HAMZA YOUSAF is perhaps the most highprofile black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) figure in Scotland, serving as Justice Secretary since 2018.
The 36-year old’s meteoric rise in politics has seen him adding a number of historic firsts to his name.
The Scottish National Party politician was first elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2011 from the Glasgow regional list, and a year later, he was appointed Minister for External Affairs and International Development at the age of 27. The feat made him the first non-white and first Muslim member of the Scottish Government, and also the youngest minister ever appointed to the government.
He would do an encore of sorts on his appointment as Justice Secretary in June 2018, becoming Scotland’s first ethnic minority and first Muslim cabinet minister and, aged 33, he was also the youngest person to become a cabinet minister. In between, he also served as Minister for Transport and the Islands from 2016 until 2018.
Yousaf, a Glaswegian of Pakistani descent, is known for finely blending the traditions of ‘bhangra and bagpipes’. When he returned to parliament in 2016, winning from Glasgow Pollok, he has turned heads delivering his oath of allegiance in Urdu, alongside English, while wearing a kilt.
In 2011 also, he used both languages during the ceremony, but was wearing a traditional Pakistani sherwani with a tartan plaid.
Graduating with a degree in Politics from the University of Glasgow, Yousaf began his political career as an aide to the late Bashir Ahmad, the first Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) to be elected from Scottish Asian, Muslim and non-white backgrounds, and a close family friend.
The brief stint from Ahmad’s election in 2007 till his death two years later would be a huge personal influence on Yousaf, who would follow in his mentor’s footsteps to become the first ethnic minority MSP to be directly elected to a constituency in 2016.
As Justice Secretary, his flagship initiative has been the Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Bill which has been approved by the Scottish Parliament in March 2021.
The milestone legislation offers greater protection for victims and communities targeted by hate crime, particularly by applying a new offence of ‘stirring up of hatred’ to additional characteristics such as age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, transgender identity and variations in sex characteristics.
While the bill has raised some concerns on its impact of free speech, Yousaf staunchly defended the intent of legislation saying that one should not forget why the bill has become necessary, with Scotland witnessing around 18 hate crimes on average every day.
“The effects of these crimes are felt deeply by those targeted and this prejudice has a pernicious effect on the health of a society and its communities. Not only that, the toll hate crime takes on its victims, their families and communities, is immense,” he has said, adding that “robust scrutiny” has ensured that the bill has met the “right balance between protecting groups targeted by hate crime and respecting people’s rights to free speech.”
Yousuf himself has been a victim of racist and Islamaphobic abuse, and has spoken out about its negative impact on him and his family. “I try to get on with my day but it does have a negative impact on me and my family. I have asked my mum to stop reading social media because she was getting so upset,” he has said.
For someone who has been targeted with more than 6,000 racist social media posts in one week following a moving speech on Black Lives Matter movement at the Scottish Parliament, the bill represented another blend, this time of personal and political.
