Racism in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
The United Kingdom
has had racism
, from medieval times, through years of the slave trade to the modern day. However, racism has declined from past levels.
s across the United Kingdom
in 1919: South Shields
, Glasgow
, London's East End, Liverpool
, Cardiff
, Barry
, and Newport
. There were further riots by immigrant and minority populations in East London during the 1930s and Notting Hill
in the 1950s.
In the early 1980s, societal racism, discrimination and poverty
— alongside further perceptions of powerlessness and oppressive policing — sparked a series of riots in areas with substantial African-Caribbean
populations. These riots took place in St Pauls
in 1980, Brixton, Toxteth
and Moss Side
in 1981, St Pauls again in 1982, Notting Hill Gate
in 1982, Toxteth in 1982, and Handsworth
, Brixton
and Tottenham
in 1985.
The report identified both "racial discrimination" and a "racial disadvantage" in Britain, concluding that urgent action was needed to prevent these issues becoming an "endemic, ineradicable disease threatening the very survival of our society". The era saw an increase in attacks on Black people by White people. The Joint Campaign Against Racism committee reported that there had been more than 20,000 attacks on non- Indigenous Britons including Britons of Asian origin
during 1985.
The British Crime Survey
reveals that in 2004, 87,000 people from black or minority ethnic communities said they had been a victim of a racially motivated crime. They had suffered 49,000 violent attacks, with 4,000 being wounded. At the same time 92,000 white people said they had also fallen victim of a racially motivated crime. The number of violent attacks against whites reached 77,000, while the number of white people who reported being wounded was five times the number of black and minority ethnic victims at 20,000. Most of the offenders (57%) in the racially motivated crimes identified in the British Crime Survey are not white. White victims said 82% of offenders were not white.
Racism in one form or another was widespread in Britain before the twentieth century, and during the 1900s particularly towards Jewish groups and immigrants from Eastern Europe. The British establishment even considered Irish people
a separate and degenerate race until well into the 20th century.
Since World War I
, public expressions of racism have been limited to far-right political parties such as the British National Front
in the 1970s, whilst most mainstream politicians have publicly condemned all forms of racism. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that racism remains widespread, and many politicians and public figures have been accused of excusing or pandering to racist attitudes in the media, particularly with regard to immigration
. There have been growing concerns in recent years about institutional racism
in public and private bodies, and the tacit support this gives to crimes resulting from racism, such as the murder of Stephen Lawrence
, Gavin Hopley and Ross Parker
.
The Race Relations Act 1965
outlawed public discrimination, and established the Race Relations Board. Further Acts in 1968 and 1976 outlawed discrimination in employment, housing and social services, and replaced the Race Relations Board with Commission for Racial Equality
. The Human Rights Act 1999 made organisations in Britain, including public authorities, subject to the European Convention on Human Rights
. The Race Relations Act 2000 extends existing legislation for the public sector to the police force, and requires public authorities to promote equality.
Although various anti-discrimination legislation do exist. According to some sources most employers in the UK remain institutionally racist including public bodies such as the police and particularly the legal profession. It is also nearly impossible for persons subject to such institutional racism (who are normally economically disadvantaged) to seek legal redress, as in the UK public funding (legal aid) is not available at employment tribunal
s. The situation with the implementation of Human Rights law is similar. The Terrorism Act
s, which came into law in 2000 and 2006, have caused a marked increase in racial profiling
and have also been the basis to justify existent trends in discrimination against persons of Muslim origin (or resembling such) by the British police.
There have been tensions over immigration
since at least the early 1900s. These were originally engendered by hostility towards Jews and immigrants from Russia
and Eastern Europe
. Britain first began restricting immigration in 1905 under the Aliens Restriction Act. This was the first time that the United Kingdom implemented a policy that was designed to prevent the influx of immigrants,in particular it was aimed at those Jews who had fled persecution in Russia. Before the Act Britain had had a favourable immigration policy, most notably throughout the Victorian Period. However,for the first time policy was enacted to prevent the wholesale entry of foreign migrants. Although the Act was extreme Britain maintained its asylum policy. This meant that any persons who had fled their country due to religious or political persecution could be granted asylum in the United Kingdom. However,such policy was removed in the period before the Second World War to prevent the wholesale entry of Jewish refugees leaving from the Third Reich. Although Britain's policy was restrictive it was one of the leading nations that helped solve the refugee crisis preceding World War Two.
Britain has also had very strong limits on immigration since the early 1960s. Legislation was particularly targeted at members of the Commonwealth of Nations
, who had previously been able to migrate to the UK under the British Nationality Act 1948
. Conservative
MP
Enoch Powell
made a
controversial 1968 Rivers of Blood speech
in opposition to Commonwealth
immigration to Britain; this resulted in him being swiftly removed from the Shadow Cabinet
.
Virtually all legal immigration, except for those claiming refugee status, ended with the Immigration Act 1971
; however, free movement for citizens of the European Union
was later established by the Immigration Act 1988. Legislation in 1993, 1996 and 1999 gradually decreased the rights and benefits given to those claiming refugee status ("asylum seekers"). 582,000 people came to live in the UK from elsewhere in the world in 2004 according to the office of National Statistics.
Some commentators believe that an amount of racism, from within all communities, has been undocumented within the UK, adducing the many British cities whose populations have a clear racial divide. While these commentators believe that race relations have improved immensely over the last thirty years, they still believe that racial segregation
remains an important but largely unaddressed problem, although research http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/publications/factsandfigures/dmag-briefing-2005-38.pdf has shown that ethnic segregation has reduced within England and Wales between the 1991 Census
and 2001 Census
.
The United Kingdom
has been accused of "sleepwalking toward apartheid" by Trevor Phillips
, chair of that country's Commission for Racial Equality
. Philips has said that Britain is fragmenting into isolated racial communities: "literal black holes into which no one goes without fear and trepidation and nobody escapes undamaged". Philips believes that racial segregation in Britain is approaching that of the United States. "You can get to the point as they have in the U.S. where things are so divided that there is no turning back."
The BBC has reported that the latest crime statistics appear to support Phillips' concerns. They show that race-hate crimes increased by almost 600 per cent in London
in the month after the July 7 bomb attacks, with 269 more offences allegedly "motivated by religious hatred" reported to the Metropolitan Police
, compared to the same period last year.
In 2007 racist remarks made by contestants on the Celebrity Big Brother
TV series against Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty
caused widespread outrage, within the UK and internationally. Demonstrators in Bangalore
burned effigies of the TV Channel's directors.
genes mixing with those of the Anglo-Saxon
population by restricting intermarriage. According to research led by University College London
, Anglo-Saxon settlers enjoyed a substantial social and economic advantage over the native Ancient Britons, the settlers living in what is now England
, for more than 300 years from the middle of the 5th century.
The Laws of King Ine
and King Wihtred of Kent in the 7th century refer to a lower wergild for Briton subjects than for Anglo Saxons. Conversely many early Wessex kings had British i.e. Celtic names (such as Cerdic and Caedwalla. Many of the early Anglo Saxon invaders were warriors composed of male-only war-bands who would have looked to the local women for partners.
In Norman-controlled England and Wales, the English and Welsh were considered an underclass whose men were forbidden to marry into Norman families.
of other lands, especially the West Indies, India, and Africa. The clearing of lands and the exploitation of labor in foreign countries for the profit of British investors had deep effects on the British perceptions of subjected peoples. Stigmatization, the attribution of some internal fault or pollution, was necessary to protect the self-image of the colonizers. It gives them a rationale: "If there is not something wrong with those people, why would we treat them so badly?"
The brutality of the African slave trade promoted a most virulent type of racism, which Britain exported to several of its colonies. In North America, slavery was embodied in the Constitution of the United States and led to the disastrous Civil War of 1865.
The stereotype
s created by slavery and colonization are not remedied easily, and their effects can be seen in the present own day.
and the Oldham Riots
. These riots have followed cases of racism - either the public displays of racist sentiment or, as in the Brixton Riots
, racial profiling
and alleged harassment by the police
force. In 2005, there have been Birmingham riots
between Asian community and the black community, as a black teenager had been raped by South Asian men.
In July 2008, the London-based National Children's Bureau released a 366-page guide counseling adults on recognizing racist behavior in young children. The guide, titled Young Children and Racial Justice, warns adults that babies must also be included in the effort to eliminate racism. The bureau says to be aware of children who "react negatively to a culinary tradition other than their own by saying 'yuck'." Nursery staff must be alert for racist remarks among toddlers, a government-sponsored agency report has said.
In 2005-6, 1,543 victims of racist crime in Scotland were of Pakistani origin, while more than 1,000 victims were classed as being "white British" although the Scottish Parliament still has no official policy on "white on white" racism in Scotland.
Kriss Donald was a Scottish
fifteen-year-old who was kidnapped and murdered in Glasgow
in 2004. Five British Pakistani men were later found guilty of racially-motivated violence; those convicted of murder were all sentenced to life imprisonment.
However, there are indications that the Scottish authorities and people are well aware of the problem and are trying to tackle it. Among the Scottish under 15 years old there is the sign that, "younger white pupils rarely drew on racist discourses." http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/mepess-05.asp.
In 2009 the murder of an India
n sailor
named Kunal Mohanty by a lone Scotsman named Christopher Miller resulted in Miller's conviction as a criminal motivated by racial hatred. Miller's brother gave evidence during the trial and said Miller told him he had "done a Paki
".http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8352458.stm
AS of 11 February 2011 attacks on Poles and Muslims in Scotland have contributing to a 20% increase in racist incidents over the past 12 months.
Reports say every day in Scotland, 17 people are abused, threatened or violently attacked because of the colour of their skin, ethnicity or nationality.
Statistics showed that 6171 incidents of racism were recorded in 2009/10 - a rise of 20.4% from the 5123 racist incidents recorded in 2008/9.
These figures, revealed in a freedom of information request to Scotland's eight police forces, come despite there only being a 13% increase over the previous five years.
Politicians have also expressed concern at the rise in the figures.
Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker said: "Clearly we haven't managed to deal with these problems and people will be rightly asking why these increases are happening."
Bill Aitken, Conservative justice spokesman, added: "The number of these offences is clearly concerning and is unacceptable in Scotland in any circumstances."
A Scottish government spokesman said: "The Scottish Government is totally committed to ridding Scotland of all forms of hate crime, whoever the victims are, and those found guilty in the courts can expect to be dealt with by the full force of the law.
"As well as strengthening the laws in relation to hate crime, we have committed £10.5m between 2008 and 2011 to support projects run by 53 organisations delivering race and faith equality and improving the lives of minority ethnic and faith communities."
According to figures released in 2010, race hate victims were most likely to be of Pakistani origin, with 48% of all those targeted classed as Asian, followed by white British.
The majority of victims - 76% - were men and the vast majority of race hate perpetrators – 96% - were classed as white. Of these, most were males aged 16-20, followed by males under the age of 16.
Strathclyde Police reported the highest number of incidents with 2826, while Lothian and Borders Police dealt with 1494 incidents. The lowest recorded total was in Dumfries and Galloway, where police dealt with 70 racist incidents.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
has had racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
, from medieval times, through years of the slave trade to the modern day. However, racism has declined from past levels.
Modern Britain
There were race riotRace riot
A race riot or racial riot is an outbreak of violent civil disorder in which race is a key factor. A phenomenon frequently confused with the concept of 'race riot' is sectarian violence, which involves public mass violence or conflict over non-racial factors.-United States:The term had entered the...
s across the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
in 1919: South Shields
South Shields
South Shields is a coastal town in Tyne and Wear, England, located at the mouth of the River Tyne to Tyne Dock, and about downstream from Newcastle upon Tyne...
, Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, London's East End, Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
, Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...
, Barry
Barry, Wales
Barry is a town and community in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales. Located along the northern coast of the Bristol Channel less than south-southwest of Cardiff, the capital city of Wales, Barry is a seaside resort, with attractions including several beaches and the Barry Island Pleasure Park...
, and Newport
Newport
Newport is a city and unitary authority area in Wales. Standing on the banks of the River Usk, it is located about east of Cardiff and is the largest urban area within the historic county boundaries of Monmouthshire and the preserved county of Gwent...
. There were further riots by immigrant and minority populations in East London during the 1930s and Notting Hill
Notting Hill
Notting Hill is an area in London, England, close to the north-western corner of Kensington Gardens, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea...
in the 1950s.
In the early 1980s, societal racism, discrimination and poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...
— alongside further perceptions of powerlessness and oppressive policing — sparked a series of riots in areas with substantial African-Caribbean
British African-Caribbean community
The British African Caribbean communities are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were primarily indigenous to Africa...
populations. These riots took place in St Pauls
St Pauls, Bristol
St Pauls is an inner suburb of Bristol, England, situated just north east of the city centre and west of the M32. It is bounded by the A38, the B4051 and the A4032 roads...
in 1980, Brixton, Toxteth
Toxteth riots
The Toxteth riots of July 1981 were a civil disturbance in Toxteth, inner-city Liverpool, which arose in part from long-standing tensions between the local police and the black community...
and Moss Side
Moss Side
Moss Side is an inner-city area and electoral ward of Manchester, England. It lies south of Manchester city centre and has a population of around 17,537...
in 1981, St Pauls again in 1982, Notting Hill Gate
Notting Hill Gate
Notting Hill Gate is one of the main thoroughfares of Notting Hill, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically the street was a location for toll gates, from which it derives its modern name.- Location :...
in 1982, Toxteth in 1982, and Handsworth
Handsworth riots
The Handsworth riots may refer to:* 1981 Handsworth riots* 1985 Handsworth riots* 1991 Handsworth riots...
, Brixton
Brixton riot (1985)
The Brixton riot of 1985 started on 28 September in Lambeth in South London.It was the second major riot that the area had witnessed in the space of four years....
and Tottenham
Broadwater Farm riot
The Broadwater Farm riot occurred around the Broadwater Farm area of Tottenham, North London, on 6 October 1985.The events of the day were dominated by two deaths. The first was that of Cynthia Jarrett, an African-Caribbean woman who died the previous day from a stroke during a police search of her...
in 1985.
The report identified both "racial discrimination" and a "racial disadvantage" in Britain, concluding that urgent action was needed to prevent these issues becoming an "endemic, ineradicable disease threatening the very survival of our society". The era saw an increase in attacks on Black people by White people. The Joint Campaign Against Racism committee reported that there had been more than 20,000 attacks on non- Indigenous Britons including Britons of Asian origin
British Asian
British Asian is a term used to describe British citizens who descended from mainly South Asia, also known as South Asians in the United Kingdom...
during 1985.
The British Crime Survey
British Crime Survey
The British Crime Survey or BCS is a systematic victim study, currently carried out by BMRB Limited on behalf of the Home Office. The BCS seeks to measure the amount of crime in England and Wales by asking around 50,000 people aged 16 and over , living in private households, about the crimes they...
reveals that in 2004, 87,000 people from black or minority ethnic communities said they had been a victim of a racially motivated crime. They had suffered 49,000 violent attacks, with 4,000 being wounded. At the same time 92,000 white people said they had also fallen victim of a racially motivated crime. The number of violent attacks against whites reached 77,000, while the number of white people who reported being wounded was five times the number of black and minority ethnic victims at 20,000. Most of the offenders (57%) in the racially motivated crimes identified in the British Crime Survey are not white. White victims said 82% of offenders were not white.
Racism in one form or another was widespread in Britain before the twentieth century, and during the 1900s particularly towards Jewish groups and immigrants from Eastern Europe. The British establishment even considered Irish people
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
a separate and degenerate race until well into the 20th century.
Since World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, public expressions of racism have been limited to far-right political parties such as the British National Front
British National Front
The National Front is a far right, white-only political party whose major political activities took place during the 1970s and 1980s. Its popularity peaked in the 1979 general election, when it received 191,719 votes ....
in the 1970s, whilst most mainstream politicians have publicly condemned all forms of racism. However, anecdotal evidence suggests that racism remains widespread, and many politicians and public figures have been accused of excusing or pandering to racist attitudes in the media, particularly with regard to immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
. There have been growing concerns in recent years about institutional racism
Institutional racism
Institutional racism describes any kind of system of inequality based on race. It can occur in institutions such as public government bodies, private business corporations , and universities . The term was coined by Black Power activist Stokely Carmichael in the late 1960s...
in public and private bodies, and the tacit support this gives to crimes resulting from racism, such as the murder of Stephen Lawrence
Stephen Lawrence
Stephen Lawrence was a black British teenager from Eltham, southeast London, who was stabbed to death while waiting for a bus on the evening of 22 April 1993....
, Gavin Hopley and Ross Parker
Murder of Ross Parker
Ross Parker , from Peterborough, England, was a 17 year old white male murdered in an unprovoked racially motivated crime. He was stabbed to death and beaten with a hammer by a gang of Muslim Asian youths of Pakistani origin described as a "hunting party" who were seeking a white male to attack...
.
The Race Relations Act 1965
Race Relations Act 1965
The Race Relations Act 1965 was the first legislation in the United Kingdom to address racial discrimination.The Act outlawed discrimination on the "grounds of colour, race, or ethnic or national origins" in public places....
outlawed public discrimination, and established the Race Relations Board. Further Acts in 1968 and 1976 outlawed discrimination in employment, housing and social services, and replaced the Race Relations Board with Commission for Racial Equality
Commission for Racial Equality
The Commission for Racial Equality was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom which aimed to tackle racial discrimination and promote racial equality. Its work has been merged into the new Equality and Human Rights Commission.-History:...
. The Human Rights Act 1999 made organisations in Britain, including public authorities, subject to the European Convention on Human Rights
European Convention on Human Rights
The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...
. The Race Relations Act 2000 extends existing legislation for the public sector to the police force, and requires public authorities to promote equality.
Although various anti-discrimination legislation do exist. According to some sources most employers in the UK remain institutionally racist including public bodies such as the police and particularly the legal profession. It is also nearly impossible for persons subject to such institutional racism (who are normally economically disadvantaged) to seek legal redress, as in the UK public funding (legal aid) is not available at employment tribunal
Employment tribunal
Employment Tribunals are tribunal non-departmental public bodies in England and Wales and Scotland which have statutory jurisdiction to hear many kinds of disputes between employers and employees. The most common disputes are concerned with unfair dismissal, redundancy payments and employment...
s. The situation with the implementation of Human Rights law is similar. The Terrorism Act
Terrorism Act
-United Kingdom:* Prevention of Terrorism Acts passed between 1974 and 1989 to deal with terrorism in Northern Ireland* The Terrorism Act 2000* The Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001* The Prevention of Terrorism Act 2005* The Terrorism Act 2006...
s, which came into law in 2000 and 2006, have caused a marked increase in racial profiling
Racial profiling
Racial profiling refers to the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement...
and have also been the basis to justify existent trends in discrimination against persons of Muslim origin (or resembling such) by the British police.
There have been tensions over immigration
Immigration
Immigration is the act of foreigners passing or coming into a country for the purpose of permanent residence...
since at least the early 1900s. These were originally engendered by hostility towards Jews and immigrants from Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
. Britain first began restricting immigration in 1905 under the Aliens Restriction Act. This was the first time that the United Kingdom implemented a policy that was designed to prevent the influx of immigrants,in particular it was aimed at those Jews who had fled persecution in Russia. Before the Act Britain had had a favourable immigration policy, most notably throughout the Victorian Period. However,for the first time policy was enacted to prevent the wholesale entry of foreign migrants. Although the Act was extreme Britain maintained its asylum policy. This meant that any persons who had fled their country due to religious or political persecution could be granted asylum in the United Kingdom. However,such policy was removed in the period before the Second World War to prevent the wholesale entry of Jewish refugees leaving from the Third Reich. Although Britain's policy was restrictive it was one of the leading nations that helped solve the refugee crisis preceding World War Two.
Britain has also had very strong limits on immigration since the early 1960s. Legislation was particularly targeted at members of the Commonwealth of Nations
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
, who had previously been able to migrate to the UK under the British Nationality Act 1948
British Nationality Act 1948
The British Nationality Act 1948 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the status of "Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies" as the national citizenship of the United Kingdom and its colonies....
. Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
Enoch Powell
Enoch Powell
John Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
made a
controversial 1968 Rivers of Blood speech
Rivers of Blood speech
The "Rivers of Blood" speech was a speech criticising Commonwealth immigration, as well as proposed anti-discrimination legislation in the United Kingdom made on 20 April 1968 by Enoch Powell , the Conservative Member of Parliament for Wolverhampton South West...
in opposition to Commonwealth
Commonwealth
Commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has sometimes been synonymous with "republic."More recently it has been used for fraternal associations of some sovereign nations...
immigration to Britain; this resulted in him being swiftly removed from the Shadow Cabinet
Shadow Cabinet
The Shadow Cabinet is a senior group of opposition spokespeople in the Westminster system of government who together under the leadership of the Leader of the Opposition form an alternative cabinet to the government's, whose members shadow or mark each individual member of the government...
.
Virtually all legal immigration, except for those claiming refugee status, ended with the Immigration Act 1971
Immigration Act 1971
The Immigration Act 1971 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerning immigration.The Act, as with the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, and that of 1968, restricted immigration, especially primary immigration into the UK....
; however, free movement for citizens of the European Union
European Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
was later established by the Immigration Act 1988. Legislation in 1993, 1996 and 1999 gradually decreased the rights and benefits given to those claiming refugee status ("asylum seekers"). 582,000 people came to live in the UK from elsewhere in the world in 2004 according to the office of National Statistics.
Some commentators believe that an amount of racism, from within all communities, has been undocumented within the UK, adducing the many British cities whose populations have a clear racial divide. While these commentators believe that race relations have improved immensely over the last thirty years, they still believe that racial segregation
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
remains an important but largely unaddressed problem, although research http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/publications/factsandfigures/dmag-briefing-2005-38.pdf has shown that ethnic segregation has reduced within England and Wales between the 1991 Census
United Kingdom Census 1991
A nationwide census, commonly known as Census 1991, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday 21 April 1991. This was the 19th UK census....
and 2001 Census
United Kingdom Census 2001
A nationwide census, known as Census 2001, was conducted in the United Kingdom on Sunday, 29 April 2001. This was the 20th UK Census and recorded a resident population of 58,789,194....
.
The United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
has been accused of "sleepwalking toward apartheid" by Trevor Phillips
Trevor Phillips
Trevor Phillips OBE chairs the Equality and Human Rights Commission and is a former television executive and presenter...
, chair of that country's Commission for Racial Equality
Commission for Racial Equality
The Commission for Racial Equality was a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom which aimed to tackle racial discrimination and promote racial equality. Its work has been merged into the new Equality and Human Rights Commission.-History:...
. Philips has said that Britain is fragmenting into isolated racial communities: "literal black holes into which no one goes without fear and trepidation and nobody escapes undamaged". Philips believes that racial segregation in Britain is approaching that of the United States. "You can get to the point as they have in the U.S. where things are so divided that there is no turning back."
The BBC has reported that the latest crime statistics appear to support Phillips' concerns. They show that race-hate crimes increased by almost 600 per cent in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in the month after the July 7 bomb attacks, with 269 more offences allegedly "motivated by religious hatred" reported to the Metropolitan Police
Scotland Yard
Scotland Yard is a metonym for the headquarters of the Metropolitan Police Service of London, UK. It derives from the location of the original Metropolitan Police headquarters at 4 Whitehall Place, which had a rear entrance on a street called Great Scotland Yard. The Scotland Yard entrance became...
, compared to the same period last year.
In 2007 racist remarks made by contestants on the Celebrity Big Brother
Celebrity Big Brother 2007 (UK)
Celebrity Big Brother 2007 was the highly controversial fifth series of the United Kingdom reality television series Celebrity Big Brother, a spin-off of Big Brother. The series was broadcast on Channel 4 in the UK , and involved a number of celebrities referred to as 'housemates', who live in the...
TV series against Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty
Shilpa Shetty
Shilpa Shetty is an Indian film actress and model. Since making her debut in the film Baazigar , she has appeared in nearly 40 Bollywood, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films, her first leading role being in the 1994 Aag. Although she has been through years of decline during her career, Shetty has been...
caused widespread outrage, within the UK and internationally. Demonstrators in Bangalore
Bangalore
Bengaluru , formerly called Bengaluru is the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka. Bangalore is nicknamed the Garden City and was once called a pensioner's paradise. Located on the Deccan Plateau in the south-eastern part of Karnataka, Bangalore is India's third most populous city and...
burned effigies of the TV Channel's directors.
Medieval England
Though it is disputed, some scholars believe that there was an apartheid-like system in early Anglo-Saxon England, which prevented the native BritishBrython
The Britons were the Celtic people culturally dominating Great Britain from the Iron Age through the Early Middle Ages. They spoke the Insular Celtic language known as British or Brythonic...
genes mixing with those of the Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
population by restricting intermarriage. According to research led by University College London
University College London
University College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
, Anglo-Saxon settlers enjoyed a substantial social and economic advantage over the native Ancient Britons, the settlers living in what is now England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, for more than 300 years from the middle of the 5th century.
The Laws of King Ine
Ine of Wessex
Ine was King of Wessex from 688 to 726. He was unable to retain the territorial gains of his predecessor, Cædwalla, who had brought much of southern England under his control and expanded West Saxon territory substantially...
and King Wihtred of Kent in the 7th century refer to a lower wergild for Briton subjects than for Anglo Saxons. Conversely many early Wessex kings had British i.e. Celtic names (such as Cerdic and Caedwalla. Many of the early Anglo Saxon invaders were warriors composed of male-only war-bands who would have looked to the local women for partners.
In Norman-controlled England and Wales, the English and Welsh were considered an underclass whose men were forbidden to marry into Norman families.
Racism in the days of empire
The country's most blatant exercise of racism came in the 18th and 19th centuries with the advance of the slave trade and the colonizationColonialism
Colonialism is the establishment, maintenance, acquisition and expansion of colonies in one territory by people from another territory. It is a process whereby the metropole claims sovereignty over the colony and the social structure, government, and economics of the colony are changed by...
of other lands, especially the West Indies, India, and Africa. The clearing of lands and the exploitation of labor in foreign countries for the profit of British investors had deep effects on the British perceptions of subjected peoples. Stigmatization, the attribution of some internal fault or pollution, was necessary to protect the self-image of the colonizers. It gives them a rationale: "If there is not something wrong with those people, why would we treat them so badly?"
The brutality of the African slave trade promoted a most virulent type of racism, which Britain exported to several of its colonies. In North America, slavery was embodied in the Constitution of the United States and led to the disastrous Civil War of 1865.
The stereotype
Stereotype
A stereotype is a popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings...
s created by slavery and colonization are not remedied easily, and their effects can be seen in the present own day.
Modern England
In 2001, there have been both the Bradford riotsBradford Riot
The Bradford Riots were a short but intense period of rioting which began on 7 July 2001, in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. It occurred as a result of heightened tension between the large and growing ethnic minority communities and the city's white majority, stoked by confrontation between the...
and the Oldham Riots
Oldham Riots
The Oldham riots were a short but intense period of violent rioting which occurred in Oldham, a town in Greater Manchester, England, in May 2001...
. These riots have followed cases of racism - either the public displays of racist sentiment or, as in the Brixton Riots
Brixton Riots
Brixton riots may refer to:* 1981 Brixton riot – 11 April 1981* 1985 Brixton riot – 28 September 1985* 1995 Brixton riot – 13 December 1995* 2011 Brixton riot – 7 August 2011; see 2011 London riots...
, racial profiling
Racial profiling
Racial profiling refers to the use of an individual’s race or ethnicity by law enforcement personnel as a key factor in deciding whether to engage in enforcement...
and alleged harassment by the police
Police
The police is a personification of the state designated to put in practice the enforced law, protect property and reduce civil disorder in civilian matters. Their powers include the legitimized use of force...
force. In 2005, there have been Birmingham riots
2005 Birmingham riots
The Birmingham riots of 2005 occurred on two consecutive nights on Saturday 22 October and Sunday 23 October 2005 in the Lozells area of Birmingham, England. The riots were derived from racial tensions between the Black British and British Asian communities, with the spark for the riot being an...
between Asian community and the black community, as a black teenager had been raped by South Asian men.
In July 2008, the London-based National Children's Bureau released a 366-page guide counseling adults on recognizing racist behavior in young children. The guide, titled Young Children and Racial Justice, warns adults that babies must also be included in the effort to eliminate racism. The bureau says to be aware of children who "react negatively to a culinary tradition other than their own by saying 'yuck'." Nursery staff must be alert for racist remarks among toddlers, a government-sponsored agency report has said.
Scotland
It has been reported that racial minorities are underrepresented in the police force http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4684429.stm. In urban areas, tensions between ethnic Scots and Scottish Pakistanis occasionally flare up. Several items of racism in Scotland are reported here. http://news.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=562.In 2005-6, 1,543 victims of racist crime in Scotland were of Pakistani origin, while more than 1,000 victims were classed as being "white British" although the Scottish Parliament still has no official policy on "white on white" racism in Scotland.
Kriss Donald was a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
fifteen-year-old who was kidnapped and murdered in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
in 2004. Five British Pakistani men were later found guilty of racially-motivated violence; those convicted of murder were all sentenced to life imprisonment.
However, there are indications that the Scottish authorities and people are well aware of the problem and are trying to tackle it. Among the Scottish under 15 years old there is the sign that, "younger white pupils rarely drew on racist discourses." http://www.scotland.gov.uk/library5/education/mepess-05.asp.
In 2009 the murder of an India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
n sailor
Sailor
A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...
named Kunal Mohanty by a lone Scotsman named Christopher Miller resulted in Miller's conviction as a criminal motivated by racial hatred. Miller's brother gave evidence during the trial and said Miller told him he had "done a Paki
Paki
Paki may refer to:*Paki, California, former settlement in Butte County*Paki, a derogatory term for a person from Pakistan*Pākī , Hawaiian high chief during the reign of King Kamehameha III...
".http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/glasgow_and_west/8352458.stm
AS of 11 February 2011 attacks on Poles and Muslims in Scotland have contributing to a 20% increase in racist incidents over the past 12 months.
Reports say every day in Scotland, 17 people are abused, threatened or violently attacked because of the colour of their skin, ethnicity or nationality.
Statistics showed that 6171 incidents of racism were recorded in 2009/10 - a rise of 20.4% from the 5123 racist incidents recorded in 2008/9.
These figures, revealed in a freedom of information request to Scotland's eight police forces, come despite there only being a 13% increase over the previous five years.
Politicians have also expressed concern at the rise in the figures.
Labour justice spokesman Richard Baker said: "Clearly we haven't managed to deal with these problems and people will be rightly asking why these increases are happening."
Bill Aitken, Conservative justice spokesman, added: "The number of these offences is clearly concerning and is unacceptable in Scotland in any circumstances."
A Scottish government spokesman said: "The Scottish Government is totally committed to ridding Scotland of all forms of hate crime, whoever the victims are, and those found guilty in the courts can expect to be dealt with by the full force of the law.
"As well as strengthening the laws in relation to hate crime, we have committed £10.5m between 2008 and 2011 to support projects run by 53 organisations delivering race and faith equality and improving the lives of minority ethnic and faith communities."
According to figures released in 2010, race hate victims were most likely to be of Pakistani origin, with 48% of all those targeted classed as Asian, followed by white British.
The majority of victims - 76% - were men and the vast majority of race hate perpetrators – 96% - were classed as white. Of these, most were males aged 16-20, followed by males under the age of 16.
Strathclyde Police reported the highest number of incidents with 2826, while Lothian and Borders Police dealt with 1494 incidents. The lowest recorded total was in Dumfries and Galloway, where police dealt with 70 racist incidents.
See also
- Racism by countryRacism by countryThe article describes the state of race relations and racism in a number of countries. Racism of various forms is found in every country on Earth. Racism is widely condemned throughout the world, with 170 states signatories of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial...