Stephen Lawrence Day 2026

Today marks Stephen Lawrence Day – a national day of remembrance and reflection.

The racist murder of 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence on this day in 1993 is remembered each year to ensure  Stephen’s life is honoured by creating opportunities for others. The remembrance day is established to focus on empowering youth through education, community engagement and career development. 

The theme of this years Stephen Lawrence day is Every Future needs a Foundation.  It’s a message that resonates with me and I support in the strongest terms. I am currently funding a project with Bristol CIC Creative Power Town, which will directly provide education, upskilling and work experience opportunities for young people in the film making industry, through being part of a project to make a short film on knife crime.

Young people need good education, access to extra-curricular activities, higher education and employment opportunities, mentoring and development, support and places where they can thrive and be safe.

To me, Stephen’s Legacy is about ensuring our collective responsibility to support communities and provide these things for young people now and in the future.

However, the failings of the police investigation that followed Stephen’s attack led to the MacPherson Inquiry, which deemed the The Met Police Service institutionally racist.

Here, Avon and Somerset Police made their own declaration of institutional racism in 2023.  And so, in line with my priority to improve standards of policing, I am working closely with the Avon and Somerset Chief Constable and senior team to deliver against that declaration.   We are working to ensure this police force is anti-racist and working hard to minimise the disproportionality of outcomes in the criminal justice sector for people from black and minoritised communities. 

Stephen’s legacy is not just the impact his death had on the need to tackle structural and institutional racism in policing in England and Wales,

Today, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and the Stephen Lawrence Foundation have made a call to action to share and support their message in Stephen’s name. You can view the video from Baroness Lawrence here.

Finally, I am pleased that Avon and Somerset has been chosen as the host police service for the annual National Black Police Association (NBPA) Conference in October this year.

The conference is an important event where our black and racially minoritised officers and staff can come together and discuss accountability, proportionality, confidence in policing and wellbeing.