The Macpherson Report, in 1999, used ‘institutionally racist’ to describe UK’s police force following an enquiry into the death of Stephen Lawrence, the black teenager who was fatally stabbed in 1993. Twenty-one years later and the Black Lives Matter protests in London are still expressing grievances about the disproportionate targeting of BAME communities by the police.
Racism affects all people of colour or from minority ethnic backgrounds. But when it comes to Black people, they face a certain kind of prejudice, propagated by other ethnic minorities as well as white majorities. Usually when it comes to minority communities, it is easy to put all of them under same umbrella, but, the prejudices that each community faces are entirely different from another.
Black Lives Matter campaign has taken a strong form in Britain. People protesting the death of George Flyod tore down the controversial bronze statue of Edward Colston, a 17th-century slave trader in Bristol, leading widespread controversy. They also vandalised the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the Parliament square along with the statue of Winston Churchill.
Lord Meghnad Desai, Chairman of the Gandhi Memorial Statue Trust told Asian Voice, "There are reports that the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in Parliament Square in London was defaced by demonstrators marching for Black Lives Matter.
“Black Lives Matter is a worthy cause which Gandhi would have supported and marched along with. It is sad that a man who dedicated himself to fight prejudice, oppression and imperialism has been treated with such callous disrespect. Gandhi was not a racist. As Nelson Mandela, who should know, said about him.
“The values of tolerance, mutual respect and unity for which he stood and acted had a profound influence on our liberation movement and my own thinking.
"On behalf of the Gandhi Statue Memorial Trust, I join many who are truly shocked by the act. Gandhi would have forgiven them."
Priti Patel or Sajid Javid, who themselves have faced racism growing up, may not acknowledge Britain is still racist, but it still exists. It starts with a tendency of classification of all victims of racism under the label like the generalised title of BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic). It fails to acknowledge how racism affects different races. There are all kinds of racism- anti-black, anti-Asian, anti-Arab, though the worst sufferers have been the black community. Still worldwide- for example in Brazil, black people are still treated as second class citizens and in India, students of African origin are ill-treated.
As Ahmad Olayinka Sule in an article in The Guardian pointed out, according to the UK government’s Race Disparity Audit in 2017, relative to whites and Asians, black defendants at crown court were the most likely to be remanded in custody. Between 2017 and 2018, black people in Britain were approximately 10 times more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than white people were, and three times more likely than Asians. Black Caribbean pupils were permanently excluded at nearly three times the rate of white British pupils, while black people are more likely to be unemployed and homeless than all other racial minority groups.
Reviewing London’s landmarks
London Mayor Sadiq Khan has announced a commission to review and improve diversity across London’s public realm to ensure the capital’s landmarks suitably reflect London’s achievements and diversity. He has previously pledged his support for a number of new memorials in the capital, including for Stephen Lawrence, the Windrush generation, a National Slavery Museum or Memorial, and a National Sikh War Memorial.
The Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm will review the landmarks that currently makes up London’s public realm, further the discussion into what legacies should be celebrated, and make a series of recommendations aimed at establishing best practice and standards.
The Mayor of London said, “Our capital’s diversity is our greatest strength, yet our statues, road names and public spaces reflect a bygone era. It is an uncomfortable truth that our nation and city owe a large part of its wealth to its role in the slave trade and while this is reflected in our public realm, the contribution of many of our communities to life in our capital has been wilfully ignored.
“This cannot continue. We must ensure that we celebrate the achievements and diversity of all in our city, and that we commemorate those who have made London what it is – that includes questioning which legacies are being celebrated.
“The Black Lives Matter protests have rightly brought this to the public’s attention, but it’s important that we take the right steps to work together to bring change and ensure that we can all be proud of our public landscape.”
Following the announcement, Lib Dem Candidate for Mayor of London Siobhan Benita added, "Being a good ally goes beyond speaking up during moments of protest and public outcry. I called for a deep-dive review into London's structural inequality back in February. Where was the Mayor's acknowledgement of this issue then?
"His announcement to review statues and the public realm is clearly in direct response to what happened in Bristol. We need a much bigger and wide-ranging review, looking into City Hall and how all of its responsibilities contribute to systemic racism in the capital. I will be watching closely to ensure that these announcements are not just another PR opportunity for the Mayor."
Dark skin and inter-racial wedding prejudices
It’s a fact that in the Asian community, pale skin still remains the dominant beauty norm. People with darker skin tone face prejudices and from that prejudice stems many discriminations towards people from other communities. However, with time, and increasing intercommunity or interracial marriages, question remains if people are now accepting better. Perhaps Asian-Black celebrity couples like Lolita Chakrabarti and Adrian Lester OBE can set examples for wider community.
Ashanti Omkar from the BBC Asian Network is British Asian of Tamil origin. She is married for 14 years to Akin Aworan, who is a British Nigerian Yoruba. They first met at an African cultural event and got together as a couple sometime later. They had a Hindu wedding in India and a Christian wedding in the UK. Speaking about prejudices, especially being married to someone from black community.
Ashanti and Akin told this newsweekly in an exclusive interview, “We must admit that we have not experienced racial prejudices directly, but we have assumed this, and have lived a very private life, with close friends, and a good degree of family support from both sides. We both have worked hard at this aspect, even though the family dynamics and structures are very similar in both Tamil and Yoruba cultures. In some ways, we embraced in early days, the reality that our being together is still a taboo to many, and that we would build our lives around this premise.”
When asked if they believed systemic racism existed, Ashanti added, “We watch and learn a lot from the news, and from friends, and have always been aware of systemic racism, which is endemic, across the globe. There is bias at all ends, and this pushes many into disadvantaged positions, e.g. healthcare frontline workers, who are not given PPE, or certain areas badly affected, which are impoverished, due to lack of funding or opportunity - these are ghettoised parts of cities, where many basics cannot be afforded, and the dwellers can't work from home, due to the very nature of their work, so they put their lives at risk, to put food on the table.
“Akin would be stopped and searched just because he was a black man with a rucksack (of camera gear), while a station platform full of white people wouldn't be treated that way. Conversely, in many parts of India, in the past, where Akin would not be allowed into Hindu Temples, for being a different colour to me. Bias, I guess, is taught at very basic levels from homes to schools, where the dark skinned amongst us, are taunted for being that shade of brown, and colourism is the first point of racism, where those colonised believe that the whiter and fairer the skin, the better the human being behind it, and vice versa. We have read centuries old history and the horrors of slavery, which is now modern-day human trafficking. History continues to repeat itself, and we hope that things will be brighter for future generations, by the awareness that the current one, alongside the digital age, is helping create. Ultimately, until things are unpacked at basal level, and recreated, to enable equality, things will not change, but maybe they will evolve, slowly but surely, we hope.”
Is racism a problem in the UK Police Force?
In a joint statement released ahead of the rallies, the National Police Chiefs Council (NPCC) reportedly said, “We stand alongside all those across the globe who are appalled and horrified by the way George Flyod lost his life. Justice and accountability should follow.”
The council said that officers in Britain were “trained to use force proportionately, lawfully and only when absolutely necessary”, but added: “We strive to continuously learn and improve. We will tackle bias, racism or discrimination wherever we find it.”
The Week reported that William Macpherson recently told the BBC that while police had taken steps the right direction but “there’s obviously a great deal more to be done”.
According to an analysis of Home Office internal data, black people are 40 times more likely than white people to be stopped and searched.
According to the findings of an ICM survey of more than 3,000 Britons in 2018, BAME community are also significantly more likely to be falsely accused of shoplifting than white people,
Racial bias could be detected in the issuance of fines for alleged violations of coronavirus lockdown regulations too. Journalists from Liberty Investigates and The Guardian found that BAME people were 54% more likely than white people to be fined in London. Across England, BAME people account for at least 22% of lockdown fines, despite only accounting for about 15% of the population.
Siobhan Benita, Lib Dem Candidate for Mayor of London, who has India connection, has called on the Mayor of London to investigate whether or not the Met Police is still institutionally racist.
Sadiq Khan has recently announced plans to review the Met Police's use of stop and search and other practices. But Siobhan Benita has described the plan as reactive and claims they do not go far enough.
Siobhan said, "These hastily drawn up plans are reactive and disingenuous. During his term as Mayor, Khan has supported the introduction of controversial facial recognition technology and increased the use of stop and search across the capital - both of which unfairly target black Londoners and both of which I and others have opposed.
"In a recent interview, he refused to acknowledge the Met Police may still be institutionally racist - any review that does not investigate whether or not the force still deserves this label will be inadequate.
"In the past four years, we have seen the biggest breakdown in trust between police and communities in London in a generation. Even during the Coronavirus pandemic, we've seen a disproportionate targeting of BAME communities for lockdown fines. If we're to take systemic racism in Britain seriously, we must be prepared to ask the question: is the Met Police still institutionally racist?"
Branded a traitor?
However, giving a different perspective to being an officer from the BAME community, Chief Supt Raj Kohli told us, “We are in unprecedented times - firstly Covid-19 then the tragic and awful treatment and unlawful death of George Floyd. What we know is that the science tells us that Covid-19 has a disproportionate affect upon people from BAME backgrounds. Align this to the frustrations of lockdown and then how George Floyd's death has reminded how disproportionately has affected members of the BAME community and this has led to the current situation.
“The statistics will tell you that people from BAME communities are disproportionately represented in this criminal justice system - especially if you are of African Caribbean heritage. Why this is the case is part of continual debate - unconscious bias, socio-economic challenges, whatever the reason it is sadly a fact and so I understand why people from BAME communities remain frustrated and little movement for many years, despite the best and genuine efforts of the Metropolitan Police Services.
“Some BAME colleagues have felt under focus from some other BAME communities because of recent events. When I first joined in the early 90s, I was often called a traitor and accused of deliberately targeting BAME communities so that ‘I could get promoted’.
“Following recent events, I am in touch with front line BAME colleagues and most report being accused of being traitors like I was all those years ago.
“This is exceptionally sad. For many of us joining the police service went against friends and family. So, to be accused by the people we are charged with helping to protect, as being traitors, is doubly sad and not fair to these men and women.”
