2020s

In June 2020, following the murder of George Floyd and the global rise of Black Lives Matter, Birmingham saw one of the UK’s largest anti-racist protests. Over 5,000 people gathered in the city centre, demanding justice, equality, and a reckoning with Britain’s colonial past.

Timed to coincide with the 39th anniversary of the 1981 Handsworth Uprising, the protest connected Birmingham’s legacy of resistance to the present struggle against systemic racism. Inspired by the toppling of Edward Colston’s statue in Bristol, campaigners turned to Birmingham’s commemorative landscape—questioning monuments to Horatio Nelson, James Watt, Matthew Boulton, and Joseph Chamberlain, all linked to empire and slavery.

The protests sparked wider debates about public memory, with activists stressing that challenging monuments was about reframing—not erasing—history.

In the aftermath, the Birmingham Race Impact Group (BRIG) was formed to monitor racial inequalities and push for reform. The 2020 BLM protests marked both a historic mobilisation and a catalyst for long-term, structural change in the city.

In May 2021, 14-year-old Dea-John Reid was racially abused and fatally stabbed on College Road, Kingstanding, in a killing that shocked Birmingham and reignited outrage over racist violence. Initially, police downplayed a racial motive, but evidence of racist abuse—including the use of the N-word—forced West Midlands Police to acknowledge the role of race in the attack.

Community leaders condemned both the murder and the authorities’ handling of the case. Activist Desmond Jaddoo became a prominent voice for justice, organising a public vigil on 6 June where hundreds gathered to honour Dea-John’s life and demand accountability.

From this mobilisation emerged the Justice 4 Dea-John Reid Campaign, which called for reforms including racially balanced juries in race hate trials to ensure fairness and restore public trust.

Dea-John’s murder left a deep scar, especially among Black communities, but the response demonstrated powerful resilience. The case remains a tragic reminder of racism’s deadly impact, and a call to confront systemic injustice across society.

On 15 August 2016, former Aston Villa footballer Dalian Atkinson, 48, died after a brutal encounter with West Mercia Police in Telford during a mental health crisis. Officers discharged a Taser multiple times and delivered repeated baton strikes and kicks to his head. Atkinson, a beloved figure in Birmingham, could not be revived. His death sparked outrage across the UK.

After years of delays, in June 2021, PC Benjamin Monk was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to eight years, the first UK police officer convicted for killing a Black man while on duty. His colleague, PC Mary Ellen Bettley-Smith, was later found guilty of assault.

The case gained international attention, aligning with a UN report condemning systemic racism and disproportionate Black deaths in custody.

Atkinson’s family welcomed the conviction but stressed it was not full justice, only a rare moment of accountability. His death remains a tragic symbol of police violence, racial injustice, and the failure of mental health systems to protect vulnerable lives.

Ahead of the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, concerns over representation erupted into public debate. In February, 51 figures from Birmingham’s media, arts, sports, and political sectors signed an open letter criticising the Games’ leadership for lacking diversity. They warned that without meaningful representation, the Games risked alienating communities central to the city’s identity.

The letter sparked national discussion and prompted a response: the board was restructured to include figures like Ama Agbeze, Geoff Thompson, Sandra Osborne, Hiren Dhimar, and Derek Anderson—an effort to better reflect Birmingham’s demographics. Yet campaigners stressed that representation must go beyond tokenism.

The Birmingham Race Impact Group (BRIG) intensified scrutiny with its Playing Games with Diversity report, warning that equity risks were being sidelined. It called for transparency, accountability, and grassroots investment.

While the Games were globally celebrated, the controversy underscored ongoing challenges around race, equity, and civic inclusion. It served as a powerful reminder that true representation must be embedded in action—not just image.

In 2022, British multidisciplinary artist Christopher Samuel, of Windrush heritage, was appointed artist-in-residence at Birmingham Museums Trust through the national 20/20 programme, which paired artists with collections to reimagine public history. Samuel’s work explores the intersections of race, disability, class, and identity, using humour and counter-archival methods to centre marginalised voices.

During his residency, Samuel focused on the oral histories of disabled people of colour in Birmingham, challenging archival silences and the exclusion of Black and disabled narratives in cultural institutions. By embedding these testimonies into the museum’s collections, he expanded their scope to better reflect the city’s diverse communities.

The residency culminated in Watch Us Lead, an exhibition opening in 2025. Combining stained glass, drawings, archival interventions, and multimedia, it reframes how race and disability histories are told—placing disabled people of colour as leaders in cultural storytelling.

Samuel’s work marks a shift in Birmingham’s museum practice, transforming heritage spaces into platforms for justice, inclusivity, and community-led memory.

On 29 March 2023, a 73-year-old Muslim man was violently attacked in Kings Heath, Birmingham, while walking home from Ramadan prayers. Coming just weeks after a similar Islamophobic assault, the attack shocked residents and underscored the rise in hate crimes and the persistence of structural Islamophobia, stoked by hostile politics and media narratives.

In response, residents, activists, and venue owners formed Kings Heath United Against Racism (KHUR), aiming to resist fear and build solidarity. Within weeks, they launched The Unity Weekender (12–14 May 2023), a three-day cultural festival across local venues.

Featuring music, spoken word, workshops, film, and discussions, the festival celebrated Birmingham’s diversity and challenged narratives of division. It situated local violence within broader national and global patterns of Islamophobia, turning cultural expression into resistance.

KHUR’s emergence showed how communities can transform tragedy into collective action. The Unity Weekender became a defining moment—embedding anti-racism into Kings Heath’s civic life and continuing Birmingham’s legacy of grassroots resistance to hate.

In 2023, Birmingham Museums Trust premiered The Tiny Spark (2022), a short film by renowned filmmaker Pogus Caesar featuring poetry by the late Benjamin Zephaniah. Commissioned to mark the legacy of the 1985 Handsworth uprisings, the film combined archival footage, documentary storytelling, and spoken word to reframe one of Birmingham’s most pivotal moments of resistance.

Rather than depicting the uprisings as mere disorder, The Tiny Spark situated them within a longer history of systemic racism, police violence, and economic neglect. It highlighted the structural conditions—over-policing, discrimination, and unemployment—that led to unrest, while celebrating the resilience, dignity, and solidarity of Handsworth’s Black and Asian communities.

By fusing Zephaniah’s powerful poetry with Caesar’s stark imagery, the film performed urgent anti-racist memory work, challenging reductive narratives and honouring the uprising as a demand for justice.

The commission signalled a shift in institutional memory-making—centering local Black voices and affirming the power of art to shape how histories are told, remembered, and resisted.

In April 2023, BMet College and South and City College Birmingham, in partnership with the Birmingham Race Impact Group (BRIG), hosted the inaugural Pass the Baton Anti-Racist Festival. Conceived as both a cultural celebration and political intervention, the festival brought together students, educators, activists, and artists for a day of dialogue, performance, and collective learning.

The programme featured talks, workshops, exhibitions, and live performances, exploring racism in contemporary Britain and strategies for systemic change. Topics included racial inequality in education, workplace justice, and youth empowerment, alongside creative contributions from poets, musicians, and visual artists.

The festival’s title—Pass the Baton—symbolised intergenerational responsibility, placing students at the centre as active participants and future leaders.

By anchoring the event in further education colleges, organisers highlighted the sector’s crucial role in dismantling racism. The festival also showcased how partnerships with groups like BRIG can bridge institutional action with lived experience.

More than an event, it was a call to sustain anti-racist momentum across Birmingham and beyond.

In summer 2024, students at the University of Birmingham established a Palestine Solidarity Encampment, joining a global wave of campus protests demanding accountability for universities’ ties to the Israeli occupation and the assault on Gaza. Inspired by international student movements, the encampment transformed the Edgbaston campus into a visible site of resistance.

Students called on the university to disclose investments, divest from companies complicit in the occupation—such as BAE Systems and Elbit Systems—and end partnerships with Israeli universities. They also demanded a public condemnation of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The encampment became more than protest: it was a space of education, culture, and solidarity, with teach-ins, vigils, poetry, and music rooted in anti-colonial and anti-racist politics. Community groups and local activists rallied in support, reflecting Birmingham’s long legacy of global solidarity.

Despite institutional pressure, the encampment endured, marking a powerful moment in student activism and reaffirming the university as a contested space of resistance, accountability, and hope.

In 2023, Birmingham honoured the life and legacy of poet, writer, and activist Benjamin Zephaniah with a public mural and a dedicated exhibition. Born in Handsworth in 1958, Zephaniah passed away in December 2023, leaving an indelible cultural and political impact. His death prompted tributes worldwide, but it was Birmingham—his lifelong home—that mourned most deeply.

Unveiled in inner-city Birmingham, the mural quickly became a landmark, celebrating Zephaniah’s roots and his influence on Black British culture. The exhibition showcased his poetry, reggae-infused performances, children’s books, and activism—highlighting his fights against racism, police brutality, and injustice, including support for Satpal Ram and families affected by deaths in custody.

Framed within Birmingham’s radical traditions, it also featured his role in Handsworth Songs (1986), his grassroots collaborations, and his belief that poetry should be for the people.

More than commemoration, these tributes were acts of political memory—embedding Zephaniah’s voice in Birmingham’s cultural landscape and affirming his legacy as a beacon of resistance, creativity, and liberation.

The Birmingham Race Impact Group (BRIG), a coalition of activists, academics, and community leaders, emerged in response to the racial disparities exposed by COVID-19 and the renewed urgency of Black Lives Matter. Since then, BRIG has become a leading force for racial justice across Birmingham and the West Midlands.

On 30 October 2024, BRIG hosted its bi-annual summit, What’s Changed?, bringing together leaders from civic, public, private, faith, and cultural sectors to assess progress and challenge complacency on racial inequality. Discussions addressed barriers in health, education, policing, employment, and representation, grounded in the lived experiences of Birmingham’s diverse communities.

The summit culminated in a landmark anti-racist pledge, signed by all major statutory agencies—a rare collective commitment to dismantle systemic racism.

More than symbolic, the pledge marked a shift toward accountability and measurable change. Rooted in Birmingham’s long tradition of anti-racist struggle, the 2024 pledge stands as a milestone in the city’s fight for equity, justice, and structural transformation.

In 2025, Birmingham City Council faced widespread criticism after permitting the far-right group Britain First to hold a rally in Victoria Square, the civic heart of a city known for its multiculturalism and anti-racist history. The decision shocked many and was widely condemned as a serious misjudgement.

Britain First, notorious for its Islamophobic and racist rhetoric, was seen by campaigners as a hate group whose presence undermined Birmingham’s values. Allowing them access to such a prominent space was viewed as legitimising their agenda. Community leaders, faith groups, trade unions, and anti-racist organisations denounced the move, citing both reputational damage and safety risks—particularly for Muslims and people of colour.

Counter-protests were swiftly organised, reaffirming Birmingham’s opposition to racism and extremism. Activists later described the council’s decision as a “costly mistake” and called for stronger policies to prevent far-right exploitation of public spaces.

The incident served as a stark reminder of the threat posed by extremism, to the unity of institutions to defend inclusion and community safety.