1. Introduction
In this assembly we are going to think about Stephen Lawrence, an 18th year old student who was fatally stabbed by a gang, in a racially motivated attack in south east London on 22 April Stephen’s story has two clear messages.
The first is a message of grief and sadness, arising from a tragic and terrible event: the racist murder of an innocent young black person.
The second is a message of hope, because the tragedy of Stephen’s death offers lessons of hopes and dreams, and of justice and inspiration. It is a story rooted in the love of Stephen’s family, whose fight for justice saw two of Stephen’s murderers finally brought to justice.
This story gives us a reason to reflect on and understand how racism and discrimination can take root and lead to horrendous hurt and tragedy. It also gives a reason to be hopeful and, above all, to inspire us to Live Our Best Life.

2. Stephen’s background
Stephen was born to Doreen and Neville Lawrence on 13 September He was ambitious and talented, and aspired to be an architect, completing work experience in the school holidays with a young black architect named Arthur Timothy. Stephen loved music (Mariah Carey was his favourite) and he enjoyed running. He was part of the running club, Cambridge Harriers, and competed in a mini-marathon in Stephen was well liked by his classmates and peers and often supported and included those who were less popular.

3. Learn more about British History Carry Out Research
Stand Up To Racism
Learn more about British History
Carry Out Research
Stephen Lawrence Research Centre & Archive: DeMontfort University
Racism as a driver of hate and hurt
On the evening of Thursday 22 April 1993, Stephen Lawrence and his friend Duwayne Brooks were travelling home through Eltham, south London. They got off the 286 bus on Well Hall Road. At approximately 10.35pm, a gang of up to six white males approached from Rochester Way. Racial abuse was shouted at Stephen and Duwayne and then Stephen was attacked by the gang. The attack lasted seconds but in that short time, Stephen sustained two fatal stab wounds. The gang ran off. Stephen managed to run a short distance before he collapsed. He was pronounced dead later in hospital.
Institutional Racism
Although the police had clear leads to follow, with suspects being identified the day after the murder, the charges were soon dropped and the evidence against the gang was not seen as strong enough to convict them. Five years after the murder, justice had still not been achieved. One of the main reasons for this was that the police lacked interest in investigating racist incidents, which resulted in professional incompetence hampering the investigation.
Definitions
The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust believes..
Racism:
Racism comes from a belief that one person is better than another person and then treating someone unfairly, badly or differently because of differences in skin colour, nationality, religion and/or culture. 
Example: if someone believed that someone else in their class was not as smart because they had a different skin colour and then that person refused to include the other person in a class game.
Discrimination:
Discrimination is treating someone unfairly or badly due to differences in skin colour, nationality, culture, religion, sexual orientation, gender, age, disability, social class and personal features.
Example: if your teacher let you decide what games the class would play on the playground and you decided to exclude certain people from the game based on what they looked like or their religious beliefs.   
Institutional racism:
Institutional racism is a form a racism which we can’t always see straight away as it can be deeply embedded within organisations and specific parts of society. It is a type of racism that creates advantages for some groups of people and disadvantages for others based on differences in skin colour, nationality, religion and/or culture.
The Macpherson Report defines Institutional Racism as "The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people."

4. Stephen Lawrence Report (Macpherson)
Found evidence - Institutional Racism.
Changed the law - double jeopardy.
Proposed change to the school curriculum (Citizenship).
Strengthened Race Relations Act.
An important report in 1999, led by Lord Macpherson, a retired judge, found that the failings by the police were partly caused by racism. Newspapers, like the Daily Mail, joined the family in their campaign, and the government even changed the law to ensure that people could be put on trial twice for the same crime. The turning point, however, came in 2007, when new forensic evidence came to light, allowing the case to go to court again.

5. Stephen’s Family Fought for Justice The fight for justice
This is a terrible story, but we should be pleased that partial justice was eventually achieved. On 3 January 2012, two men were given life sentences for Stephen’s murder. This should give us hope, knowing that eventually those who commit terrible crimes will not always be able to run away from them.
However, we must never forget that Stephen’s family had to strive for that justice. It was not given to them, which should have been their right as British citizens. They had to campaign for it, struggle for it, and fight for it. Had they not, justice might never have been done. Stephen’s parents had to be their very best selves, digging deep into their reserves of resilience, to ensure justice was done.
Sometimes, you must fight for what you know is right. This is something that the great South African leader, Nelson Mandela also knew, and it was his support for the Lawrence family which kickstarted their fight for justice.
Important changes to the law
The campaign for justice also led to some extremely important changes in society and in the law. As a society, we are now more aware of racism and the dreadful impact it has on individuals and communities.
Schools now must do everything they can to value cultural diversity and prevent racism, including recording every racist incident. The murder led to new definitions of “racist incidents”, which means that any incident defined by the victim as “racist” is a racist incident, and “institutional racism”, which means that a whole organisation like a police force, a business, or even a school, can be classed as racist. This has led to more racial awareness training in police forces, and in many other organisations there is a greater awareness of the importance of treating people fairly and without discrimination.
We are all aware that sadly we still live with racism in society; with knife crime among young people, and with discrimination of various kinds, including racism in football and the post-Brexit rise in racist incidents. We still have a very long way to go in dealing with racism in Britain.

6. Hope
Hope from Tragedy
However, I want to balance the tragic story of Stephen’s murder with the positive outcomes from his life and legacy. People like Baroness Doreen Lawrence of Clarendon, OBE, and organisations like the Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust should give us reasons to be hopeful.
Baroness Lawrence is now a member of the House of Lords.
The Stephen Lawrence Charitable Trust has helped over 2,000 young people to fulfil their hopes and dreams in memory of Stephen. Their projects include helping young people into careers in architecture, journalism and filmmaking, ambitions which Stephen Lawrence could have realised himself.
“Stephen has come to represent a wound that needs healing in our society.”
Nelson Mandela gave Doreen Lawrence Hope. 
Mat Bickley, Stephen's cousin
Reference Stephen: The Murder that Changed a Nation (BBC Documentary)

7. Live Our Best Life Live Our Best Life
A time for reflection: Live Our Best Life
The theme of Stephen Lawrence Day is Live Our Best Life. Today, we have heard about Stephen’s terrible death, at the heart of which was racism and deep discrimination. We have heard about deep institutional racism. We have also heard about Stephen’s family; their remarkable love for their son; their persistence and determination, and their fight for justice, against all the odds, which led to two of the five suspects being sent to prison.
The youths who murdered Stephen were scarcely older than you. They are someone’s sons, brothers and grandsons. They influenced each other to commit a shocking crime, the result of which shattered the life of Stephen and his family. Undoubtedly, they shattered their own lives and those of their own families too. At the heart of Stephen’s murder was deep-seated institutional racism and discrimination.
For now, I want us to take a few minutes to focus on how we live our life, and the changes we might want to make, in order to Live Our Best Life.
- Let us take time to think about how our choices, words and actions impact others around us: our family, friends and those people who are not our friends.
- Focus on how racism and discrimination, in all its forms, impacts peoples’ rights to live safe, secure, joyful lives.
- Think about how you might take a stand for what is right. This might require real courage and determination, especially when you are under pressure from friends or peers.
- Think about how you might learn from Stephen’s family; from their love and fight for justice. Think about how your family loves you and how important it is to listen to and value family.
Think about Stephen’s example of optimism, his love of life and hard work and his dreams. What are your goals and dreams, and how will you work to achieve these?
Finally, as we mark Stephen Lawrence Day, it is important that we learn the story of Stephen’s murder, and why it took so long for justice to be done. It is also important that we celebrate the life we have at this moment. We all have great potential to achieve amazing things. We need to dream big and, like Stephen, work towards our goals. Sometimes this will mean that we will need to overcome barriers to get there, but don’t lose hope. Keep on striving for a better future and for the things you believe in. Let’s all try to live the best lives we can.