EALING Town Hall will be lit purple at 5pm today (May 25), to commemorate the first anniversary of the death of George Floyd.

Floyd was killed on this day last year in Minneapolis, by police officer Derek Chauvin, in what sparked a worldwide outcry regarding police brutality in the US.

He has since been found guilty of murder and is awaiting sentencing next month.

Ealing Council leader, Peter Mason, said: "The Black Lives Matter movement started as a reaction to his murder and shone a light on racism and inequality in countries all over the world.

"We've had COVID-19 hit Ealing with a disproportionate impact on Black, Asian and other minority communities in our borough.

"It was in reaction to these two events that Ealing Council set up our independent race equality commission and last week, I spoke with Lord Simon Woolley, the independent chair of that commission, to give him my total commitment that the commission should continue to take a tough and independent approach to that work.

"Councillor Joanna Camadoo-Rothwell, who founded the commission last year, will be staying on as vice chair, to ensure that the change in leadership won't delay their work.

"We can only fight racism and inequality by having difficult conversations and listening to those affected.

"We need to interrogate ourselves as a council and wider public services and institutions in Ealing, to make sure that our borough is a fairer and more equal place for everyone.

"As a new administration, we've committed to implementing the recommendations of the commission in full and I can promise again, now, that we will listen, and we will act."

Councillor Aysha Raza, the council's member for tackling inequality said: "We are putting fighting inequality at the very heart of everything we do as a council and I'm really proud to be leading that work as the first cabinet member for tackling inequality in Ealing.

"I will be focusing on reducing the inequalities that hold back far too many of our communities and fighting the hate and discrimination that has no place in our borough.

"To investigate inequalities and to implement the findings of our race equality commission.

"To be unafraid of the difficult conversations we need to have.

"To look at what we can do to support our Black children on our estates who are more likely to be excluded from school.

"To provide safe and secure provision for Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities.

"And to fight the inequalities that mean South Asian children growing up in intergenerational households in Southall lose their grandparents before their white classmates.

"I'm making it my mission to fight for and with all of our communities and I can't wait to see what we can achieve together."