Race report ‘gaslights minority experiences’
COMMISSION CALLS FOR USE OF ‘BAME’ TO BE STOPPED AMID CLAIMS THAT LACK OF EQUALITY IS NOT ONLY DUE TO RACISM
BRITAIN should be seen as a “model for other white-majority countries” but more needs to be done, a review into race inequality said last Wednesday (31), a conclusion which has provoked fury from critics who branded it a “whitewash”.
The report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities was ordered by prime minister Boris Johnson's government after widespread Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests last summer. They were triggered by the death of African-American George Floyd at the hands of a white police officer in the US.
“Put simply, we no longer see a Britain where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities,” Tony Sewell, the commission's chairman, said in a foreword to the report.
“The impediments and disparities do exist, they are varied, and ironically very few of them are directly to do with racism.
“Too often ‘racism' is the catch-all explanation and can be simply implicitly accepted rather than explicitly examined.”
Johnson said the review was “stimulating” but more needed to be done to tackle the issue. He said last Thursday (1): “I don't want to 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 consider.”
However, its conclusions were condemned by commentators who accused the report of “gaslighting” the experiences of minorities.
London mayor Sadiq Khan said the idea that British society did not have issues with structural racism “would be hard to understand for all those who have been confronted by it and whose lives have been blighted by it”.
“We need to acknowledge and listen to the lived experience of black, Asian and minority ethnic people in our country, so we can take meaningful action to break down barriers and make our society more equal for everyone,” he said.
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, the British Medical Association (BMA) chair of council, said the group refuted the claim that structural race inequality was not a major factor affecting the outcomes and life chances of many UK citizens.
“It is only by recognising the structural racism in our society, something
THERE is “no evidence of institutional racism” in Britain, a new report by the government’s race disparity unit said last Wednesday (31).
According to the new report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, the success of much of the ethnic minority population in education, and, to a lesser extent, the economy, “should be regarded as a model for other white-majority countries”.
However, the review said the UK was not a post-racial society and “overt and outright racism persists”, particularly online.
It also said some communities continue to be haunted by “historic cases” of racism, creating “deep mistrust”.
“Both the reality and perception of unfairness matter,” it added.
The commission was set up by prime minister Boris Johnson’s government in the wake of worldwide Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests last summer. Tens of thousands of Britons protested across the country as part of the BLM movement following African American George Floyd’s death at the hands of a white police officer in the US, calling for action to tackle racial inequality.
At the time, protest organisers said those behind the commission did not represent their views and should be replaced, since they had already made clear they did not believe Britain had a problem with institutional racism.
In its report, the commission pinpointed education as “the single most emphatic success story of the British ethnic minority experience”, saying allegations that the country was still institutionally racist were not borne out by the evidence.
Concluding that issues around race and racism were becoming less important in explaining disparities, it said different outcomes had as much to do with social class and family structure.
The report made 24 recommendations, grouped into four broad themes – build trust; promote fairness; create agency and achieve inclusivity.
Among its guidance, the independent commission called for greater focus on Commonwealth influences on Britain, including a new dictionary that traced words of Indian origin.
“We want to see how Britishness influenced the Commonwealth and local communities, and how the Commonwealth and local communities influenced what we now know as modern Britain. One great example would be a dictionary of well-known British words which are Indian in origin,” the review suggested.
The authors advised establishing an Office for Health Disparities, aiming to “target health disparities in the UK, focusing on research, communications and expertise to reduce health inequalities across all groups”.
It also said that the BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) acronym should no longer be used because of the differences in experience of minorities. The usage of the term BAME, frequently used to group all ethnic minorities together, was dubbed as “demeaning” because it categorises people in relation to what they are not, rather than what they are.
“The BAME acronym also disguises huge differences in outcomes between ethnic groups. This reductionist idea forces us to think that the principle cause of all disparities must be majority versus minority discrimination,” the report warned.
Additional recommendations included investigating the causes of existing ethnic pay disparities; opening up access to apprenticeships for young people facing discrimination or disadvantages; and creating police forces that represent the communities they serve.
Reacting to the report, prime minister Boris Johnson said his government would consider the recommendations of the review.
“It is now right that the government considers their recommendations in detail, and assesses the implications for future government policy,” Johnson said last Wednesday. “The entirety of government remains fully committed to building a fairer Britain and taking the action needed to address disparities wherever they exist.” (With agencies)