Inequality in Britain report: Doreen Lawrence says government's race review gives 'racists the green light'

Sky News ^ | April 2 | By Manpreet Kaur Sachdeva, news reporter

[RandFan]

The mother of murdered teenager Stephen Lawrence says the authors of a government-ordered race review are "not in touch with reality" and "it has pushed [the fight against] racism back 20 years or more".

The report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities - which was set up by Prime Minister Boris Johnson following last summer's Black Lives Matter - found the UK is no longer a country "where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities".

It added that geography, family influence, socio-economic background, culture and religion all affect life chances more than racism.

But Baroness Doreen Lawrence, who was made a peer in 2013 after campaigning for justice for her son who died aged 18 in 1993 following a racially motivated attack in southeast London, says the review has given "racists the green light".

Speaking at a public event organised by De Montfort University Leicester's (DMU) Stephen Lawrence Research Centre, she said: "When I first heard about the report my first thought was it has pushed [the fight against] racism back 20 years or more.

"I think if you were to speak to somebody whose employer speaks to them in a certain way, where do you go with that now? If a person is up for promotion and has been denied that, where does he go with that now?

"You know, all these things we've been working for and showing that structural racism exists - we talk about the pandemic when you look at how many of our people have died, all the nurses, the doctors, the frontline staff, of COVID, and to have this report denying that those people have suffered.

"Those people who marched for Black Lives Matter? It's denying all of that. The George Floyd stuff? It's denied all of that.

[RandFan]

You can read more about the murder of Stephen Lawrence here

[sinsofsolarempirefan]

Back in the 90s, when her son was murdered, there was still a tangible racism within the police ranks that probably was a serious problem.

However, losing a son will no doubt be a traumatising event that will skew one’s perspective and blind someone to objective reality, which is that things have moved on a lot in the past 30 years.

Sure, there are racists who exist, and there always will, but it certainly isn’t ‘institutionalised’ and white people can be victims of it too. Besides, if she stops campaigning against endemic racism, she probably will feel she has lost the sense of purpose that she has had since her son’s murder but that doesn’t give her the right to keep the embers of bitterness glowing.

[FES0844]

Teaching our young ones to become racists. So sad.

[Bon of Babble]

If a person is up for promotion and has been denied that, where does he go with that now?

More likely scenario in the UK and US:

If a person is up for promotion, is White, and has been denied that, where does he go with that now?