The Monitoring Group (TMG) is an anti-racist charity in the UK. It was established inSouthall in the early 1980s, and originally known as theSouthall Monitoring Group. Its director isSuresh Grover.[1]
Meetings to establish the Southall Monitoring group began in December 1981, after the racist murder ofGurdip Singh Chaggar in 1976, the police killing ofBlair Peach in 1979, and confrontation between skinheads and local young people in summer 1979. The concept of a monitoring group was taken from theBlack Panthers.[1]
The Southall Monitoring Group was active in campaigns for justice by several families: that ofKuldip Sekhon, killed in 1989; that ofStephen Lawrence, killed in 1993; that ofRicky Reel, killed in 1997; and that ofMichael Menson, also killed in 1997. After theMacpherson Report the group created a national network, and renamed itself The Monitoring Group.[1]
In 2015 the Monitoring Group petitioned the UK Home Secretary to guarantee that police whistleblowers would not face punishment for revealing the extent of their undercover spying on UK political groups.[2] The group joined with the Awaaz Network to demonstrate against the visit ofNarendra Modi to the UK in November 2015.[3] After the 2016Brexit referendum, The Monitoring Group reported a rise in racist violence,[4] and two years later confirmed that there had been a rise in race hate crimes.[5]
The group continues to call for an inquiry into the death of Blair Peach,[6] They criticized the secrecy surroundingHampshire Police's internal investigation into homophobia and racism at the force'sBasingstoke investigation centre.[7][8] They have supported the mother ofChristopher Kapessa in her complaint againstSouth Wales Police's inaction after her 13-year-old son's death.[9][10] In 2020 the group urged attention toCOVID-19-related race hate againstChinese communities,[11] as well as other groups.[12] The group participated inBlack Lives Matter demonstrations in 2020,[13] and supported a teenager injured byfar right protestors, who was then stopped and searched by aMetropolitan Police officer whom he had asked for help.[14] In August 2020 the Monitoring Group criticised the appointment ofTony Sewell, who had earlier minimised the effect ofinstitutional racism, to chair a new Government Commission tasked with looking into racial inequality.[15]