'Black mothers need to have a painful conversation about racism with their children'

I was speaking to a ­colleague this week, and told him something that blew his mind. I’ve sat my son down and talked to him about what he should do if he’s ever stopped and searched by the police.

He was speechless. He could not imagine his parents speaking to him about what to do if he was confronted by the police, nor could he imagine his white friends speaking to their children about what to do in those circumstances.

I was just as shocked by his reaction. Most of my friends and family, who are parents to black children, have had to have this talk, in particular with boys.

It must be so nice to just have to worry about talking to your kids about the birds and the bees and keeping their bedrooms tidy.

I had to have that conversation with my son when he was 15, because as a black person he is seven times more likely to be stopped and searched compared to the general population.

Stop and search results in no action in almost three quarters of cases (Getty Images)

People of Asian or mixed ethnic heritage are around 2.5 times more likely compared to white people.

Data shows that one in five ethnic minority teenagers had this treatment from police in the year ending March 2021. As a black mother, how could I not warn my child what he might face, just for walking down the street? The Met Police is the worst for it. In one instance, a report by watchdog the ­Independent Office for Police Conduct found evidence of one black ­teenager being stopped and searched more than 60 times between the ages of 14 and 16 – sometimes more than once a day.

The IOPC called this an “abuse of power”.

The majority of stop and searches yield no results, with77% resulting in no further action.

That was certainly the case with Team GB athlete Bianca Williams and her partner Ricardo dos Santos, who were stopped in their car in West London, handcuffed and searched for drugs and weapons in front of their three-month-old baby, who was in the back.

George Floyd was murdered by a police officer in Minneapolis (Collect Unknown)

This was in July 2020, in the wake of the murder of George Floyd.

Today, it was revealed that, two years after the incident, five officers will finally face a gross-misconduct hearing.

An independent report found the couple were treated differently because they were black.

Ms Williams welcomed the decision and said she “hoped it opened the door for the Met to be more honest and ­reflective about the culture of racism, which is undoubtedly still a reality within the organisation”.

It is something that is long overdue.