Discussion of Racism in the UK
In February of this year a video began circulating on various media platforms of a group of British Chelsea football supporters refusing a black man entry on a tube train in Paris whilst shouting 'we're racist we're proud' (Tovey, 2015). This is just one example of the institutionalized racism that the UK still suffers from. Ironically Prime Minister David Cameron was quoted as saying the incident was 'worrying' and 'very disturbing' (Anon, ITV, 2015), yes this is the same man who sent buses ablaze with slogans stating 'go home now or face arrest' into migrant dense parts of the country (Hope, 2015). As you can see this racism often goes hand in hand with xenophobia, in part due to the 'rampant anti-migrant sentiment' (Okwonga, 2015).
Institutionalized racism refers to how racism is 'structured into political and social institutions' for example the police or political organisations (Anon, 2013). In the run up to the UK General Election 2015, a UKIP party Councillor was interviewed and said that she '[doesn't like] people with negroid features' (Anon, BBC, 2015). This was one in a string of 'questionable' quotes that arose from UKIP party members, most recent, Jack Sen, a candidate who was set to stand was sacked after saying in a radio interview that minorities were being 'ethnically cleansed' (Rawlinson, 2015). UKIP party leader Nigel Farage defended the decision to sack this individual and took the opportunity to say yet again that UKIP is not a racist party and that the few incidents they have had do not represent the party as a whole. This coming from a man who stated people should be worried if a family of Muslims moved in next door to them (Anon, BBC News, 2014).
There is a quote of unknown beginnings that says 'I'll respect your opinion as long as your opinion doesn't disrespect my existence' and I feel as though it can be used with many issues spanning racism to sexism to homophobia. In terms of racism, for example, slur use is disgraceful and its continued use in society is a reminder of not only slavery but harmful and negative stereotypes that continue to permeate out society. A contestant on Big Brother last year caused controversy after repeatedly using the word 'negro' and upon being questioned about it he defended himself by stating but 'it means black in spanish', thankfully another contestant pointed out his complete inconsiderate ignorance and said 'but you aren't spanish' and told him to not use that word anymore. This is another example of how this quote can be applied.
Within advertising, a UK company Popchips came under scrutiny last year after making an ad portraying Ashton Kutcher in brown face and faced massive backlash due to this horrendous cultural appropriation. The character he was playing an Indian man called Raj (Minato, 2013), dances on screen with apparently Indian music in the background whilst eating the crisps. The CEO quickly apologised after the negative reacts from the public, stating 'our team worked hard to create a light-hearted parody featuring a variety of characters that was meant to provide a few laughs. We did not intend to offend anyone.' (Garcia, 2013). This naive attempt to brush the blatant racism away under the guise of humour is another way in which people are often unable to speak up due to the light-hearted and funny way people deal with their racist ways in the UK. For example, on the above article there are 31 comments (as of the 14 May 2015) and 18 of them note that 'people are too sensitive' which just goes to emphasise the ways that people seem to over react and get annoyed when its pointed out that yes, racism still exists.
A report was disclosed in October of last year after a Freedom of Information Act request was submitted by Black Mental Health UK about an incident that occurred two years ago in reference to allegations of racism in the police force. After a mental health facility requested help from police in regards to four individuals, three black and one white, the black individuals were handcuffed, attacked with batons and one had a plastic restraint put around his head whilst the white individual, who health nurses at the scene described as being 'a significant player in the disruption', was simply left to sit in a television room (Gallagher, 2015).Nurses commented that the white individual was treated ' It is important to note that even after the report was released the parts concerning racism within the police force, the ethnicity of the individuals concerned in the incident and allegations that had been made to individuals within the police force were all censored out. This racially biased treatment backs up the fact that data released by the Office of National Statistics found that black people made up 3.1% of the population yet 7.8 % were the victims of assault by the police, this is 4 times higher than that of white victims of assault by the police (Violent Crime and Sexual Offences 2011/2012, ONS, 2013).
Similarly, research carried out by the Equality and Human Rights Commission found that black people were stopped and frisked considerably higher than white people, Asians and mixed people (Hurrell, 2015). When you average out the data across the ten counties that they used in the study, black people were stopped six times more than white people (Anon, BBC News, 2013). For example, here in the Midlands, Section 60 enables police to search people based on whether they think they have a weapon, police stopped black people 29 times, yes 29 times, more than white people. After this study came out, Home Secretary Theresa May said that it was police 'duty to not stop people on basis of skin colour or ethnicity' (Travis, 2013).
It is clear that the structures that govern and police our country are acknowledging but not working hard enough to educate themselves about racism and aiming to slam down the disproportionate ways that black people and ethnic minorities are treated by the police force, people of political higher standing and the public at large.
References
Anon, BBC News, (2014). Nigel Farage attacked over Romanians 'slur' - BBC News. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27459923 [Accessed 12 May 2015].
Anon. RacismNoWay. (2013). Fact sheets Institutional racism.[online]. Available from: http://www.racismnoway.com.au/teaching-resources/factsheets/32.html [Accessed 5 May 2015]
Anon. BBC News. Now ex-UKIP councillor Rozanne Duncan: 'No regrets' over comments.[online]. Available from: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-31565770 [Accessed 12 May 2015]
Anon. BBC News, (2013). Stop and search used 'disproportionately' on black and Asian people - BBC News. [online] Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24902389 [Accessed 12 May 2015].
Anon. ITV News. (2015). Prime Minister: Chelsea fan racism 'extremely disturbing'. [online]. Available from: http://www.itv.com/news/update/2015-02-18/prime-minister-chelsea-fan-racism-extremely-disturbing/ [Accessed 12 May 2015]
Gallagher, P. (2015). Campaigners accuse Met Police and mental health trust of racist cover-up. [online] The Independent. Available at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/campaigners-accuse-met-police-and-mental-health-trust-of-racist-coverup-10237504.html [Accessed 12 May 2015].
Garcia, T. (2013). Popchips Founder Apologizes for Offensive Ashton Kutcher Clip. [online] Adweek.com. Available at: http://www.adweek.com/prnewser/popchips-founder-apologizes-for-offensive-ashton-kutcher-clip/38420 [Accessed 13 May 2015].
Hope, C,. (2015). Home Office's 'Go Home' immigration vans campaign overwhelmed by hoax texts and calls, Telegraph. [online]. Available from: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/10417987/Home-Offices-Go-Home-immigration-vans-campaign-overwhelmed-by-hoax-texts-and-calls.html [Accessed 5 May 2015]
Hurrell, K. (2015). Race Disproportionality in Stops and Searches, 2011-12. [PDF] Equality and Human Rights Commision, pp.1-39. Available at: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/sites/default/files/documents/research/Briefing_papers/briefing_paper_7_final.pdf [Accessed 13 May 2015].
Okwonga, M,. (2015). If you think the racism in the Chelsea fans video is a ‘one-off’, you're dangerously wrong, Independent. [online]. Available from: http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/if-you-think-the-racism-in-the-chelsea-fans-video-is-a-oneoff-youre-dangerously-wrong-10053520.html [Accessed 5 May 2015]
Rawlinson, K. (2015). Ukip suspends election candidate Jack Sen over racially charged comments. [online] Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/may/01/ukip-suspends-election-candidate-jack-sen-over-racially-charged-comments [Accessed 13 May 2015]
Tovey, J,. (2015). Video of racist Chelsea fans sparks police hunt, condemnation in football and politics. Sydney Morning Herald. [online]. Available from: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/soccer/video-of-racist-chelsea-fans-sparks-police-hunt-condemnation-in-football-and-politics-20150218-13ip64.html [Accessed 12 May 2015]
Travis, A. (2013). Stop and search: home secretary launches consultation on police powers. [online] the Guardian. Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/law/2013/jul/02/stop-search-theresa-may-police-powers [Accessed 13 May 2015]
Violent Crime and Sexual Offences 2011/2012. (2013). [PDF] Office for National Statistics, pp.14-75. Available at: http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_298904.pdf [Accessed 13 May 2015].
