I was heartened to see a small but powerful group of three college students in Basingstoke taking a stand against racism this week in solidarity with Black Lives Matter marches around the world. They said they wanted to start conversations about privilege and racism locally.

Make no mistake that prejudice is alive and well in Britain and the onus is on white people, myself included, to challenge unacceptable behaviour and stamp out racism. To be silent is to be complicit. The younger generations are leading the way through protests but it is up to us all to act. We must call out discrimination in all its forms, we must listen to black voices and we must talk to white people about the role they play. Ultimately, we must do and be better.

We should be proud as a town that these students are starting this conversation locally.

Katie French, Editor