According to group leader Tony Sewell, there is racism, but no evidence of institutional, structural or formal racism. This statement is seen as an attack on the so-called ‘critical race theory’, which considers racism to be a structural issue arising from ‘white domination’.
The Government of the United Kingdom is pleased with this report. Sewell echoes the words of British-Nigerian Foreign Secretary Kemi Padenoch, who recently said that for a black man, Britain is the best Western country to live in. London Mayor Conservative candidate Shawn Bailey has made similar claims. The current cabinet is one of the most multicultural in British history.
Multi-ethnic community
Although racism is a persistent problem, the group says the island has developed a ‘multi-ethnic and multicultural community’, an example to ‘Europe and other parts of the world’. By insisting on the ‘white privilege’ of claiming that nothing has progressed in the field of racism in recent decades, there is a risk that nothing will be achieved, other than alienation from the average citizen.
The group has ten members, nine of whom are from minority groups with extensive experience in education, maintenance and policing. The presentation emphasized education, the area where multicultural success is most visible. For example, it states that children of racial backgrounds perform better in school than their white classmates.
Course pro
In his report, Sewell, an educational consultant of Jamaican descent, makes some suggestions. He wants to get rid of the acronym BAME, which stands for Black Asian and Minority. According to him, this motto does not do justice to the experiences of different ethnic groups. He also finds little benefit in ‘unconscious prejudice training’. UK government departments have already discontinued these courses.
Prior to its release, criticisms arose, including from Satnam Sangera, the author of the recently published book Empire. On Twitter, he said everyone involved in the report had previously criticized the notion of “corporate racism” and “culture of revenge”. Sangera refers to himself as Sewell, but also to the British-Asian Munira Mirza, who heads the policy department on Downing Street.
Labor leader Khair Stormer called it a disappointing statement because it denies the existence of institutional racism.
