Reflections on the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities 'Race' Report
EQUAL's Communications and Engagement Officer, Payal, responds. First in a series of blogs by BTEG Staff.
The foreword for the Commission on Race And Ethnic Disparities: The Report, released on 31st March, positions the UK as “a beacon to the rest of Europe and the world” when it comes to racial equality. To most, if not all, ethnic minorities this reads as a farce. One wonders – is this the same Britain which, just over two years ago, caused the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Racism, Tendayi Achiume, to remark: “the harsh reality is that race, ethnicity, religion, gender, disability status, and related categories all continue to determine the life chances and well-being of people in Britain in ways that are unacceptable, and in many cases, unlawful.”? 1
And now, in 2021, The Report has turned against this moment of international scrutiny and authority, overwriting vital strides of progress organisations like EQUAL, BTEG, ROTA, the Runnymede Trust, Southhall Black Sisters, INQUEST, the Stephen Lawrence Foundation and more, have been making to get race, representation, accountability and acknowledgment to the forefront of national debate and action.
If Tendayi was confounded by what she saw back in 2018, I’m confounded by the deliberate contortions of historical events (including euphemisms for the role of British colonialism and slavery), and of current data within the Report.
Is this the same Britain, I ask again, which disproportionately imprisons more Black men than the USA? Where Black employees with degrees earn 23% less on average than white colleagues? 2 Where Bangladeshi and Pakistani families are more likely to be living in relative poverty, in overcrowded accommodation and, along with Black African and Black Caribbean people, have suffered a disproportionately higher COVID-19 mortality rate? The evidence is all there: a shame, I think, that I need even repeat it.
What jars, is that it follows on so quickly from last year’s Black Lives Matter movement.
It’s shocking to think that it was just only last year that politicians were seen taking the knee; admitting to their own complicity and racial bias, making pledges to address racial discrimination within their own circles and institutions. Momentously, as I write this, the USA has just declared Derek Chauvin guilty for killing George Floyd on all three counts and President Joe Biden has remarked that 'systemic racism is a stain on our nation’s soul.' I am both relieved at the decision and saddened so few police officers have been held accountable in the USA. I am reminded too that very rarely do police officer in the UK ever get the same measure of scrutiny. How far has the UK has diverged from its transatlantic neighbour, one it has, for so long, liked to compare itself to? We’re experts at pointing our fingers at North America and saying: “at least we’re not like them”. We’re not. But even the most racially complex and contested terrain in the USA is making strides to address its systemic problems and not cover it up as we have done.
The act of publishing this report (rebutted by the BMA, the TUC, faith organisations and the Coalition of Race Equality Organisations), has, therefore, shown that conversations around race and racism are still disputed territory, and the views of black and brown communities often dismissed because they are seen as subjective - rooted in a perceived sense of injustice (i.e. our own sensitivity and not reality).
But the wilful way in which the report manipulates narratives around race and racial history, and the denial of our worlds and views is not new. And perhaps it will repeat for the time being. For this reason, those individuals and organisations working closely to empower and strengthen Black, Asian and ethnic minority communities need to listen and direct their energies elsewhere. We need to take strength in all the things that we’ve been doing right: working for those who care to hear our truth; providing spaces for real, lived dialogue; changing the narrative on race for ourselves and not giving in to narratives of victimhood.
We need to be wary of adopting the divide-and-conquer rhetoric which is quite brazenly being aimed at stunting cross-cultural solidarity between black and Asian communities. The report has jilted and exhausted us, but I know that in the long history of resistance and race, we will continue to work together and agitate for change from the bottom up like we’ve always done.
The UK that I am familiar with – where whiteness isn’t centred and multicultural dialogue provides true spaces of support – is the ‘beacon’ of hope and resilience I will turn to.
Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance: Visit to the United Kingdom, 2019: Page 7: https://undocs.org/A/HRC/41/54/ADD.2
Data from 15th October 2020: Equality and Human Rights Commission - https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/race-report-statistics