New report shows

shocking racial inequality

in Britain

Posted by Samira Shackle - 11 October 2010 11:08

Black people five times more likely to be imprisoned, while black graduates face 24 per cent less pay.

Trevor Phillips, head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Photograph: Getty Images

 

Today saw the release of How Fair is Britain, a landmark report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

The commission's first triennial report into the subject, it paints a picture of entrenched racial and social inequality.

The Guardian today picks up on the data on prisons. The proportion of black people in prison in England and Wales is now higher than in the United States. Nearly seven times more people of Afro-Caribbean and African descent are imprisoned than their share of the population, compared with about four times in the US. On average, five times more black people than white are imprisoned in England and Wales.

It's a shocking disparity, albeit hardly surprising. Despite claims that institutional racism in the police force has been tackled since the Stephen Lawrence case, the report notes that while black people make up less than 3 per cent of the population, they accounted for 15 per cent of people stopped by police.

Clearly, not enough is being done to tackle racism in the prison and justice system. But another striking aspect of the report is how this racial inequality runs through society at every level. Black children are three times as likely to be permanently excluded from school. One of the most striking comparisons in the report shows that being black and male has a greater negative impact on levels of numeracy than having a learning disability.

Even for those who make it to university, the disparity still exists. Less than ten per cent of black students are at the top Russell Group universities, compared with a quarter of white students. Around a third of black students get a first or upper-second class degree, compared with two-thirds of white students. The study also suggests that black students face a 24 per cent less pay than their white counterparts.

It is a drastic understatement to say that something here is not right. Commentators are frequently quick to attribute racially based underachievement to the disaffection and alienation of boys in the black community. There is no doubt that this has a part to play, but when these statistics - prisons, schools, universities, graduate employment - are placed alongside each other, it is not difficult to see where this disaffection comes from.

There might be a "poverty of aspiration" among black, but it is easy to understand why when the reward for a degree could be lower pay. The report raises some uncomfortable questions about the scale and nature of institutionalised racism in this country. Clearly, at every level, more must be done.

 

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19 comments from readers

9xzulug
11 October 2010 at 12:04

as i have a personal view point relating to how black people are perceived in the uk.many black people myself included feel we are treated in some degree as 3rd class citizens.the media since the late 60's early 70's as painted us in such a negative way which as stuck.i recall in those dark days as drug dealers,yardie gangsters,pimps,womenisers.aspirations of many blacks seems to only come through as either sportsman,musicians,yet we have taken the british way of life more than any other ethnic group to make uk our home.we have more mixed race children through our relationships with white community,we have more police,prison officers,mp's,the arm forces,fire service,nhs,the list is endless but still we feel ignored.when our offspring see the unfairness their parents receive what do we as a nation expect.INSTITIONLISED RACISM FLOURISHES SILENTLY.it's one of the main reasons black people are so angry.what black people are speaking about today is all the hatred at present is aimed at muslims.DON'T BLAME THE MESSENGER(me),BLAME THE SYSTEM WHICH HAS A GLASS CEILING which needs to be broken for ALL people to reach their potential.our nation has more ethnics than any other european nation luckily we have not allowed a right wing racist party to hijack our mainstream politics namely bnp to enter parliament otherwise watch the effect if it happens.black people will not keep turning a blind eye to the unfairness bestowed our proud,loyal,happy go lucky race.caribbeans don't have built up communities as do the asians/east europeans in many major cities,we just fit in and smile in the face of adversity but yet still we feel we are getting pushed down the pecking order in uk.THATS HOW I SEE THINGS LIVING THROUGH MY EYES IN great britain.PEACE N UNITY LEADS TO HARMONY FOR ALL WHO RESIDES ON THIS SMALL ISLAND

Tommo
11 October 2010 at 12:08

Perhaps black people should commit less crimes? Perhaps New Labour shouldn't have imported criminals from Somalia and other third world hell holes in the hopes of boosting their vote? The only real racial discrimination in Britain is against the ethnic English people and the working-class in particular. If foreign communists like Samira Shackle and Trevor Philips don't like the country, they can always go back to where their ancestors came from. They won't be missed.

moronamid
11 October 2010 at 12:15

9xzulug thats what is wrong with you and your kind... you completely ignore the truth and work a lie... if blacks are so wonderful how come Africa as whole continent is such a hell hole... and how come they treated me so badly I have learned to dislike them.

So i am a racist because I despise Satan.

Benedict
11 October 2010 at 12:17

Tommo, Foreign people can't vote in General Elections so there would be no advantage in any political party 'importing' them, even if it were true.

John Standing
11 October 2010 at 12:32

Let’s try and understand this properly for once, without the blinding filter of “evil white racism”.

 

It is entirely likely that the rapid insertion of an African-descended population into an organic, mono-ethnic society, which post-war Britain was but America never has been, will be reflected in a higher incarceration rate for African-descended criminals. To present this reflection as "evil white racism", however, is already to loose its character.

 

The unique levels of criminality, especially violent and sexual criminality, which characterise African populations in Africa and in diaspore are of the Modern African mind. They are one with the competitive male assertiveness, emotional impulsiveness and general intelligence of the race. They do not change. The notion that an organic, kinship-based European society, suddenly confronted with this phenomenon, would NOT identify it and desire to control it is nonsensical. It has to be controlled. To shy away from it is to abdicate responsibility for one's own natural communal life. To pretend that it is the fault of "evil white people" is to be a-historical and, probably, intentionally blind.

 

Historically, the most humane control method for African populations in diaspore was powerful religious instruction. The most effective was racial segregation. Certainly in the latter case, the value at work was this the desire, which I have already mentioned, of Europeans to preserve a normal and natural life. This desire is not "white racism". It is a human right, and it should never be given up.

 

In Britain, it would appear, a high rate of incarceration has developed as an impromptu control method. Essentially, the natives are saying, "We don't want this." It is certainly unjust at the level of individual criminals who are too harshly treated. But to shout "racist" at the response generally is also to be racist towards a people who should not be asked to carry the burden of African criminality on its back. Its position, too, needs to be sympathetically understood - and racial blame is not a means to that end.

 

Whether the left, which has grown lazy in its guilt-trip, can comprehend this sadness for both races and withhold itself from the usual finger-pointing at one of them is another matter, of course.

William
11 October 2010 at 13:26

I don't understand why this research is a reason to victimize them, as opposed to just saying we need to work to help people who are part of these negative statistics. And... Now this is the revolutionary bit (MP's are you listening?). ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!

Brit Born African
11 October 2010 at 13:53

I must say I am disappointed at the really negative and frankly speaking, hatred filled undertones of the comments posted.

 

It seems some of us would rather each continent and country stuck to its own.

 

It's worth remembering that the Africans didn't just turn up. They were actually, brought here mostly against their will.

 

The consequences, right or wrong, are what we have today and we all best deal with it in the fairest way possible.

moronamid
11 October 2010 at 13:57

I was reading an article the other day...it was about a researcher in Africa researching into African language in comparison to English...well this African women said to the researcher "if you can speak English what do you need a dictionary for...I can speak all the words of my language... says it all really.

The word he was working on and could not find an equivalent for was the English word... promise. ??? the nearest he could get was a word that meant,hands tied to feet... !!!

John Standing
11 October 2010 at 14:08

BBA,

 

Can you explain which comments are "hatred-filled" and which are merely fact? Or are some facts hatred-filled too?

 

Also, would you please log the names of all the Africans living in Britain who were brought here against their will?

swatantra nandanwar
11 October 2010 at 14:18

Looks like things haven't moved on much in the last 20 years. We're still at base one, a stand still, a dynamic equilibrium, 2 steps forward and 2 steps back. I suppose that is progress, of sorts. We recognise that there is a problem, but nowhere near a solution.

But its the same with womens equality,and I dare say it'll be the same with disability.

Brad
11 October 2010 at 14:21

I'm white and have known for years how brilliant asians perform in the classroom. Saying there isn't equality just because some can't keep up is crazy. We aren't all equal so stop making us out to be!

Lou
11 October 2010 at 14:47

In the 1920s there were at least 50,000 people from ethnic minorities living in Britain.

 

Africans were living here in the 1700s, they were highly prevalent in the medical field here in the late 1800s. The weren't segregated, they moved in wide social circles and held on the whole more professional jobs than they did manual ones.

 

Any talk of Britain being a mono ethnic society is rubbish. As for rapid insertion post WW2 of an African descended population is greatly exaggerated. Mass immigration was encouraged by the government and British citizenship was granted to all members of commonwealth countries who came here and the people coming here saw themselves as coming home, to their Mother country.

Less than 500 people were aboard Windrush in 1948, hardly a rapid insertion amongst a populus at the time of 49 million.

It's very easy to see some comments as 'white racism' especially when mentioning mass influx of immigrants one fails to mention 300,000 Polish people who settled here in the same period of time referred to.

John Standing
11 October 2010 at 15:08

Brad,

 

Three points require to be made in reply to your comment.

 

First, the northern Indian average IQ is 81 - same for Pakistan - they are the same broad population group. The Moslem Pakistani performance in British schools is nearer the sub-continental mean than the Indian because the former population were less filtered by the migration process than the latter.

 

It is the filter which determines the differential, and the filter which explains the higher quality of the Indian population here.

 

2. The East Asian mean is 100 to 102, which is little different to the European. But again the better part of the demographic makes the journey west.

 

The difference can average more than a standard deviation of IQ points, so more than 15 points. But you need to bear in mind that the East Asian distribution is very narrow, producing a high, narrow bell curve - a small low-IQ sector but also a small sector of creative genius.

 

Education, let it be said, is highly valued in both Indian and East Asian homes in this country. But over time, without selection pressure to the contrary, there will occur a regression to the mean. It is possible, though, that this will be slowed by appropriate spousal selection in the countries of origin.

 

3. In contrast, the white working-class, in particular, but all English schoolchildren to a degree have been subject for the last quarter of a century to a debilitating programme of social and educational engineering. Basically, it constitutes a race-attack against white-skin by liberal white men and women. It is a crime against humanity, in my view.

 

On top of this, our children have suffered culture shock in many areas of our towns and cities, as the endless sea of foreign faces and the endless demands to celebrate Eid and Roshannah encroach. In my father's day (the 1930s) a good education at a rural school was far more rigorous and, of course, ethno-centric than today. That is what British children deserve, and that is what they are systematically denied.

John Standing
11 October 2010 at 15:12

Lou,

 

There is no historical grounding for race-replacement immigration.

 

Britain WAS a mono-ethnic country until 23rd June 1948. It will be again. You will be asked to leave.

Lou
11 October 2010 at 15:22

John Standing

 

Your talk of the most humane method of control for a migrating African people is seriously offensive.

 

Humane control? Why the need for any control and shouldn't humane actions be applied to all?

 

What right have the natives to control, humanely or otherwise, anyone? You talk of the natives almost allowing incarceration as a method of control like it's fact. It's not, it's you trying to justify the inherent racism that prevails in our society on a number of levels.

 

Your talk of the European - ergo white one presumes - desire to preserve a natural and normal life in the context of your humane control point just highlights the inherent racist undercurrent to your whole text.

Lou
11 October 2010 at 15:24

Why will I be asked to leave?

 

You make assumptions on my ethnicity?

 

Race replacementimmigration? Sums the whole racist point to your argument up.

John Standing
11 October 2010 at 15:37

There is no racism in defending one's people from replacement. The racism in the country lies solely with you and your presumption that you have a write to replace us, unbidden ... and with the political class that supports you in that against us.

Lou
11 October 2010 at 15:40

Britain has never been a mono ethnic country, ethnicity pertains to more than colour so if you want to refer to Britain's white ethnicity then kindly make that distinction.

Beast Of No Nation
11 October 2010 at 16:04

9xzulug 11/10/10 12:04 wrote:"black people will not keep turning a blind eye to the unfairness bestowed our proud,loyal,happy go lucky race.caribbeans don't have built up communities as do the asians/east europeans in many major cities,we just fit in and smile in the face of adversity but yet still we feel we are getting pushed down the pecking order in uk".

 

Amazing, 9xzulug, you identified the problem and its cause so will you do something about it or remain in a "happy-go-lucky" state of mind? Just keep smiling, eh. My advice to you is show some teeth but not the way you do it. Will you ever fight, not in the literal sense, your corner? Do you expect others to put things on your plate that you like? Just so you know, we live in a Capitalist Democracy where reward matches contribution and you have to work hard to succeed. Being laid back, carefree and oblivious of your surroundings is not a recipe for success.

You are right when you say Muslim's are the new Black's. Since 7/7/05 attention turned to Muslim's and our society have bent over backwards to show Black's in a positive light; there are several Black TV presenters and Newsreaders/Reporters on TV, there are Black men/women in most TV adverts/soaps, no more racist chants at football matches, a Black woman was one of the candidates in the last Labour leadership election...the list goes on and on. So we have many Black role models; something that in the past was always identified as being the reason for Black youth underachievement. You no longer have to run the gauntlet of abuse, you should be more confident and ambitious than the Black youths of the 70's, 80's and 90's. No excuses.

Caribbean's/Blacks do not "have built up communities"? They do, Brixton, Hackney, Peckham, Haringey.