Race Report and Structural Gaslighting

The Commission Report & Structural Gaslighting

With this report came the opportunity to help in part heal a divided nation. Yet, instead, its conclusions have only made things worse. 

Yesterday afternoon, the long-awaited report from The Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities in the UK was finally released after its delay last year due to coronavirus. Many saw this report as a chance to address, and acknowledge the inequalities, harm and racial violence faced by people of colour & ethnic minorities in this country. However, what they were presented with instead was a document essentially telling them that BAME people’s lived experiences (and the maltreatment and barbarity that they have to face on a daily basis) wasn’t due to institutional racism, but rather other factors, such as family, socioeconomic backgrounds and religion. The use of the term institutional racism, as the report claims, achieves nothing ‘beyond alienating the decent centre ground – a centre ground which is occupied by people of all races and ethnicities. [i]

The Commission team in this report, led by Educational Consultant Tony Sewell, are adamant that a person’s race has little impact on the overall socio-economic condition of their lives as a UK resident. To them, racism on an institutional level is a thing of the past that we must move away from focussing on.  

The 264-page report continues, with some main findings being: [ii]

Children from ethnic communities do as well or better than white pupils in compulsory education, with black Caribbean pupils being the only group to perform less well.

The pay gap between all ethnic minorities and the white majority population has shrunk to 2.3% overall and is barely significant for employees under 30.

Diversity has increased in professions such as law and medicine.

 Some communities continue to be "haunted" by historic racism, which is creating "deep mistrust" and could be a barrier to success.

What is clear from these findings is that The Commission Report Team, and by extension the government, has chosen to repudiate all responsibility for the racism that exists systemically in the UK. Rather than investigate actual substantive data, that could have opened up dialogue about racism in this country, Tony Sewell and his peers have opted into this report with a colour-blind approach to solving the UK’s race problem. By shifting the focus away from the structural failings of institutions, what this report is able to do is create its own version of events that ignores the reality of the situation in this country.

This report can say education in this country has ‘transformed British society over the last 50 years into one offering far greater opportunities for all’ while at the same time being aware that exclusion rates are five times higher for black Caribbean pupils. [iii]

This report can talk of the closing pay-gap between ethnic minorities and whites, while at the same time ignoring that the unemployment rate for ethnic minorities is 9.5% while it’s only 4.5% for white people. [iv]

This report can talk of diversity in medicine while at the same time neglecting to elaborate on the fact that Black women are four times more likely to die in childbirth than their white counterparts. [v]

This report can talk of a hyper fixation on a ‘haunted’ past ‘barring certain communities’ from success while ignoring the very recent Windrush Scandal that saw Caribbean people from the ‘Windrush Generation’ wrongly detained, deported, and denied legal rights as British citizens. [vi]

This report can say these things in the face of such damning evidence because this report isn’t interested in racism in the UK as much as it is interested in making the UK seem less racist.

A comment from this report’s introduction states:

“[The UK] should be regarded as a model for other white-majority countries”. [vii]

However, I worry about other countries being told they should emulate a model that is built on lies, exploitation and colonial violence.

What we have seen from this report’s findings is structural and racial gaslighting; those that have suffered at the hands of institutional racism are being told they are essentially making their experiences up. To deny, and silence people in this way is a fundamental violation of their rights and will only make it harder for those who do experience systematic racism to come forward in a culture that denies the nuances of their reality.

The Recommendations  

The report proceeds to lay out ‘recommendations’ which it promises will progress the UK towards a “successful multicultural community”.

Some of the recommendations are as follows: [viii]

Extended school days to be phased in, starting with disadvantaged areas, to help pupils catch up on missed learning during the pandemic.

Children from disadvantaged backgrounds should have access to better quality careers advice in schools, funded by university outreach programmes.

More research is needed to examine why pupils perform well in certain communities, so this can be replicated to help all children succeed.

The acronym BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) should no longer be used because differences between groups are as important as what they have in common.

Organisations should stop funding unconscious bias training, with government and experts developing resources to help advance workplace equality.

The vagueness of these statements is confusing enough if it wasn’t for their contradictory nature. For example, it seems paradoxical to want to rid society of the term BAME if your report’s findings deny the specific nature of the racism and prejudice that each group faces. In addition to this confusing superficiality lies their advocation for the removal of things like Unconscious Bias Training.

To suggest things like unconscious bias training are a waste of time is to ignore the value of a process that helps create conducive work environments. While it’s plausible to critique the method in which some organisations administer their unconscious bias training, doing away with funding to the whole sector will do more damage in the long run, and worsen already toxic workplace environments. A paper published in 2019 by the University of Manchester looking at Racism at Work found that 70% of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) workers had been racially harassed at work in the last five years. With 60% saying they had been treated unfairly due to their race and with 30% reporting that they had been bullied or been asked insensitive questions due to their race. [ix]

Unconscious Bias Training is key in taking the first step to implementing anti-racist policies in the workplace. To admit the value of unconscious bias training would be to do something that this report is not capable of doing, telling the truth. The self discovery that comes with understanding our personal bias profile enables us all to do the work around addressing how bias inevitably bleeds into behaviour and thus becomes systemic.There will never be a single silver bullet for equity , broader respententaion and the end of racism , but demonising bias isn't helpful because if we can not look deeper in to why we see the world and those around us as we do, we can't hope to alter and broaden our perspective.

The fallout from this report will echo for years to come and has only served to further entrench the doubt the public has in this government to deliver on its promises of ensuring an equitable society for all. The truth of the matter is that the UK suffers from institutional racism, whether we like it or not, and it is up to us to continue the fight for our voices to be heard if we ever hope to create the racially harmonious society that this report professes we are well on track to becoming. To quote David Lammy ‘It is deeply worrying [that the UK] is still having conversations whether racism exists’[x]. This report is nothing if not an attempt to sanitise a country with a sullied racist past and present. Reports like these will not address racism if we can’t even agree it exists in the first place, this report has failed in both its findings and recommendations, the government must do better.

[i] Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities: The Report – March 2021, Page 27

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/974507/20210331_-_CRED_Report_-_FINAL_-_Web_Accessible.pdf

[ii] BBC News, Race report: 'UK not deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56585538?xtor=ES-208-[43193_NEWS_NLB_ACT_WK14_Wed_31_Mar]-20210331-[bbcnew_uk_inequalities]

[iii] The Guardian, Exclusion rates five times higher for black Caribbean pupils in parts of England

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/24/exclusion-rates-black-caribbean-pupils-england 

[iv] House of Commons Library, Unemployment by ethnic background

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06385/ 

[v] The Guardian, Black Women in the UK four times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth 

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/jan/15/black-women-in-the-uk-four-times-more-likely-to-die-in-pregnancy-or-childbirth 

[vi] The Joint Council for Welfare of Immigrants, Windrush Scandal explained

https://www.jcwi.org.uk/windrush-scandal-explained 

[vii] Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities: The Report – March 2021, Page 9

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/974507/20210331_-_CRED_Report_-_FINAL_-_Web_Accessible.pdf

[viii] BBC News, Race report: 'UK not deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities'

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-56585538?xtor=ES-208-[43193_NEWS_NLB_ACT_WK14_Wed_31_Mar]-20210331-[bbcnew_uk_inequalities]

[ix] Only Marketing Jobs, Racism in the UK Workplace: The Facts

https://www.onlymarketingjobs.com/article/racism-in-the-uk-workplace-the-facts/

[x] Black Lives Matter: We need action on racism not more reports, says David Lammy

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53049586

Jordan Labarr Inclusive Group 

Sasha Scott CEO Inclusive Group