b'THE REST OF US STORIESTrigger Warnings: Graphic violence, physical violence, police brutality, slavery, racism, discriminationA speech written by Linxi Camellia Dol, and recited by Simi Ojajuni, at a peaceful vigil held in honour of George Floyd, which took place on 10th June 2020 at the Flowerpots Playing Fields, Exeter. There is a need for anti-racism from communities because the continuation of racist violence and racism in any community is unacceptable; white indifference is complicity.George Floyds death feels very heavy and has impacted so much because black people have had enough of seeing their oppression as a headline, and no change, decade after decade. There is a long history of police harassment to black communities in the UK. Black people are nine times more likely to be stopped and searched by Devon and Cornwall police than white people, according to figures from 2018-2019.One way of tackling this issue is knowing the history of racism. Exeter is not immune to these issues and Exeter is not irrelevant. Exeter has a history of slavery, being one of the slave ports in the UK. Exeter merchants invested in slave voyages in the 18th century and received compensation after slavery was abolished. The Bishop of Exeter in 1833 received the equivalent of over 1m for the loss of 665 slaves. A factory on Goldsmith Street processed sugar from slave plantations; Exeter Manufacturing Company relied on cotton from plantations; Exeters weavers and spinners created cloth that was traded for people, of which some were exported to plantations. Exeters metal workers produced slave chains, ship builders made ships, Exeter provided the day to day things sent to plantations; many families in Devon benefited from the slave trade. The British began trading in African slaves in 1562, slavery as a British institution existed for much longer than it has currently been abolished - over 270 years.Black soldiers served in WWI as soldiers of the Empire and settled in Britain, despite segregation and abuse. African American G.I.s stayed in Exeter during WWII and the city was divided to fa-cilitate the American policy of segregation. White soldiers stayed in the Topsham barracks while the black soldiers stayed in tents on County Ground. Black soldiers were allowed in St Thomas and West Exe and white soldiers in the city centre. 15% of children with Black American and White English parentage were born in Devon.Across the UK, black people built communities in Britain following the abolition of slavery, as seamen in port cities, as workers coming to support the Mother Country from the Common-wealth, or more recently as workers, academics, doctors and experts, but to deny their integral part of British history exacerbates a rhetoric of unbelonging that is damaging and encourages extreme rejection, leading to racism and violence.The UK has a history of violence between the police and black communities. An early example is on 4th June 1919 in Liverpool where the police ransacked homes where they knew black people lived; this followed attacks sparked by a Caribbean man being stabbed in the face by two white men over a cigarette. There are many other instances since and it continues today predominantly with humiliating stop and searches and other acts of discrimination.The UK has had its share of race riots: 1958 in Notting Hill, when an argument between a married couple of a black man and a white woman was misinterpreted; in 1981 in Brixton after performing over a thousand stop and searches in just six days; in 1981 in Toxteth in Liverpool after a police officer chased a motorcyclist believing his vehicle was stolen; in 1985 in Brixton because the mother of a suspect, Cherry Groce, was shot in the chest in front of her children while being demanded the suspects whereabouts; in 1985 in Tottenhams Broadwater Farm es-32'