The Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm is an initiative established on 9 June 2020 by the
Mayor of London
The mayor of London is the chief executive of the Greater London Authority. The role was created in 2000 after the Greater London devolution referendum in 1998, and was the first directly elected mayor in the United Kingdom.
The current m ...
,
Sadiq Khan
Sadiq Aman Khan (; born 8 October 1970) is a British politician serving as Mayor of London since 2016. He was previously Member of Parliament (MP) for Tooting from 2005 until 2016. A member of the Labour Party, Khan is on the party's sof ...
, to review public tributes in the British capital, including
statues and other
landmarks.
History
The commission was formed in response to the
George Floyd protests in the United Kingdom
Protests were held across the United Kingdom following the murder of George Floyd, a 46-year-old African-American man, by police officers while under arrest in the United States on 25 May 2020. Immediately following his murder, protests and r ...
, in which protesters toppled a
statue of Edward Colston
The statue of Edward Colston is a bronze statue of Bristol-born merchant and trans-Atlantic slave trader, Edward Colston (1636–1721). It was created in 1895 by the Irish sculptor John Cassidy and was formerly erected on a plinth of Portland ...
in
Bristol
Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...
and defaced a number of statues across the country. The commission will focus on increasing diversity in London's street names, monuments, public sculptures and artworks, murals and place names.
Its fifteen members were announced in February 2021, and include
Riz Ahmed
Rizwan Ahmed (; ; born ) is a British actor and rapper. As an actor, he has won an Emmy Award and has received nominations for a Golden Globe and three British Independent Film Awards, and as a rapper he has won an Academy Award for the short ...
,
Jack Guinness
Jack Guinness (born 1982) is a British writer, model, and presenter. He is the founder and director of ''The Queer Bible''. Guinness began his career as a model, starring in global campaigns for brands such as L'Oreal, Dunhill and Dolce & Gabban ...
,
Sandy Nairne and
Jasvir Singh.
In 2022 the commission announced its "Untold Stories" programme, to distribute £1 million of funding to community projects across the city. By February 2023, 70 projects had been funded across 24 London boroughs,
with plans including a panel and bench commemorating the 1981
New Cross house fire
The New Cross house fire was a fire that occurred during a party at a house in New Cross, south-east London, in the early hours of Sunday, 18 January 1981. The blaze killed 13 young black people aged between 14 and 22, and one survivor took his ...
, a memorial to
Rolan Adams in Thamesmead, and a statue of
Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah in
Mountsfield Park
Mountsfield Park is a public park in Catford, near to Hither Green within the London Borough of Lewisham. It opened in 1905 and has been greatly enlarged. The nearest railway stations are Hither Green, Catford and Catford Bridge.
History of th ...
, Lewisham.
See also
*
List of public statues of individuals linked to the Atlantic slave trade
*
*
Mayor's Commission on African and Asian Heritage
References
External links
*
*
Mayor unveils commission to review diversity of London's public realm, Mayor of London–London Assembly press release, 9 June 2020.
{{Public art in London, other works
2020 establishments in the United Kingdom
2020 in London
Anti-racism in the United Kingdom
George Floyd protests
Race-related controversies in the United Kingdom