Racism in Britain
No justice, no peace?
Thousands of people across Britain took part this week in Black Lives Matter protests, sparked by the police killing of George Floyd in America ( see page 6). Most were peaceful, but there were violent clashes over the weekend in London, where some demonstrators hurled fireworks and bottles at the police in Whitehall and daubed graffiti on a statue of Winston Churchill while chanting, “No justice, no peace”. At least 49 officers were injured, some seriously. In Bristol, protesters pulled down a statue of the 17th century slave trader Edward Colston and tipped it into the harbour. In Oxford, thousands gathered outside Oriel College to demand the removal of a statue of the imperialist Cecil Rhodes. A statue of the slave-owner Robert Milligan in London’s Docklands was taken down by the landowner.
Boris Johnson said the death of George Floyd had awakened “a widespread, undeniable feeling of injustice”, and conceded it was a “cold reality” that black and other ethnic minority groups still faced discrimination. But he said the Government would “not indulge” protesters who broke the law.
What the editorials said
“Mass protests do not always yield change,” said The Independent, “but they do have a tendency to illuminate the right side of history.” The past week’s rallies show that people in this nation are sick of systemic racial injustice and that “real change” is urgently needed. That there are still statues to slave-traders across Britain is a great affront to many people, said The Guardian. It is not surprising that anger at past and present injustices has found an outlet. As in the US, the protests have been “multiracial”. There is now a widespread acknowledgement that black lives have been undervalued, whether by “state abuse” or “state neglect”.
Britain does, of course, have problems with racism, said the Daily Mail. This does not, though, justify protesters resorting to violence and risking another flare-up of Covid-19 by congregating in their thousands. “If a statue offends people, there are political and legal routes to removing it.” They shouldn’t be taken down or defaced by the mob. The sight of officers “taking the knee” outside Downing Street in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement was also troubling. The political gesture may have been well-meant, but it’s vital that the police remain “scrupulously neutral”.
What the commentators said
What relevance has the death of a black man in Minneapolis to racism here? George Floyd may have been killed by a US cop, said Ralph Leonard on UnHerd, but the UK is no stranger to police brutality. Over the years, many black people have died in “suspicious circumstances” after encounters with the police. Yet since 1969, when two Leeds officers were found guilty of assaulting David Oluwale, the first black man to die in police custody here, not a single officer has been prosecuted, let alone convicted for any death in custody. Even so, it’s “crass” to suggest the experience of racial violence has been the same in Britain as in the US. This country has no history of public lynchings or formal segregation; its police aren’t routinely armed.
To be sure, America’s problems with police brutality are in a different league to ours, said Kojo Koram in The Guardian. But when it comes to other forms of systemic racism, we have no cause for complacency. Black people comprise 3% of the population in England and Wales, but make up 12% of its prison population – a worse disproportionality than in “the big, bad USA”. The numbers are even worse among young inmates: 48% of under-18s in custody in England and Wales are from black or other ethnic minority backgrounds.
Nor is the problem limited to criminal justice, said Nick Timothy in The Daily Telegraph. Ethnic minority jobseekers have to send out 60% more applications than white people to get the same number of interviews, even with the same qualifications. Black people are more than twice as likely to be out of work as whites and British Indians. Their children are more likely to live in persistent poverty. This contributes to the health inequalities exposed by the coronavirus crisis, said Gary Younge in the New Statesman. Black and minority ethnic people account for more than a third of the Covid-19 patients admitted to intensive care units, a disparity that can’t just be dismissed as an exercise in “identity politics”. We need a proper inquiry to examine systemic racism and help find ways to bring down the barriers holding black people back. “Since we didn’t get to this place by accident, we won’t get out of it by chance.”
What next?
Labour councils across England and Wales have pledged to work with communities to assess the “appropriateness” of local monuments. The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, says the capital’s landmarks will also be reviewed to ensure they reflect the city’s values and diversity. Manchester City Council is under pressure to remove a statue of Robert Peel, on the grounds that the former PM’s father was known to be pro-slavery.
Police forces are assessing the threat to monuments and statues from future protests. The Home Secretary, Priti Patel, this week supported calls from a Tory MP for a “desecration of war memorials bill” to make it easier to prosecute people.