“NOBODY wanted to mention the word race in the whole thing, because when I saw the residents who lived in that block to me it was under no doubt around the racism that existed at that time because I think had that been a block full of white people in there they would have done everything to get them out as fast as possible and make sure they did everything they needed to do,” Lady Doreen Lawrence, a Labour peer, told Channel Four News.

As a teenage boy in 1993, I watched, in horror, the news of Stephen Lawrence’s tragic death, just four years my senior and killed in cold blood, simply for the colour of his skin. As a white kid there but for the grace of god went I. From a very young age I had never understood those who judge people on the colour of their skin and I’ve spent much of my adult life trying to challenge, fight and educate against racism.

Some 15 years later, I proudly pulled on my kit for the first time, as a newly qualified firefighter and soon became active with the Fire Brigades Union campaigning against discrimination both inside and outside the service, for a workforce that better represented the community we served, against injustice and for a better resourced fire service to make our communities safer for all.