Rabu, 31 Maret 2021

Racial disparities: UK a model for other white majority countries, report says - BBC News

Black Lives Matter protests
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The UK "should be regarded as a model for other white-majority countries" on race, a review set up by No 10 says.

The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities found social class and family structure had a bigger impact on how people's lives turned out.

It said children from ethnic communities did as well or better than white pupils, but overt racism remained, particularly online.

The Runnymede Trust think tank said it felt "let down" by the report.

The commission was set up after Black Lives Matter anti-racism protests across the country last summer - triggered by the killing of George Floyd in the US.

The main findings were:

  • Children from ethnic 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 commission's report, which is due to be published later, concluded that the UK is not yet a "post-racial country" - but its success in removing race-based disparity in education and, to a lesser extent, the economy, "should be regarded as a model for other white-majority countries".

Chairman Tony Sewell, an education consultant and ex-charity boss who led the review, said: "The effect of education is transformative on individuals but also their families and their communities - sometimes within a generation.

"Another revelation from our dive into the data was just how stuck some groups from the white majority are.

"As a result, we came to the view that recommendations should, wherever possible, be designed to remove obstacles for everyone, rather than specific groups."

Dr Sewell added: "Creating a successful multi-ethnic society is hard, and racial disparities exist wherever such a society is being forged.

"The commission believes that if these recommendations are implemented, it will give a further burst of momentum to the story of our country's progress to a successful multi-ethnic and multicultural community - a beacon to the rest of Europe and the world."

'Deeply worrying'

Dr Halima Begum, chief executive of the Runnymede Trust, said she felt "deeply, massively let down" by the report, and that the government did not have the confidence of black and minority ethnic communities.

Asked for her view on the commission's suggestion that the UK is not institutionally racist, she said: "Tell that to the black young mother who is four times more likely to die in childbirth than her young white neighbour, tell that to the 60% of NHS doctors and nurses who died from Covid and were black and ethnic minority workers.

"You can't tell them that, because they are dead.

"Institutionally, we are still racist, and for a government-appointed commission to look into (institutional) racism, to deny its existence is deeply, deeply worrying."

She added: "We feel that if the best this government can do is come up with a style guide on BAME terminology, or what we should do about unconscious bias training, or extend a few school hours, then I'm afraid this government doesn't carry the confidence of black and ethnic minority communities any longer, certainly not on race."

The 264-page report makes 24 recommendations which include:

  • Extended school days to be phased in, starting with disadvantaged areas, to help pupils catch up on missed learning during the pandemic
  • Children from disadvantaged backgrounds should have access to better quality careers advice in schools, funded by university outreach programmes
  • More research is needed to examine why pupils perform well in certain communities, so this can be replicated to help all children succeed
  • The acronym BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) should no longer be used because differences between groups are as important as what they have in common
  • Organisations should stop funding unconscious bias training, with government and experts developing resources to help advance workplace equality

Matthew Ryder QC, the lawyer who represented the family of Stephen Lawrence and a former deputy mayor of London, pointed to a 2019 report by the University of Aberdeen which he said found that white working class boys with lower educational qualifications and a lower likelihood of going to university, still had higher employment rates and higher social mobility than those from minority ethnic backgrounds.

He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that this suggested "racism is in the system, and doesn't suggest racism has been removed from the system".

Meanwhile, Shadow Foreign Secretary Lisa Nandy said she wanted the report to recognise that "we've had report after report after report, but very little action has been taken".

She told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "At a time when black Caribbean children are three-and-a-half more times likely to be excluded from school than their white counterparts, when black children are four times more likely to be arrested, we have got a problem and we've got to deal with it.

"We shouldn't seek to downplay structural racism, we should seek to take it on and deal with it.

"I'm making a speech later today about what it means to be patriotic, it isn't simply about waving a flag - although I'm very proud to do so - it's about raising up the standards that we have for people in this country and giving people the ability to live large, rich, dignified, brilliant lives in this country."

'Change the narrative'

The report had been due to be published last year but was pushed back until 2021, with the commission blaming Covid restrictions and the large number of responses from the public for the delay.

At the time of its launch, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that although there was much more to be done to tackle racism, he wanted to "change the narrative" to highlight stories of success among those from ethnic minority backgrounds and "stop a sense of victimisation and discrimination".

The race equality think tank the Runnymede Trust said last year that it was concerned by signs the commission intended to "downplay" the impact of racism on the lives of black and other minority ethnic people.

The full report will be published on Wednesday at 11:30 BST.

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What work has already been done on racial inequality in the UK?

  • The Race Disparity Audit, published by then Prime Minister Theresa May in 2017, showed inequalities between ethnicities in educational attainment, health, employment and treatment by police and the courts
  • The 2017 Lammy Review found evidence of bias and discrimination against people from ethnic minority backgrounds in the justice system in England and Wales
  • Also in 2017, the McGregor-Smith Review of race in the workplace found people from black and minority ethnic backgrounds were still disadvantaged at work and faced lower employment rates than their white counterparts
  • An independent review of the Windrush scandal, published in March, found the Home Office showed "institutional ignorance and thoughtlessness towards the issue of race"
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2021-03-31 08:11:13Z
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