Racial Inequality

1
Racial Inequality The Big Picture

• Racial discrimination is a fact of life in the
  UK, as it is in every other country in the world.
  There are widespread racial inequalities, in
  wealth, in employment, health and crime. In many
  parts of the UK , there are hardly any Black and
  Minority people at all.
• On the other hand, cities such as Birmingham and
  Manchester have been transformed by immigration.
  Most of the UKs ethnic minorities live in
  London. In 7 of Londons boroughs whites are the
  ethnic minority.
• The UK has come a long way in a short time in
  terms of race relations.
• The Labour Governments of the 1960s and 1970s
  began the process of ending the legal basis of
  racism.

2
Racial Groups in the UK

• Ethnic group refers to people of the same race
  or nationality with a shared history and distinct
  culture.
• Ethnicity refers to a persons sense of
  belonging to a particular group
• Black and Minority Ethnic(BME) is a term
  commonly used by Government organisations such as
  the Home Office or the Equality and Human Rights
  Commission(EHRC)
• The non-white population stands at about 4.5
  million (7.9 )

3
British identity?

• Britishness means many different things to many
  different people.
• In the 2001 census, only 27 of Scots described
  themselves as British. This compares to 48 of
  people living in England.
• Race, ethnic and national identity are neither
  static nor pure.
• Watch Panorama 25 August 2008 True Brits

4
Racial groups

• Black Caribbean (12.2) large, definable
  communities in all Englands major cities, less
  noticeable in Scotland.
• Black Africans (10.5) mostly live in London,
  many are university students so university cities
  have a higher proportion of black Africans.
• Indian (22.7) mostly live in London, then East
  and West Midlands.
• The other racial groups are much smaller.

5
Racism

• Direct racism where a person is treated
  unfairly on the basis of their ethnic origin.
• Indirect racism when a person or group is
  treated unfairly, but the discrimination is not
  as obvious
• Institutional racism when discrimination exists
  within institutions like the police, schools or
  businesses.
• Islamophobia discrimination against Islam or
  Muslims, gained publicity since 9/11

6
Economic Migrants and Asylum Seekers

• Economic migrants are people who go to a country
  in order to earn a living.
• Asylum seeker or refugee is a person who is
  persecuted for reasons of race, religion,
  nationality, membership of a particular social
  group or political opinion.
• Watch Panorama 14 January 2008 Destination UK

7
Race and education

• BME children make up 21 of the population of
  UKs primary schools and 17 of the total number
  of children attending secondary school.
• Children of Indian, Chinese and Irish origin have
  attainment levels that exceed the national
  average, while black children, white
  working-class boys, and those of Bangladeshi and
  Pakistani origin consistently fall below the
  average.
• Black pupils are permanently excluded over twice
  the rate of white pupils.

8
Why?

• In the majority of cases BME children go to
  schools which, statistically occupy the lower end
  of the unofficial school league tables.
• Some suggestion that there is a lack of positive
  role models in some ethnic groups.
• HOWEVER the most underachieving group, is the
  poor, male, white, British born.

9
Race and Employment

• Many of Scotlands minority ethnic community
  workers are employed in low level, poorly paid
  jobs retail and catering main sectors, often
  through self employment.
• BMEs in Scotland are 2 or 3 times more likely to
  be unemployed than white workers.
• Why ?
• Racism plays it part

10
Government action on Race inequality

• Race Relations Acts 1965 and 1976 made it
  unlawful to discriminate against a person on
  racial grounds
• The Race Relations (amendment) Act 2000 and 2003
  amazingly the 1976 Act did not cover the police
• The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2007
• The Equality Bill 2008 this bill is likely to
  become law in 2009, it promises to be the most
  important anti-discrimination law since the 1970s

11
How effective has race legislation been?

• The UK has certainly come a long way when there
  was no legislation and shops were allowed to have
  signs which said no blacks, no Irish, no dogs.
• The Scottish Government still records 14 racist
  incidents a day and these are only the crimes
  which are reported.

12
Opening the Glass Door ?

• Many public and private sector organisations are
  changing the way their entire organisation views
  racial inequality.
• NHS long been recognised that the NHSs
  workforce does not wholly reflect the diversity
  of the UK. In 2002 NHS set up Breaking Through
  Programme which sought to offer members of
  minority groups chance to enhance career
  development.

13
Police

• There have been four occasions in the UK when the
  police have come under public scrutiny for
  allegedly tolerating racial discrimination.
• 1 Policing of the Brixton riots in 1981
• 2 Aftermath of the murder of Stephen Lawrence
• 3 Panorama investigation of 2003, The Secret
  Policeman
• 4 Resignation of Sir Ian Blair, Chief Constable
  of the Met and the UKs most senior police
  officer in 2008
• BUT some progress has been made with numbers of
  BME police increasing
• WATCH Panorama The Secret Policeman Returns 6
  October 2008