BRITAIN’s Newcastle created history with the appointment of Habib Rahman as the city’s lord mayor on Wednesday (26), making him the first non-white person to hold this position in 800 years.
Rahman, whose appointment was delayed by a year because of Covid-19, was formally elected to the post during the recently-held Newcastle city council’s annual general meeting. He has served the city for two years as sheriff and deputy mayor.
In his appointment speech that he addressed to his late father, Rahman recalled how his family moved from Bangladesh to the city in search of a better life in 1977 but within 10 days, his father met a tragic end when an unhappy white customer stabbed him over “the size of their curry” at a Wallsend restaurant.
He said that his childhood in Newcastle had also been marred by “brutal racism” and that the experience had made him determined to “defeat the evils of discrimination.”
The 47-year-old, whose background is as a youth worker, described his appointment as “one of the proudest moments” of his life and pledged to use his year in office to promote respect, tolerance, and equality.
“I will make sure that I promote that and that I challenge and condemn hate crime and racism of every form,” said the father-of-three at the ceremony, adding that Newcastle is “not the racist city” anymore.
“This is a safe, tolerant city now thanks to the work that has been done by institutions and individuals. Perhaps some of that started from the death of my father,” he said.
Rahman is known to be a key member of anti-racism groups such as Show Racism The Red Card (SRTRC) and the Black Lives Matter movement. The appointment ceremony was also attended by many activists including SRTRC founding patron John Beresford and president Shaka Hislop.
(Local Democracy Reporting Service)
Damian Talbot