The government ordered Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (CRED) released The Report, for which the “spirit” of last summer’s Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests was purportedly the “trigger”, on March 31st. Even though not all members of the cabinet are enamoured by the spirit of BLM. (1)
The initial headlines in the establishment media who were briefed in advance, trumpeted a “Race Revolution… NO evidence of institutional racism” and “UK should be model for other white majority countries.” (2) The community then got to read the report and blasted it with near universal condemnation: “Government-backed gaslighting”, “giving racists the green light… pushed [the fight against] racism back 20 years or more”, “poisonously patronising… historically illiterate.” (3) So far at least three petitions, garnering about 10,000 signatures between them have been launched targeting the report and/or CRED Chair Dr Tony Sewell (https://www.change.org/p/government-boris-johnson-revoke-the-sewell-report?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_28138681_en-GB%3A8&recruited_by_id=3da01190-9396-11eb-bdbb-a931194e2f8f&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_initial&utm_term=psf_combo_share_initial;https://www.change.org/p/uk-parliament-denounce-the-divisive-deceitful-racist-dr-tony-sewell-report-on-race?recruiter=1009323119&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=psf_combo_share_abi&utm_term=psf_combo_share_abi&recruited_by_id=f73dddb0-edae-11e9-b6d3-8d4f33adb23f&utm_content=fht-28152975-en-gb%3A0;https://www.change.org/p/labour-party-remove-kemi-badenoch-treasury-equalities-minister-and-tony-sewell-chair-of-the-cre?utm_content=cl_sharecopy_26442005_en-GB%3A6&recruiter=843536457&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_campaign=share_petition). In light of the backlash CRED was compelled to release a statement “to set the record straight” (it didn’t) and even prime minister Boris Johnson has “sought to distance himself” from the report. (4)
However, anyone familiar with those behind the report and the commission that authored it will not be surprised at its content. Boris Johnson tasked senior policy advisor and former revolutionary communist (go figure), turned right-wing ideologue and institutional racism denier, Munira Mirza with setting up the commission. (5) She then tapped Dr Tony Sewell, who has a lengthy, ignominious track record of victim blaming and providing succour to racists, to chair it. (6) Some observers opined: “This was not an independent report as such. It was very much driven by Munira… this report was really a reaction to BLM with a foregone conclusion.” (7)
The narrative the authors are trying to promote is that the UK is no longer “institutionally racist” but class inequalities persist. This idea rests centrally on “failing white working-class boys” whose lower educational attainment than some other racial groups somehow discounts the existence of racism. Yet academics like David Gillborn have demonstrated that widespread white working-class underachievement is really based on a statistical sleight of hand based on a just handful of white pupils (14%) but extrapolated to the entire group – primarily to avoid addressing the needs of Afrikan children. (8) They also divide the ‘Black’ group into ‘African’ and ‘Caribbean’ to demonstrate that “newcomer optimism” accounts for the educational “success” of the former and the lack thereof in the latter is the basis for their woes. (9) But the actual data shows that ‘Black African’ perform at around the national average. (10) So the idea that being average is deemed “success” for ‘African children’ is one that to many is rooted in racism.
The report places a great deal of emphasis on “immigrant optimism” (with critics dismissed as “pessimistic”), as if the so-called Windrush generation didn’t arrive in the UK “with hope in their eyes.” (11) Indeed, what the Windrush generation, the scandal that later engulfed them and even the 2006 Channel 4 documentary The Great British Black Invasion demonstrate explicitly or implicitly is that British racism can whitter away the aspirations of the most optimistic. (12)
The report’s conclusions fly in the face of decades of studies, inquiries and the lived experiences of the victims of racism in education, employment, mental health and the justice system. So in this regard some are questioning why this report was even necessary. But it can’t be understood outside of its ideological context. The objective is a revisionist account of the UK and empire akin to the USA’s “1776 report” commissioned by the Trump administration, which urged the US to return to an era of “patriotic education”. (13) Thus, leading Dr Sewell to share this extraordinary perspective: “There is a new story about the Caribbean experience which speaks to the slave period not only being about profit and suffering but how culturally African people transformed themselves into a re-modelled African/Britain.” (14)
The report’s release has also overshadowed two quite important stories relating to that intractable bastion of institutional racism, the Metropolitan Police. The day before the release their ongoing entitled impunity was confirmed when “the police inspectorate has delivered a sweeping exoneration of officers’ manhandling of women mourning the killing of Sarah Everard.” (15) In early April reports emerged of the conviction of serving police officer Daniel Hannam for being a member of banned neo-Nazi terrorist group National Action. His membership was discovered due to a data leak but clearly his views while in the job for two years caused no alarm or concern – which must tell its own story. (16)
(1) Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (2021) The Report. P. 7. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-report-of-the-commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities; Nazia Parveen (12/02/21) Priti Patel describes Black Lives Matter protests as ‘dreadful’. https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/feb/12/priti-patel-hits-out-at-dreadful-black-lives-matters-protests
(2) Daniel Martin, Jack Elsom & Jack Maidment (31/03/21) Britain’s race revolution: Landmark report says UK is ‘a model to the world’ on diversity, describes us as a ‘successful multi-ethnic community’… and finds NO evidence of institutional racism. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9420563/Britains-race-revolution-Landmark-report-says-UK-model-world-diversity.html; Greg Heffer (31/03/21) UK should be ‘model for other white majority countries’, finds government-ordered race review. https://news.sky.com/story/uk-should-be-model-for-other-white-majority-countries-finds-government-ordered-race-review-12261343
(3) Kehinde Andrews (31/03/21) Government-backed gaslighting. https://make-it-plain.org/2021/03/31/government-backed-gaslighting/?fbclid=IwAR3zZ928zx8lVEtXYKW-pypEPFkyurhqfPhLgq28sVmPzzm_2oq5rE_q8mI; Rajeev Syal (01/04/21) Doreen Lawrence says No 10 report gives ‘racists the green light’. https://uk.news.yahoo.com/doreen-lawrence-says-no-10-142757803.html; Ben Quinn and Nazia Parveen (02/04/21) Historian David Olusoga joins academic criticism of No 10’s race report. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/02/historian-and-hundreds-of-academics-attack-no-10s-race-report?fbclid=IwAR2dl3tPw0zRU4jGjuavPdUCEQFLb6vIHsf_HsbwQgfw3uENHqa3pF76AQU
(4) Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (02/04/21) Statement from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities on the report published 31 March 2021. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-report-of-the-commission-on-race-and-ethnic-disparities; Kitty Donaldson (01/04/21) Boris Johnson Distances Himself from Race Report After Backlash. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-01/johnson-distances-himself-from-race-report-after-backlash
(5) Evan Smith (23/06/20) How a fringe sect from the 1980s influenced No 10’s attitude to racism. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jun/23/fringe-1980s-communist-faction-no-10-attitude-racism-munira-mirza
(6) Bro. Ldr Mbandaka (2004) EDUCATION: An Afrikan-Centred Approach to Excellence. Soul Force Promotions. On p. 9, Bro. Ldr writes: “The academic Bro. Tony Sewell blames Black youth culture and the “negative impact” of rap and hip-hop. He even claims that this has begun to affect White youth as well. However, the difference between this 50-year-old problem and the emergence of rap and hip-hop in mid 80’s Britain creates a 35-year credibility gap, which renders Dr. Sewell’s thesis fundamentally flawed. Interestingly, ex-BNP leader John Tyndall publicly applauded the good doctor’s thesis, especially for blaming Black youths for “corrupting White youths”.
(7) Iain Watson and Jennifer Scott (03/04/21) Race report: Was controversy part of the plan? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-56578839
(8) David Gillborn (2015) The Monsterisation of Race Equality: How Hate Became Honourable. in Claire Alexander, Debbie Weekes-Bernard and Jason Arday (Eds) in The Runnymede School Report: Race, Education and Inequality in Contemporary Britain. Runnymede. http://www.runnymedetrust.org/uploads/The%20School%20Report.pdf
(9) Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. p. 69.
(10) Gov.uk (11/12/20) Ethnicity facts and figures: GCSE results (‘Attainment 8’). https://www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk/education-skills-and-training/11-to-16-years-old/gcse-results-attainment-8-for-children-aged-14-to-16-key-stage-4/latest#:~:text=the%20average%20Attainment%208%20score,groups%20(64.3%20out%20of%2090). The most recent statistics cite the national average as 46.7%, ‘Black African’ is 47.3% and ‘Black Caribbean’ is 39.4%. White British is 46.2%.
(11) Vivienne Francis (1998) With Hope In Their Eyes: Compelling Stories of the Windrush Generation. Nia
(12) Olivia Petter (12/03/21) Windrush Scandal: Everything You Need To Know About The Major Political Crisis. https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/windrush-generation-scandal-sitting-in-limbo-anthony-bryan-documentary-a9552281.html; Garry Hughes (2006) The Great British Black Invasion. Juniper Television and Radio. http://www.junipertv.co.uk/television/the-great-british-black-invasion.html
(13) Quinn and Nazia Parveen. Op. cit.
(14) Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. p. 8
(15) Vikram Dodd and Jamie Grierson (30/03/21) Sarah Everard vigil report strongly defends police’s use of force. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/mar/30/police-handling-of-sarah-everard-vigil-appropriate-says-watchdog
(16) Lizzie Dearden (02/04/31) Benjamin Hannam: Met Police did not know officer was neo-Nazi until anti-fascists leaked data. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/nazi-police-officer-benjamin-hannam-b1823383.html
We ask the question:
UK: Institutionally Racist No More?
1) Have you read the report? If not do you intend to?
2) Was this commission/report necessary?
3) In what way is the UK a model for other white majority countries?
4) Why is there three separate petitions about it? Will you/have you signed any?
5) Are you an “optimistic” or “pessimistic” “immigrant”?
6) How can being average be classified as “success”?
7) How should the Afrikan community respond to the report?
Our Special Guest:
Bro. Ldr. Mbandaka: Resident guest who is Spiritual Leader of the Alkebu-Lan Revivalist Movement and an Afrikan-Centred Education Consultant. Bro. Ldr is a veteran activist of almost 40 years standing, a featured columnist in The Whirlwind newspaper and author of Mosiah Daily Affirmations and Education: An African-Centred Approach To Excellence.