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.
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There were race riots 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.[1] 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.[2]
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".[1] 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.[3]
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.[4]
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 [5] and particularly the legal profession.[6] 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 tribunals.[7] The situation with the implementation of Human Rights law is similar. The Terrorism Acts, 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 [7] 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."[8]
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.[8]
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.[9]
An area of particular concern is institutional racism and discrimination in employment and recruitment, with discrimination being a significant factor affecting labour market outcomes for members of ethnic minorities and race being a significant consideration of UK employers, as opposed to a candidate's academic or other qualifications, in making recruitment decisions. [10]
This is particular in conditions of recession and lower levels of economic growth, as UK employers only tend towards ethnic minority candidates as a last resort and such candidates are only likely to be employed in an environment of high employment yet are otherwise rejected, making them largely unable to recoup their losses during economic recovery, as compared to the white majority; a phenomenon that "ratchets" the worsening gap between non-white and white unemployment. [11]
Public sector employers in the UK are somewhat less likely to discriminate on grounds of race, as they are required by law to promote equality and make efforts to reduce racial and other discrimination. The private sector, however are subject to little or no functional anti-discrimination regulation and short of self paid litigation, no remedies are available for members of ethnic minorities. [12] UK employers can also effectively alleviate themselves from any legal duty not to discriminate on the basis of race, by 'outsourcing' recruitment and thus any liability for the employers' racial screeening and discriminatory policies to third party recruitment companies. [13] [14]
Though it is disputed, some scholars believe that there was an apartheid-like system in early Anglo-Saxon England, which prevented the native British 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,[15] the settlers living in what is now England, for more than 300 years from the middle of the 5th century.[16][17][18]
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.[19]
The country's most blatant exercise of racism came in the 18th and 19th centuries with the advance of the slave trade and the colonization 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?"[20][21] [22] 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 stereotypes created by slavery and colonization are not remedied easily, and their effects can be seen in the present own day.[23][24][25][26]
In 2001, there have been both the Bradford riots 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.[27]
It has been reported that racial minorities are underrepresented in the police force [8]. In urban areas, tensions between ethnic Scots and Scottish Pakistanis occasionally flare up. Several items of racism in Scotland are reported here. [9].
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"[28] 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.[29]
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." [10].
In 2009 the murder of an Indian 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".[11]
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.
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