A Closer Look at Race and Ethnic Disparities!

By Donald “Braveheart” Stewart

As I sit in my Kailyard I wonder often about the future.

Apparently, I live in a country that is “a model for other white-majority countries”.

I don’t.

However, according to a report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities just this last fortnight, I do. In 258 pages, it swipes away any thought of the institutionalized racism many minorities see on a daily basis.

It could be argued that I have a cheek. I am a white privileged, middle class man and the author of this weighty report is black.

He is also an educationalist whose views are in line with the UK Government and therefore any thought of this being an “independent” report are a little swayed in favor of the people who may be the backbone of such institutionalized prejudice, so I may have a point in objecting.

The report does open up a debate on whether or not you can make comment upon a topic being discussed given that you are not from the same topic community to which the report is referring.
Of course, you can; if you can be an ally, you can also be a critic.

Democracy demands critiques.

Oftentimes we in the UK feel a little behind the progress of movements in the US. We have never had a figure like Martin Luther King, Jr. or had anyone with the drive of a Jesse Jackson, or Malcolm X. Our sporting heroes are only now starting to reveal their race cards like Lewis Hamilton has been doing whilst Muhammad Ali, over yonder, was there and present decades ago.

The report has caused a great deal of debate; not least from the very people who are the focus of it. I therefore feel my own voice is couched in the context of others who have a stronger and more legitimate reason to be outraged at the sweeping assertions and lack of evidence contained in the 258 pages. It literally could be argued it defines the notion of a whitewash…

The report was commissioned after the UK had similar protests for Black Lives Matter last summer – the British Government became massively concerned British history would be swept aside in favor of Black Lives History – and according to the BBC website it has the following main findings: –

• Children from ethnic-minority communities did as well or better than white pupils in compulsory education, with black Caribbean pupils the only group to perform less well
• This success in education has “transformed British society over the last 50 years into one offering far greater opportunities for all”
• The pay gap between all ethnic minorities and the white majority population had shrunk to 2.3% overall and was barely significant for employees under 30
• Diversity has increased in professions such as law and medicine
• But some communities continue to be “haunted” by historic racism, which is creating “deep mistrust” and could be a barrier to success

The author of the report, Dr Tony Sewell publicly defended it with the assertion that whilst there is anecdotal evidence of prejudice and racism in the UK there was no proof of institutionalized racism.

Then came the backlash.

There are too many to quote and too much with which to argue but when the Professor of Black Studies at Birmingham University calls it, “… complete nonsense”, the chief executive of a highly well regarded and influential race equality think tank says they are, “deeply, massively let down”, and the head of the entire Trades Union movement in the UK, the Trades Union Council (TUC) says that the Commission had, “chosen to deny the experiences of black and minority ethnic workers”, you can see there may be something seriously far wrong.

The TUC went on to point out that, in their public retort to the report that minority ethnic workers are “far more likely to be exposed to Covid infection and far more likely to die – because they are far more likely to be in frontline roles. … And it traps too many black and minority ethnic workers in poverty, insecurity and low pay.”

After hearing that there were few reasonable people looking to pick up a dictionary to find the definition of institutionalized racism; it seemed well enough explained there.

Institutionalized racism was a phrase that came from the Stephen Lawrence Enquiry that was set up due to police failings in the apprehension and investigation into the death of a young black man in London, Stephen Lawrence.

His mother, now Baroness Doreen Lawrence, gave her response to this report in a speech at the De Montfort University Leicester’s Stephen Lawrence Research Centre.

She said: ‘When I first heard about the report my first thought was it has pushed [the fight against] racism back 20 years or more…. You know, all these things we’ve been working for and showing that structural racism exists – we talk about the pandemic when you look at how many of our people have died, all the nurses, the doctors, the frontline staff, of Covid, and to have this report denying that those people have suffered… they are denying that the likes of my son was murdered through racism and the fact that it took 18 years to get justice for him. The report is denying all those issues. ‘Those people who marched for Black Lives Matter? It’s denying all of that. The George Floyd stuff? It’s denied all of that. ‘So those who sit behind this report (saying) that racism doesn’t exist, or it no longer exists need to speak to the young boys who are stopped and searched constantly on the street. They need to speak to those young people. They (the report authors) are not in touch with reality basically. That’s what it boils down to. When you are privileged, you do not have those experiences. 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.’

It seems we need to pay more attention to the lights to turn racism back into red for no matter how many pages can be written and no matter how many reports can be published, the history of the UK tells us – we own racism, a study of the current systems within the UK teach us – many still practice racism, and the vision for the future tells us clearly – we have much work to be done to remove the stain of racism.

A view from the new Kailyard or, how you look over there, from over here…

(kailyard n. a genre of sentimental Scottish literature turned into effective invective comment from one Donald worth reading…)

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