Paul Mortimer

Retired professional footballer, educator, father — Greater London

Stopped by the police: "20 to 25 times"

"My son asked me, ‘So I can be stopped because I look a certain way?' I said yes, and so he said to me, ‘Well, how can that be right? Does that happen to everyone, Dad?' And I said no. And he said, ‘It doesn't happen to white people, does it?'"

© Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations

Nick Glynn

Police officer, father — Leicester

Stopped by the police: "over 30 times"

"Being singled out to be stopped because of your colour has a horrible effect on you. It's like something you want to keep to yourself as well because there's a bit of embarrassment there, and you don't want to tell your friends and family about it. It's upsetting. It keeps you awake at night as you relive the experience."

© Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations

Diane Joseph

University administrator, mother — Essex

 

"When I think about the police, I feel that they have stripped my son of his soul and his dreams. They made him feel worthless. That they make him feel that he's somebody that they can stop and rough up whenever they please with no explanation. You should be able to send your child to the shop to buy a pint of milk without them being stopped on the way back."

© Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations

Karen Chouhan

Teacher, civil rights activist, mother — Leicester

 

"For me it is devastating that this issue can have such an effect on our children's sense of belonging, on their identity, on how they feel about society, how they feel about the police, and how it stops their chances, or can stop their chances, in education or in employment. How it could end up with them going to prison or having a criminal record, if not in prison. Or having something on their record."

© Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations

Kwabena Oduro-Ayim

Accountancy student, volunteer youth worker — London

Stopped by the police: "so many times"

"The relationship between my community and the police is a fairly volatile relationship. I don't have as much confidence in the police as maybe white society does, and that's not fair. Because I'm a British citizen in the same respect that they're British citizens."

© Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations

Cordel Robinson

Drama student, playwright, volunteer youth worker — London

Stopped by the police: "three times"

"How can I get them to see me on the road and just leave me alone, let me go about my business? Because I don't really like being stopped. It's just embarrassing. When I'm walking down the road, someone will stop me and start searching, ruffle up my clothes and stuff like that. I was never comfortable with that. A lot of times, it's just embarrassing. Even if nothing happens. It's just embarrassing."

© Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations

Rizwaan Sabir

PhD student — Manchester

Stopped by the police: "in excess of thirty-five times"

"It creates a fear. You start looking around you to see if there's police who might just come and stop and search you for no reason, when you're traveling through the airport or ports. I've always got in the back of my head that at any moment I could be approached by a suit-wearing Special Branch officer and taken into the back and held for up to nine hours for questioning, purely because of the way I look."

© Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations

Ashraf Hamalawi

University lecturer — Worcestershire

Stopped by the police: "more than a dozen times"

"Why have I been searched so many times? You start getting a bit annoyed. It's like: ‘Well, I can't change how I look.'"

© Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations

Anthony Redman-Thomas

Video editor, father — London

Stopped by the police: "countless times"

"It's upsetting because I am a law-abiding citizen. I've been to university. I've been to film school. I've got various degrees. I work. I pay my taxes. I do a lot of things that many other people do in their lives every day. So I don't see why I should be singled out more than any other person to be stopped and searched."

© Ed Kashi/VII for the Open Society Foundations