‘ Decades of discrimination’ led to Covid inequalities, says baroness
DECADES of structural discrimination led to the disproportionate impact of the coronavirus pandemic on black, Asian and minority ethnic ( BAME) communities, a review has found.
Baroness Doreen Lawrence identified structural inequalities within government, health, employment and the education system that Covid- 19 “thrived on” as the outbreak took hold.
BAME people have been overexposed to the virus by being overrepresented in public- facing industries where they cannot work from home and living in overcrowded housing.
Workers have been put at risk by the Government’s failure to facilitate Covid- secure workplaces, and the “no recourse to public funds” rule has disproportionately affected BAME communities, she said.
They have also experienced “disgraceful racism”, fuelled in part by global leaders calling Covid19 the “Chinese virus”.
Baroness Lawrence was commissioned to lead the review into how Covid- 19 is affecting BAME communities by Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer. She said it was hoped that a previous Public Health England report would recommend action to reduce disparities, but that it failed to do so.
And a statement last week from Minister for Equalities Kemi Badenoch, to mark the launch of a Government report, risks being “too little too late” and failed to address systemic, structural drivers.
Dr Raghib Ali, who helped with the report on progress to address Covid- 19 health inequalities, said he is not convinced structural racism played a role.
In the report’s foreword, Baroness Lawrence writes: “Black, Asian and minority ethnic people have been overexposed, underprotected, stigmatised and overlooked during this pandemic – and this has been generations in the making.
“The impact of Covid is not random, but foreseeable and inevitable, the consequence of decades of structural injustice, inequality and discrimination that blights our society.
“We are in the middle of an avoidable crisis. And this report is a rallying cry to break that clear and tragic pattern.”