Lee Jasper
Lee Jasper, is a mixed-race British race equality campaigner and the Senior Policy Advisor on Equalities to the Mayor of Greater London. He was brought up by his single white mother in Oldham, Lancashire, England. In December 2007, it was revealed that he is under investigation in connection with local authority grants totalling £2.5 million.
As advisor to Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London, Jasper is responsible for the development, enactment and promotion of equalities policies for the Greater London Authority (GLA) and has corporate responsibility for the development and delivery of anti discriminatory policies aimed at ensuring equality in employment practices and service delivery. He is also responsible for advising the Mayor on policing issues and is considered the foremost black expert on police and black community relationships. As a member of the Mayor's Advisory Cabinet, he is responsible for political advice regarding race relations in London.
Jasper currently sits as Chair of many committees and organisations including the National Black Alliance, National Black Caucus, Operation Black Vote and the Lambeth Police Consultative Group. He is the National Secretary of the National Assembly Against Racism. He was also a founder board member of the Jubilee 2000 Campaign, is a current member of the Black Jewish Forum, is one of the co-chairs of Communities on Line, a national organisation promoting internet usage for social and economic justice, and is a School Governor of St Andrew's School, Brixton, Lambeth.
Jasper sits on the Criminal Justice Consultative Race Sub Group and chairs Scotland Yard Operation Trident Lay Advisory Group, which combats 'black on black' gun crime. He is a member of Trident Lambeth Independent Advisory Group. His close co-operation with the police has earned him criticism from radical anti-racists and militant anti-fascists who see the police as part of the problem of racism.
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. This caused some controversy, as there was disruption at the anti-racist session of the Forum. His criticisms of the disruption[1] were in turn condemned by a small number of grassroots anti-racist groups as stifling dissent.[2]
His experience includes being Senior Policy Advisor to the Inner London Education Authority (ILEA); Director of Development of the Mangrove Trust; Chair of Mangrove Community Association, Notting Hill; Secretary, Notting Hill Carnival; Press and Publicity Officer, Interval Housing Project, Rainer Foundation. Jasper was the Director of the 1990 Trust (1995 - 2000), a leading policy organisation on issues affecting African, Asian, and Caribbean communities in the United Kingdom and Europe. In 1998 he won a Premiere Community Award from Britain's biggest black newspaper, The Voice, for his work in race relations. Jasper is an ex-board member of the Royal Commonwealth Society (1997-1999). He is also the President of the National Black Students Alliance, as well as the Deputy Representative of the UK on the European Council's European National Anti Racist Network.
Politically, he has been active in the Labour Party and comes from a moderate black nationalist perspective.