Wednesday 17 June 2020

My speech at Jersey's Black Lives Matter demonstration 06/06/20






I want to thank each of you for turning up on short notice. As I look out here I see the beautiful rainbow that is our Jersey society. I see men and women, black and white, young and old, LGBT, all faiths and none, all of us here united to say with one voice that we reject the racist violence perpetrated against George Floyd and too many others.

We stand in solidarity with the brave men and women in America and around the world who stand up to injustice wherever they find it.

But most importantly, we are here to say to people in Jersey, our friends, our neighbours, our colleagues, from ethnic minorities or other nationalities, that we stand with you, we celebrate all you contribute to what makes our society so special, and we will never let you come into harms way because of the depravity that is racial injustice.

I want to thank you Chief of Police, Robin Smith, for his commitment that our police in Jersey will never descend to the behaviour of their American counterparts, because they understand that our diversity is a source of our strength.

I also want to thank the Chief Minister of Jersey, Senator John Le Fondré, who is at a D-Day commemoration today, marking that crucial moment in the fight against the Nazis, but has sent his support for this demonstration and asked me to pass on those words to you.

And I want to thank the organisers of this demonstration for ensuring that it will be recorded that we in Jersey were on the right side of history.

We live in dark times. Whilst the world is engulfed by a deadly pandemic which brings hardship and anxiety on so many, on top of that we also face the horror of what seems like a growing tide of racism, bigotry, Islamophobia, anti-semitism and homophobia, often incited by cowardly politicians and their paymasters in the media and big business, who exploit these divisions for their own self-interest.

But we must always remember that we are many and they are few.

The power is in our hands to fight for a fairer society for us all to enjoy, no matter what our background is.

Even though we have plenty to feel angry about, I ask you not to leave this event feeling angry. Leave it instead feeling determined and inspired

There are still injustices here we need to tackle. We still have to do more to tackle racism, sexism and homophobia here. But crucially we must accept that our freedom from the injustices of racism and prejudice are incomplete with our freedom from economic injustice. Our growing gap between the rich and poor must be addressed as a priority alongside these other injustices.

So I urge you to stay inspired, stay involved, get organised and whilst showing our solidarity with others around the world, make sure you play your part in securing a fairer society here, and I promise you on behalf of Reform Jersey, we will be alongside you every single step of the way.

I want to end with a quote which I hope sums up our sense of optimism though we face these dark times. It is a quote from Martin Luther King Jr, who said “let us all hope that the dark clouds of racial prejudice will soon pass away, and that in some not too distant tomorrow the radiant stars of love and brotherhood will shine over our great national with all their scintillating beauty”.

29 comments:

  1. Watched your Facebook video on housing. 30% max of income is supposed to only go on rent. But with the Jersey Housing Trust and Andium rental charges put on people this is not happening.

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  2. Why do we not know how many local people are buying and subletting flats to supplement their incomes in Jersey?

    https://www.gov.je/government/freedomofinformation/pages/foi.aspx?ReportID=3789

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    Replies
    1. Surprised nobody knows who owns a 2nd homes for rental income in Jersey.
      Lots of people do it because you get nothing back on your money in the bank.

      Delete
  3. Was Gary Burgess trying to trash you on the news tonight?

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    Replies
    1. Well that's how it came across. He was telling a vote had already been done in advance and you were kidding yourself that you can change it. Look, I agree with you on this proposal, but I cannot lie about what I watched.

      Delete
  4. Outgunned again then.
    Time you concentrated on what you promised and stopped treating the electorate like Mushrooms.

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    Replies
    1. I see you're back to using your fake facebook accounts to troll over news articles. Bit sad.

      Either way, you're wrong. Gary did a fair interview and I gave good answers (if I do say so myself). I can see why you make these accusations anonymously. I probably wouldn't want my name associated with such nonsense either.

      Delete
  5. Do you know where in this document you get the calculation for 90% Social Housing rents?

    https://statesassembly.gov.je/assemblyreports/2013/r.015-2013.pdf

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  6. Sam.

    Exclusive interview with Britain's most prolific pedophile Hunter Cheyenne O'Connor.

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  7. Replies
    1. By the way I thought your speech on the unsuccessful Landlord registration debate was bang on the money. These Buy to Lets are a can of worms and it is time we were told exactly how many 1 and 2 bedroom flats are only held as locally enjoyed investments.

      Delete
    2. Especially how many States Members own them. 18 isn't it? No wonder they can't get house prices down.
      I would love to know exactly how many locally owned 'Buy to Lets' there are in the Island, because from some of the local Estate Agent Adverts saying there are cash buyers waiting, they must be selling like Hot Cakes.

      Delete
  8. So you are doing a live Q&A session on fixing a Government that you and Deputy Tadier are actually part of.
    Maybe Trevor Pitman's recent post really is onto something.

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    Replies
    1. I enjoyed Trevor's blog. He made some very good points and did so in a fair way, in my view.

      But, seriously though Jon, you need to stop with all the abusive messages you are sending me. They aren't doing you any good, and you're just drawing more attention to yourself. Give it a rest. You'll be better off for it.

      Delete
  9. Sam.

    Jersey Reform Day 1769-2020 exclusive interview with Tom Gruchy.

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  10. Locally owned Buy to Lets are wrecking this Island and peoples prospects of owning their first home.

    "Islanders queue to buy Bath Street flats off-plan – with more than half being bought by buy-to-let investors"

    https://jerseyeveningpost.com/news/2020/10/02/islanders-queue-to-buy-bath-street-flats-off-plan-with-more-than-half-being-bought-by-buy-to-let-investors/

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  11. Sam.

    Deputy Montfort Tadier, and Senator Sam Mezec of Jersey's only political party, Reform Jersey resign their Assistant/Ministerial roles in government and support Vote of No CONFIDENCE.

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  12. Sam.

    Short trailer of in-depth interview with former Children's and Housing Minister Senator Sam Mezec.

    Hope to publish full interview later today.

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  13. Sam.

    Full interview with Senator Sam Mezec now published HERE.

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  14. Sam.

    Former Senior Investigating Police Officer of the Jersey Child Abuse investigation, Lenny Harper, and VFC were interviewed in a live broadcast last night (Fri 20th Nov 2020) by Sonia Poulton.

    Full interview, and new Blog Posting, to follow but in the meantime here is a very short (25 secs) video clip of the INTERVIEW.

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  15. Sam.

    Full (live) interview can be viewed from HERE.

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  16. Jon, I can't believe you are still sat alone, hanging on to every word I say, spending all of your time obsessing over me, and sending me this anonymous abuse.

    Get some fresh air for goodness sake.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Sam.

    Tribute to the late Chris Wakeham from former Deputy Shona Pitman.

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  18. Sam.

    Dark Secrets of a Trillion Dollar Island: GARENNE.

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  19. Sam.

    Exclusive interview with former SIO Lenny Harper discussing last night's "Dark Secrets of a Trillion Dollar Island: Garenne" DOCUMENTARY.

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  20. Sam.

    Trailer of upcoming interview with (possibly illegally) suspended former police Chief Graham Power QPM.

    "The big boys did it and ran AWAY."

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  21. Sam.

    Exclusive interview with (possibly illegally) suspended Police Chief discussing Monday night's "Dark Secrets of a Trillion Dollar Island: Garenne" DOCUMENTARY.

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  22. Sam.

    VFC interviewed by "OnRecord" discussing "The Jersey Situation" as a direct result of the documentary "Dark Secrets of a Trillion Dollar Island:Garenne" HERE.

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