'Stephen Lawrence Day is powerful and important'

Why is it so important that we commemorate Stephen Lawrence Day today? Dr Yusef Bakkali, a Senior Research Fellow at the Stephen Lawrence Research Centre - based at De Montfort University Leicester - told visiting schools from across the city and county why there are still lessons to be learned 31 years after Stephen's racist murder. Here is what he said...

Stephen Lawrence Day is an important and powerful one. It is a day to remember the tragic death of a young man with so much promise, as well as many other people of different ethnic backgrounds and genders who lost their lives in similar circumstances. We should remember them too, even if we don’t always know their names.

So, of course Stephen Lawrence Day is a day which can make us feel sad, because in order to try and make the world better, we have to remember and guard against the things that can go so badly wrong, and that can be difficult.

However, Stephen Lawrence Day is also about remembering Stephen’s life and his promise. How he was a wonderful young person like all of you here today; that he was a loving friend, a brother and a son… as well as a gifted artist and athlete. Whilst Stephen’s time was short and his death was unjust and tragic, he left an indelible - meaning one that is unforgettable - impact on British society, as well as others around the world.

So, I think for me, whilst thinking of Stephen’s death can be a sad thing, the fact that he lived and he did so in the best way he could, inspires me. We sometimes use the artwork titled And Still She Rises by Markus Dove, who was a former DMU student. It is a painting of a phoenix and we think of it a bit like the emblem of the centre and what the Lawrence legacy means to us. To us Stephen’s story is a bit like that of a phoenix, that out of the ashes of tragedy a legacy of hope and joy could grow. I say this reflecting on the way that Stephen’s legacy has been able to inspire so many others to live the best way they can - creating opportunities and possibilities for many. Remembering that Stephen was special, helps to remind us, that just like him all young people are special and it strengthens our resolve to give them the best we can because, just like Stephen, that’s the minimum they deserve.

Philosopher and playwright Gabriel Marcel said that hope is “the act by which […] temptation to despair is actively or victoriously overcome” (Marcel [1952] 2010). And that resonated with me when thinking about today, to me Stephen Lawrence day is about finding hope and joy even when times are tough, and I think Stephen’s legacy gives us that in abundance.

So in order to honour and celebrate Stephen today we really want the young people in attendance to have a good time. We hope they can learn something… whether about a career, a nugget of knowledge or a new skill… but most of all we hope that it’s a day to enjoy, reminding ourselves that our young people matter and their futures matter and having a good time and enjoying their lives matters.

Also, as part of this I encourage all those here today to be kind, because hope is a collective endeavour, it is hard to have hope alone. The Lawrence legacy is about giving hope to others, sharing hope and lifting one another no matter who they may be or where they are from - perhaps as a side note today you could think about what hope means to you, you could write it down and share it with a teacher or a friend, or you can keep it to yourself. I don’t think there’s one way to define or understand hope, but I think it is an important thing for us to have.

I quickly need to thank everyone from the research centre and here at the Leicester Gallery who put hours into this event, along with our colleagues in the school of design and architecture, our DMU student volunteers, the school teachers for bringing their wonderful students, our friends at Associated Architects as well as our sister organisation The Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation who supply us with endless support and inspiration. They have all been massively important in making today a reality.

In closing I want to encourage everyone assembled here to go out there today, and beyond, and be hopeful, use hope to imagine futures for yourself and others, be kind, lift one another and do your best whenever you are able… and I think if you do that, you’ll individually and collectively have an impact. As our patron founder Baroness Lawrence put it herself:

“Imagination is one of the most powerful tools we can use to inspire meaningful societal change”.