Martin Houghton-Brown, CE of St John Ambulance, has just sent this impressive and moving message to all St John people on the Black Lives Matter movement, which I reproduce here by permission to help us all reflect - and do better, see change and be part of the solution.

Dear St John,

Injustice is wrong. It upsets me, it makes me get up and campaign, and take action and do things differently. I am 50 this year and for most of the last thirty years I have been working to fight injustice. Mostly for young people, who for reasons beyond their control faced injustice. No one to turn to, nowhere to live, no one to help them right the wrongs that they have suffered. But in coming to St John I took a step away from that direct fight, instead working to promote the building blocks of a healthy society in communities. Which I believe St John does.

However, the Black Lives Matter movement has made me ask some profound questions. Why is it that when in some of our cities when there is wonderful representation of BAME youth in our cadets the same is not true of our adult units even when they meet under the same roof? Why is it that across our senior leadership there is woeful under representation of BAME people? Why is it that time after time our appointments have no people of colour in the shortlists?

These are painful questions. Most of all they should help us to understand why it is so painful to be black and be in St John right now. It is painful because the racism endemic in modern society is subconsciously replicated by institutions like ours time and time again. It’s so subtly part of our everyday lives we don’t notice, unless we are black.

Now we must notice. We must notice the passionate cry of the black community, that Black Lives Matter. That to be black is to know that you will face discrimination because of the colour of your skin.

From the age of 16 to the age of 36 I hid my sexuality. I did not want to face the prejudice and ignorance about sexuality that was pervasive when I was growing up. I did not want to be beaten up, bullied and have opportunity denied me. And whilst denying my identity for all those years caused immense pain, it also afforded me enormous opportunity to progress as I appeared to be what people wanted me to be – a straight white man. I could hide. I cannot imagine what it would have been like to not be able to hide from the prejudice. I cannot imagine what it would be like to face prejudice every day of your life. I cannot imagine in particular what it would be like to be a 16 year old black young man. I do know however that if I had been that man, the chances of me being CEO of St John would be impossibly diminished. And so Black Lives Matter. Because to this day to be black is to face a wall of racism, fulfilled every day in society in so many ways, and in particular to deny equality of opportunity.

The moment that the Trustees of St John launched the 2022 strategy, reflecting what you all had said, that we would become more representative of the communities we serve I jumped for joy. And the night a small group of us gathered in a room in the basement of NHQ to launch the equality, diversity and inclusion network – Celebrating Communities – I jumped for joy. But now those moments of optimism are tempered by the sense of responsibility I share with all of you to turn that rhetoric into change.

At my first St John’s Day I talked about the ‘St John knee’, the image of a First Aider down on one knee helping the injured. Well now let me say it again, we must get down on one knee and come alongside our black colleagues and say racism has no place in St John and together we will become more representative of the communities we serve.

We will do better, we will see change, we will be part of the solution because Black Lives Matter.

Yours,

Martin HB

Martin Houghton-Brown

Chief Executive