Eastwood: We stand against racism aimed at black councillor set to become Derry mayor

An “enormous deluge of abuse” suffered by a councillor set to become Northern Ireland’s first black mayor has included “very serious death threats”, her party leader has said.

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said it was important to stand against the online racism and abuse directed at Lilian Seenoi-Barr, who is originally from Kenya, after the party announced her as its pick to become the next first citizen of Derry City and Strabane District Council.

“We’ve … seen this week the new first ever black mayor of Derry facing an enormous deluge of abuse from around the world, right up to and including very serious death threats,” Mr Eastwood told reporters at Stormont.

The Foyle MP suggested the current tone of political debate had created a toxic climate that facilitated such abuse.

“It’s important I think that all of us stand against that level of racism and show that this is a different kind of place and we will not be led into the gutter by far-right activists, whether they’re coming from America, Dublin or Derry online,” he said.

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Separate to the abuse directed at Ms Seenoi-Barr, the process used by the SDLP to select her as mayor has caused some internal discontent within party ranks in Derry, with two councillors having resigned over the issue amid claims it was undemocratic.

Mr Eastwood conceded on Friday that the party had “lessons to be learned” over how it communicated its “new policy” on selecting mayoral candidates.

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“We brought in a new process last year, unanimously supported of course by the party membership,” he said.

“I think there are definitely lessons to be learned about how we communicated how that process was going to work.”

However, Mr Eastwood made clear that Ms Seenoi-Barr was the “standout candidate” for the role of mayor.

“She is a phenomenal candidate,” he said.

“Of course, it’s a hugely historic moment that Derry will now have the first ever black mayor, someone who came from Kenya years ago, got herself elected with a big mandate onto Derry city council.

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“And beyond all of that is an extremely qualified and talented person to represent the SDLP but, actually, more importantly, to represent Derry and to show that we’re a city, a city of civil rights that won’t put up with that kind of racism, will stand up for a more pluralist society.

“That’s the values of the SDLP, it’s the values that are represented by the people of Derry, that comes all the way from the civil rights movement and we’re very proud in this moment to have Lilian representing us and Lilian representing the people of Derry.”