RACE TSAR BITES BACK

He defends his report in slavery storm – but Boris insists he DOESN’T agree with all its findings

‘Giving racists the green light’

The beleaguered chairman of the Government’s racial disparities commission was forced to deny he had ‘glorified’ the slave trade yesterday.

Dr Tony Sewell said it was ‘ridiculous and offensive’ to claim his report had ‘put a positive spin on slavery and the empire’. And another member of the commission, Mercy Muroki, accused the ‘race lobby’ of attacking it just because they are unwilling to engage with evidence they do not like. Yesterday

Boris Johnson appeared to distance himself from the report.

And Baroness Lawrence, whose son Stephen was murdered by white thugs in 1993, said it had ‘given racists the green light’. Critics branded the study by the Commission on Race and ethnic Disparities a ‘whitewash’ after it found no conclusive evidence of institutional racism in Britain. The report, published on Wednesday, said factors such as geography, family influence, socio-economic background, culture and religion were found to have more impact on life chances than racism.

In his foreword, Dr Se well called on schools to use history lessons to ‘tell the multiple, nuanced stories of the contributions made by different groups that have made this country the one it is today’.

he said there was a new story to be told about the ‘slave period’ that was not all about ‘profit and suffering’, and about how ‘culturally African people transformed themselves into a remodelled African/Britain’.

Labour’s women and equalities spokesman, Marsha de Cordova, spoke out against the comments, arguing they put a ‘positive spin on slavery and empire’. She called on the Government to explain ‘ how they came to publish content which glorifies the slave trade’.

Yesterday Dr Sewell, a former teacher and founder of the educational charity Generating Genius, hit back. ‘It is absurd to suggest that the commission is trying to downplay the evil of the slave trade,’ he said. ‘It is both ridiculous and offensive to each and every commissioner. The report merely says that, in the face of the inhumanity of slavery, African people preserved their humanity and culture.’

And Ms Muroki, writing in The Times, said: ‘We have been accused by the race lobby, who believe they have a moral monopoly on caring about ethnic minorities, of denying racism.

‘The commission’s findings reveal that disparity isn’t always discrimination, that causes are complicated, and that solutions should reflect that.

‘Our recommendations are intended to bring about a better future. entertaining lazy generalisations about “institutional racism”, on the other hand, has failed to bring about change, and it will continue to do so.’

Mr Johnson insisted there are ‘serious issues that our society faces to do with racism’ and that work needed to be done to ‘fix it’. he said: ‘This is a very interesting piece of work. I don’t say the Government is going to agree with absolutely everything in it, but it has some original and stimulating work in it that I think people need to read and to consider.

‘There are very serious issues that our society faces to do with racism that we need to address.’

Baroness Lawrence told The Guardian: ‘My son was murdered because of racism and you cannot forget that. Once you start covering it up it is giving the green light to racists.

‘You imagine what’s going to happen come tomorrow. What’s going to happen on our streets with our young people? You are giving racists the green light.’

She added: ‘When I first heard about the report my first thought was it has pushed [the fight against] racism back 20 years or more.’

The report said it requested new research from a number of sources, including Veena Raleigh and Shilpa Ross from The King’s Fund.

But a spokesman for the health and social care think tank said this was ‘not strictly true’ as it simply shared work it had already done.