DOREEN LAWRENCE called for the decolonisation of education to tackle racism, and that a better understanding of Black history would make a difference to society.

Baroness Lawrence made her comments alongside Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer in front of a specially-invited audience of young people and Black leaders.

The mother of murdered teen Stephen Lawrence also revealed she was not as strong as her public image, and that the long struggle for justice had taken its toll on her.

And she expressed frustration that her years of hard work creating the Stephen Lawrence Centre in Deptford, south London, had ended with “them taking it away.”

Baroness Lawrence, 70, was speaking at an event to mark 30 years since the racist murder of her son organised by Labour and the charity My Life My Say, which encourages young people to get involved in politics.

Asked by host Swarzy Macaly, the BBC Radio 1Xtra presenter, what her number one wish was, she said: “The decolonisation of education. To learn all our histories; so far we’ve not been learning our history.

“I think if we learn our history, all the facts around racism and all the things that come [with that], that will just slowly, slowly, move away, [so that] people understand that the whole of their history, to open up the chest to see what was their part they played in history. It’s a start.”

Stephen Lawrence was stabbed by a racist gang of white youths in Eltham, south-east London, on 22 April 1993 which sparked a long campaign for justice led by his parents, Doreen and Neville.

The key suspects – Gary Dobson, David Norris, Luke Knight, and brothers Jamie and Neil Acourt – were not charged at the time after police failed to conduct a proper investigation.

A private prosecution in 1994 failed after charges against Dobson and Neil Acourt were dropped and the others were acquitted. 

Ahead of the 1997 general election, Labour promised a public inquiry, and two years later Sir William Macpherson’s report found police guilty of institutional racism, which led to a focus on tackling the issue across the public service until around 2007.

During this time, Labour also brought in a ‘double-jeopardy’ law, which allowed the killers to be re-prosecuted. 

Sir Keir, then working as chief crown prosecutor, worked with the Lawrences’ and in 2012 Dobson and Norris were convicted of Stephen’s murder.

Speaking at the event last night, in Stratford, east London, Sir Keir acknowledged how hard it was for Baroness Lawrence to make the decision to go ahead with the prosecution because if that had failed, there would have been no more options available.

Baroness Lawrence was made a Labour peer in 2013, and in 2020 went on to lead a review for the party into the disproportionate impact of Covid on Black communities.

In February, The Voice revealed that she was leading a new race equality policy review following pressure from Black MPs, and this paper, for the party to develop solutions to tackle systemic racism.

However, when asked about her image as a strong Black woman, Baroness Lawrence replied that the long battle for justice had worn her down.

“I think people look at me and say ‘you’ve done really, really well, you’re just so strong.’ But not really. But when something happens, like what happened to Stephen – and happens to other families – you need to have a close family around you.

“And when members of the public say ‘we’re praying for you’, without that I’m not certain how I’d be here today.”

She also expressed her disappointment that she felt forced to withdraw the name of Stephen Lawrence from the centre that bore his name until 2020.

“For so many years working and having a building with his name, but I no longer have that. It was taken away from me. All those years of people supporting, getting funding, so we’re starting all over again from scratch.”

The Stephen Lawrence Foundation, which supports the annual Stephen Lawrence Day and works on a number of projects, still survives.

Baroness Lawrence was speaking before an audience that included shadow home affairs spokesperson Yvette Cooper, equalities spokesperson Anneliese Dodds, and MPs Diane Abbott, Bell Riberio-Addy and Abena Oppong-Asare, as well as a host of prominent names including housing campaigner Kwajo Tweneboa, Windrush campaigner Patrick Vernon and actor Adrian Lester.

Sir Keir said that when he was Director of Public Prosecutions he felt like ‘the system’ was making it hard to get justice for Stephen Lawrence.

“I felt that with Stephen’s case, in particular, every single decision was a battle, it was against the system all of the way, the odds were stacked [against justice].”

Talking about Labour’s plans for a new Race Equality Act, Sir Keir added: “We know there are structural racism issues that need to be addressed, and Doreen is leading on that work for us.”

He described Baroness Lawrence’s Covid report as having “really strong recommendations”, and it is understood that these will be folded into the current work on fleshing out a Race Equality Act.

He added: “One thing that matters most to me is not just what we will do government, if we are privileged enough [to get there], but how we do it; because I think there’s too much of politics that people at the centre, or Westminster and Whitehall, sort of pretending that they’ve got all the answers, all they need to do is to issue the rules and regulations to everyone else.

“It’s got to be done where everybody comes into government with us. That everybody feels they can influence what we’re doing, and that is a genuine partnership where we’re doing this together to change the country for the better.

“That’s much harder; that’s much, much harder, but it is so much more rewarding because it means that we govern in a way that draws on the strengths and the brilliance of so many people.”

Some audience members afterwards expressed scepticism at Sir Keir’s words, pointing out this was the first majority-Black audience he had addressed in three years as Labour leader, and he had failed to respond adequately to the Forde Report to tackle anti-Black racism in the party.