to racist, xenophobic hatred.

Huge counter demo in Bristol sends clear message that far right not welcome – as it happened

After the Bristol riot on Saturday, Cable reporters were live at the scene as counter protesters returned to the streets to stand up to the far right.

Racist and traumatising: inside a Section 60 suspicionless stop and search operation

Officers searched innocent children, disproportionately targeted people of colour and undermined their anti-racism reforms during a 48-hour police operation in February. Their narrative that it was an effective knife-crime deterrent, done with consent, is misleading.

Long Read: Bristol took a stand against the far right, and it’s preparing to do it all over again

As the dust settles on the weekends’ clashes, the Cable reflects on the evening’s events - the racism, the resistance and the tensions that fuelled them.

VIDEO: Chief constable challenged on ‘anti-racist policing’ progress and stop and search reform

It’s been a year since Avon and Somerset’s chief constable Sarah Crew admitted her service was institutionally racist, but what is she actually doing about it?