Yesterday two of the men who killed the young Stephen Lawrence finally got jail time. The sentences that they serve for their savage racist attack will not be as long as the 18 years they spent avoiding justice, but it does bring some sort of closure to Stephen's parents. However, the wider community should not indulge in an orgy of self-congratulation.
Everybody now wants to claim credit. But I knew the Lawrence campaign from the early days when nobody was interested and they soldiered on by themselves. Stephen had been murdered in 1993. I went on to try and help them in whatever practical ways that I could. And I was the first MP to raise Stephen Lawrence on the floor of the House of Commons. In 1996, when their private prosecution collapsed, they thought all hope was lost.
Another family might have given up. But I, together with the late Bernie Grant, took them to see the then Shadow Home Secretary Jack Straw. He was so impressed by Doreen Lawrence and her quiet determination that he promised her a public inquiry. When Labour was elected the following year, he delivered on his promise and the MacPherson Inquiry took the Stephen Lawrence campaign to another level.
So it is not Paul Dacre, the Daily Mail or even the police who are to be congratulated on the successful prosecutions. It is Neville and Doreen Lawrence themselves and their courage and endurance that brought us to where we are today.
Some people are claiming that the sentencing of Dobson and Norris is a vindication for the British system of criminal justice. But they need to remember that at least of the three of the five killers still remain at large.
Even more important, if the police had done their job properly in the first place, Doreen and Neville would not have had to wait nearly 20 years for justice. In the past 24 hours of television coverage, you only have to look at her face in the photographs of Doreen Lawrence 20 years ago and see her face now, to see the terrible personal price she has paid in 20 years of agony.
The convictions may be a partial vindication of Neville and Doreen's long struggle. But nothing will bring their son back.
It is also important to remember that, although some things have changed since the death of Stephen Lawrence, many things remain the same.
The fundamental reason why the police did such a shoddy job in the first two investigations was that they simply did not take the case seriously. It was just another dead young black man.
Dwayne Brooks was Stephen's friend and was with him when he was killed. He describes how traumatised he was by the dismissive attitude of the police and the way he was treated like a suspect rather than a victim.
Sadly the demonisation of young black men by the police and the wider society continues to this day. Senior policeman now may 'talk the talk' on diversity and racial justice. And police murder investigations in general are more professional than they were 20 years ago. But, at a grassroots level, young black men's experience of the police has not improved much in the 20 years. There has also been a concerted effort by both Labour and Conservative politicians to unpick important Macpherson recommendations designed to make stop and search a less obviously racially biased process.
So this week's convictions are not the end of anything. They should be the beginning of a process where politicians revisit the Macpherson report and the whole society admits that fighting institutional racism in the police force has a long way to go.