A Cumbrian town council has pledged to stand with the BAME community in the county.
Kendal Town Council adopted a motion, put forward by the mayor Doug Rathbone, to become an anti-racism council and commit to eradicating racism, xenophobia, all religious intolerance including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism and all discrimination which impacts on the entire community.
Councillor Rathbone said: “This is a significant commitment from the town council, to recognise that it’s not enough to just say things like ‘we support equality’, but that we will take active steps to be anti-racist.”
Town councillor and former mayor of Kendal Guy Tirvengadum said: “As chair of the South Lakeland Equality and Diversity Partnership and AWAZ Cumbria I am
delighted that Kendal Town Council has become the first council in Cumbria to produce an anti-racism policy which will greatly help towards Kendal being a
welcoming place where people from all nationalities can live, work and visit.”
The council, which gives financial assistance to the Cumbria Unity Festival, will now work through all its policies and procedures to ensure that anti-racism is a priority
consideration, it said.
