“Long may my journey continue”: Ayesha’s story for Stephen Lawrence Day 2025
Today is Stephen Lawrence Day 2025. Founded in memory of 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence who was murdered in a racist attack in April 1993, Stephen Lawrence Day is organised by the Stephen Lawrence Foundation to commemorate Stephen’s life and honour his legacy by empowering marginalised people through education. This year’s theme is Knowledge Changes Everything.
Black and minority ethnic people are overrepresented in the justice system. Systemic racism across society – including in our education system – and the resulting trauma, marginalisation and disproportionality are key factors which pushes people into the revolving door of crisis and crime.
In the face of this, our lived experience members are beacons of hope: their journeys out of the cycle of crisis and crime are evidence of immense strength, courage and determination. Many have previously had difficult or truncated contact with the education system but have gone on to explore new opportunities for training, education and development, using their lived experience in their learning.
For Stephen Lawrence Day 2025, we spoke to three members about their knowledge journeys. This is our first blog of the day – Ayesha’s story, from the revolving door to starting university in September:
I feel like I’ve come a long way. I’m 44 next month and 25 years ago, the path that I’m travelling on now is the path that I tried to travel on, but it didn’t work. Where I’m at now is I’m living my dreams. I did have aims to go to uni when I was younger but I wasn’t able to because of the stuff that was going on with me internally.
It’s been a lot of hard work for me to get to where I am. I’ve had to change my attitude and behaviour, and that’s something that’s ongoing. I’ve had to go back to studying – I started college when I was 40 or 41 and I’m going to be leaving just after I turn 44. I’ve started from the functional skills and I’ve worked my way up to GCSE level. I’ve even done an access course so I’ve got what it takes to get to uni. That’s going to be a new world for me. I’m going to be studying criminology and I couldn’t tell you where I’m going to go from that, but I know for a fact that I’m doing a lot of successful things at the moment.
I’m getting recognition for the things that I’m doing with services at the moment, so how is it going to be once I’ve studied for four years? If I’m receiving the feedback that I’m getting now, where organisations are saying to me, “Ayesha, you’re going to thrive”, how will it be once I get my degree? Things can only get better.
On breaking barriers and making your voice heard
I would say for any individual or for being a woman there’s always barriers within the system or within services. It’s like “you should just be seen and not heard”. Some people don’t like when a woman’s got a voice.
And being a black woman in society as well – I come from a place today where I don’t want to use the colour of my skin to define how things are on the outside. I’ve gone past all of that stuff, so I just like to keep the mindset that I’ve got.
Long may my journey continue. My voice and my opinions and speaking for the ones that can’t speak. And it doesn’t matter whether I’m black, white, or wherever I’m from: I’m going to be heard.
And finally I would like to just say this as a personal thing. I remember it happening when I was a young girl but it touches my heart to know that my voice is giving recognition for Stephen Lawrence.
He died because the colour of his skin. I feel I can still leave my front door and the same thing can happen to me for the colour of my skin. The silence for the family, that ongoing pain that that they’re still learning to live with all these years later. And I’ll just leave that as that.
Rest in peace, Stephen, I hope you’re still resting and help me along my journey.
And I would like to share this in remembrance of him.
