On 7 June 2020, Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Bristol toppled the statue of Edward Colston, a slave trading merchant.

Colston’s descent to the bottom of the harbour marked one UK culmination of weeks of protest across the globe, sparked by the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in late May.

Since then, Colston’s statue has been retrieved from the harbour and put into a museum, a government-commissioned report into racism was published and vehemently criticised, and a global anti-racist mass movement has emerged.

One year on from the start of these momentous events, we ask: how does racism manifest in our politics and society, how is it tackled, and what stands in the way of progress – what’s next for #BlackLivesMatter?

Join us on Tuesday, 8 June, from 14.00 – 17.00, for our next King’s Great Debate, a series which address society’s most pressing questions. We are breaking out of the panel format. We want to hear from students, academics, experts, campaigners and professionals and we will publish the debate’s conclusions in a report.

Our keynote speaker for the event will be Professor Gargi Bhattacharyya, from the University of East London, and one of the authors of the recent Empire’s Endgame.