Council refuses to name members of slavery legacy review

Edinburgh City Council has refused to reveal the names of officials sitting on its Slavery and Colonialism Legacy Review Group amid fears they would be subject to abuse.

The group, set up in the wake of the Black Lives Matters protests and debate around colonial and racist figures being immortalised in public spaces, is currently examining street names, monuments and buildings in the capital.

However, in a response to a freedom of information request by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the council refused to name committee members for fear of “both online and offline abuse”.

It said that the names of members would not be released until “appropriate safeguarding supports” have been approved.

In response to the request, the council wrote: “Under the terms of the legislation, a request for information can be refused where one or more exemptions listed in the legislation apply.

“In this instance, the council is claiming exemptions under sections 38 (Personal Data) and 39 (Health, Safety and the Environment).

“Due to concerns about both online and offline abuse raised by the Review Group, the chair has agreed not to release the names or biographical details of any members until appropriate safeguarding supports are approved and operational, and the Review Group consents to their details being publicised.”

Chair Sir Geoff Palmer, Scotland’s first black professor, said the group will provide educational resources to provide people with information about their city, rather than removing statues and changing place names.

In response to the abuse he has received, Sir Geoff explained: “I’m from Jamaica, I’m from a very tough part of Jamaica, in Kingston, and I have put up with worse than them. They are minnows in terms of trying to abuse me.

“I’m doing a job, for the city, for the people of Edinburgh, and abuse will not stop me.

“I respond to those people, and others say I shouldn’t, but I have learned so much about racism from them.

“I don’t think they should be stopped. The fact is I have learned a lot from them and now they have gone.

“I can’t say if the council is responsible, and the fact is, everybody knows I am on that committee, and I will take the abuse, I don’t care.

“They are picking on the wrong person, because I’ve been given a job by the council and the government, and with Edinburgh University, and loads of others.

“I’m not going to stop that because of people, either historians who think they are trained, or people who want to abuse me, that won’t stop me.”

By local democracy reporter Joseph Anderson