A LABOUR councillor has claimed white people are “inevitably racist” in a fiery speech to Black Lives Matter demonstrators.

Councillor Nick Childs, who represents the Queen’s Park ward on Brighton and Hove City Council, spoke in front of more than 1,000 protesters at a weekend march which culminated at The Level.

Cllr Childs told the crowd that white people must challenge their own “inevitable racism” during his passionate speech.

He said “the poison of racism permeates every element of capitalist society” and it must be fought “wherever it raises its ugly head”.

Finishing his speech with a quote from Mahatma Gandhi, Cllr Childs claimed his ancestors “drove the British imperialists out of India” before shouting “solidarity Brighton and Hove, black lives matter”.

His speech came at the end of a Black Lives Matter march in which an estimated 2,000 people lined the streets on Saturday afternoon.

The Argus:

Cllr Childs said: “It is not enough to… increase representation of black people In the Houses of Parliament and town halls, important as it is.

“The poison of racism permeates every element of capitalist society and if we are to win and if we are to secure true equality for all of us, black people and white people, we must fight it wherever it raises its ugly head.

“We must organise in trade unions in our workplace and we must fight and question why black people have lower wages and terms and conditions on average and why they are subject to unfair dismissal more than white people.

“We must organise in community unions to challenge housing inequality and health inequality and outcomes which are poorer for black people and minority people as the Covid pandemic shows.

“We must challenge police violence wherever it raises its head because only when the intolerable becomes intolerable for the oppressor will it cease for the rest of us.

The Argus:

“And as white people, when we go home we must read – and please do read – and challenge our own inevitable racism and our own assumptions and cultural ideas.

“We can win but we must get organised.

“This moment must turn into a movement.

“Every one of us has a duty when they go home to educate themselves as white people and also as black people, build up links and networks and organise wherever we are within society to fight back against racism.