AS the media turn their attention to Westminster and follow every step and misstep by the political parties, one issue is already looming across parties and the coverage — institutional racism.

We have been forced by media outlets to watch Nigel Farage, an unelected “party leader,” target British Muslims as he tries to justify his abhorrent views.

The Conservatives are accused of having “a race problem” as they were slated for accepting campaign donations from a rich donor who was on record making vile, racist comments. This was followed closely by the Labour Party facing a backlash as it ditched several black and minority ethnic candidates. The issue of race discrimination is never far away.

Acknowledging that an organisation is institutionally racist should be a positive step in its understanding of the systemic causes of racism, yet this can be so easily negated if the experience of black people is unchanged. No-one knows this better than the family of Sheku Bayoh.

Bayoh came to Scotland when he was 17, thinking it would be safer for a young black man to grow up in the small town of Kirkcaldy in Fife rather than London. He died on a Scottish street, 31 years old, leaving behind his two young sons.

On May 3 2015 around 7.15am, police responded to reports of a black man acting erratically, walking down the street and holding a knife. Six police vehicles were dispatched, yet when the police arrived Bayoh was carrying neither a knife nor or any weapon.

The first four officers that arrived used CS spray, Pava spray and batons on him; Bayoh was brought to the ground in less than 45 seconds of the first officers arriving. He stopped breathing within minutes, never to recover.

All nine officers returned to the police station and sat together in a canteen for up to eight hours while failing to give statements to investigators for some 32 days. In the hours that followed, many lies were told, including that he had attacked a police officer with a knife.

The last nine years have been a long, never-ending and painful fight for truth, justice and accountability. After much campaigning, alongside the family’s lawyer, Aamer Anwar, an independent public inquiry was announced in November 2019 by then cabinet secretary for justice, Humza Yousaf.

The terms of reference were to examine the events surrounding Bayoh’s death, the investigation that followed his death and importantly whether race was a factor.

In May 2023 Police Scotland admitted that the force had been institutionally racist and discriminatory, and one retired detective chief superintendent stated that following Bayoh’s death, “race was the main factor in terms of how the officers had dealt with it.”

That public inquiry has now been meeting for over two years. It is set to conclude towards the end of this year. Its report is to be published in 2025.

Bayoh’s family have lived through untold pain and grief both in losing Bayoh and daily in their fight for justice.

They have held vigils outside the inquiry in Edinburgh, with the support from a wider campaign group and trade unionists from across Scotland. We will be standing alongside them again this week, on Thursday June 6 outside the inquiry to show our support and solidarity for them in their fight for justice. I invite you to join us there also.

The inquiry is now coming to a very important stage when witnesses will be asked about the role that race may have played in Bayoh’s death and the following investigation.

The case of George Floyd highlighted globally the issue of racial injustice and killings at the hands of the police.

A Black Lives Matter movement was also needed in Britain: since 1969 there has not been a single successful prosecution of a police officer for homicide.

Along with the family, we hope that the outcome of the inquiry will bring some justice and share the family’s belief that Bayoh’s death will not have been in vain if the inquiry can help make Scotland a more racially inclusive, fairer and safer society.

The mass vigil for Sheku Bayoh at the public inquiry takes place on Thursday June 6 2024 at Festival Square, Edinburgh, 8.45am-10am. See www.bit.ly/ShekuVigil.

Roz Foyer is general secretary of the Scottish TUC.