Lee Jasper facts for kids

Lee Jasper (born 4 November 1958) is a British politician and activist. He served as Senior Policy Advisor on Equalities to the then Mayor of London Ken Livingstone until he resigned on 4 March 2008. More recently, he stood as the Respect Party candidate for the Croydon North by-election in November 2012, and is a race relations activist.

Early life and career

Jasper was born on 4 November 1958 in Oldham, Lancashire, where he was brought up by his British-born mother, who is of Irish and Sierra-Leonean descent. His father is Jamaican. He described his surroundings as a child as dominated by "crude racism". He started out running a market stall, selling second-hand clothes. He returned to education as a mature student and gained a degree in social sciences from Manchester Polytechnic.

Career

He moved to London in 1985, where he became closely involved in the Notting Hill Carnival, becoming chair of the Mangrove Community Association. He was elected Secretary of the Notting Hill Carnival in 1987. Jasper ran to be director of the carnival in 1989, but did not get elected.

Over the next decade, Jasper became a race and human rights activist, sitting on various committees and groups such as the Inner London Education Authority. He was founder of Operation Trident and the Royal Commonwealth Society. He was a witness at the Stephen Lawrence inquiry as a representative of the 1990 Trust. He was also a group member of the Lawrence campaign.

Jasper was once involved in a community policing partnership with Metropolitan Police, providing "£500-a-day police racism awareness courses" on community issues. He was one of the main officers of the National Assembly Against Racism and has since been praised for developing the "cautious rapprochement" between communities and the police in London.

Jasper was the Chief Political Commentator for The Voice newspaper during the 2010 election.

Activism

Jasper became a member of the Coalition of Resistance (COR) anti-cuts campaign. He was also a political adviser to the 1990 Trust and a board member of Lambeth Police Consultative Group, but resigned as Chair of Brixton Splash though remained a member of its board.

Along with Zita Holbourne, he co-founded the anti-austerity organisation BARAC (Black Activists Rising Against the Cuts).

He has been a high-profile campaigner about deaths in police custody, raising the cases of Sarah Reed and Mohamud Hassan, with his activism having been covered by the Financial Times.

He is today Vice Chair of BAME Lawyers 4 Justice campaigned to end the deportation of ex-offenders and UK residents deemed to Jamaican nationals.

He is a Strategic Adviser to the national black men's African and Caribbean network Black Men 4 Change.

Senior political advisor

Lee Jasper was appointed as Director for Policing and Equalities during Ken Livingstone's 2004–2008 term as Mayor of London. He was responsible for the development, enactment and promotion of equalities policies for the Greater London Authority (GLA) and had corporate responsibility for the development and delivery of anti discriminatory policies aimed at ensuring equality in employment practices and service delivery. He was also directly responsible for advising the Mayor on policing issues. Jasper was one of four senior political advisers whose salary was raised to £111,000 a year in 2004; higher than that of the mayor himself.

Due to his role in the Greater London Authority, he played an important part at the European Social Forum hosted by the GLA in London in 2004.

During his time as a Policy Advisor, Jasper defended Sir Ian Blair in the aftermath of the death of Jean Charles de Menezes, as well as defending other officers.

Jasper resigned on 4 March 2008.

Personal life

Jasper resides in Lambeth, south London, and has nine children and five grandchildren.

Awards

In 2003, Jasper was named in the top ten by 100 Black Britons. In 2010, the NUS Black Students Campaign awarded him the National Black Achievers Award for Life Time Achievement in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the struggle for racial justice, and the Life Time Achievement Award for his contribution toward challenging racism in higher education. In July 2010, he was awarded a Pride of the Motherland Award (Africa) at The O2 Arena by the National Consortium of African Student Societies. In July 2017, C.H Hub Awards awarded Jasper their Legend Award in recognition of his 30-year contribution to social justice.