The Govenment report on Race and Ethnic Disparities is being called into question on a daily (or more) basis.

"My understanding is that the report says that there has been progress in reducing institutional racism but also talks about where there needs to be improvements" so still a way to go but at least some progress is being made.

A good post foxie.

I haven't read the report but I suspect the media has selected what makes good copy rather than what is strictly accurate. Tony Sewell is interesting in that he is willing to put forward controversial views that don't always sit well with those speaking on behalf of Black communities. Anecdotally, there's evidence that demonstrates that black pupils are doing better in terms of educational achievement and it's white working class boys that are struggling. This is not news to anyone in education but I think the gap is continuing to widen. Health is interesting as genetics, diet, standard of living etc is hugely influential, separating those out from the effects of institutional racism can be tricky.. EG The increased morbity of BAME staff in the NHS (sorry but that is how they are currently described) needs more analysis than just labeling it as the result of institutional racism. One area that I feel is strongly influenced by institutional racism is the justice system. My barrister friend says she knows that when she represents a client of colour, they are less likely to get bail and more likely to receive a custodial sentence than a white client. Not good enough! My understanding is that the report says that there has been progress in reducing institutional racism but also talks about where there needs to be improvements.

My MP is Kemi Badenoch, the Equalities Minister. She's black and female and totally rejects the idea that the UK is institutionally racist. I have heard her talk about it many times and she has put down other MPs in the HoC. She's actually from a very privileged background and is extremely right wing. She rejects absolutely that other black people could do as she has, which is just typical right wing ideology. I can see her thinking in every syllable of the report.

Sorry, formatting in a rush. Everything is from the article.

Ian Dunt points to a contradiction:

Just a day earlier, the government had promoted a video, aimed at black Britons and led by black celebrities, encouraging them to take the vaccine. Why is there a greater degree of hesitancy in this community than the public at large? The video offered a hint.

^ We know change needs to happen,” it said, “ and that it’s hard to trust some institutions and authorities.” So there it was, from a video released by the government itself. A key admission. This is what happens after decades of mistreatment. Groups which are ignored, or talked over, or discriminated against, find it harder to trust institutions in future.^

And yet the Commission report and the way it was released did not help with this. Quite the opposite. It organised and then released a report which was aimed at erasing those concerns and then wallpapering over them with a pre-prepared ideological response. Then it swung the full weight of government power and press-management into hammering home that agenda.

www.politics.co.uk/comment/2021/04/01/week-in-review-the-national-gaslight/

Alegrias I don't really know where to start with a comment such as the one you've referenced.

It seems to me that the people with an "ethnic background" (whatever one of those is) aren't the ones who could do with a good modern education.

Alexa

It may be a little more difficult for health care providers to advise people whose ethnic background does not contain much in the way of modern medicine?

Obviously this does not apply to people who have received a good modern education that includes history and the humanities.

I think its comments like this that get people's backs up and then the person writing them doesn't know why they are being insulting.

People whose ethnic background doesn't contain much in the way of modern medicine? Care to tell us who that might be?

But obviously a good modern education in history and the humanities will sort that out. Not science, I note. So I draw a connecting line that says people in ethnic minorities who display vaccine hesitancy are uneducated people who have never had access to modern medicine.

I know I do get wound up but really, do people never read back to themselves what they've said?

I agree Pippa. This report should have been no surprise given some of the briefings over the last few months. It's been set up to confirm foregone conclusions.

Thanxxx lots PippaZ my thoughts entirely...

X post WW. Sorry!

eazybee

From the extracts I have read, it contains a great deal of common sense.

It would be nice if you could share the "common sense" eazybee; which "common sense" conclusions have been reached and by whom. It looks like the government decided what they wanted and have made that happen regardless of the evidence - at least that is what is coming out from those who gave evidence.

As we all know the problem with real "common sense" is that it isn't very common and the common view is sadly often non-sense.

I do think it's a bit hard telling people of minority groups that their lived experience just isn't happening. It seems to me that Johnson is closer to Trump in his views than I previously thought he was,

It may be a little more difficult for health care providers to advise people whose ethnic background does not contain much in the way of modern medicine?

Obviously this does not apply to people who have received a good modern education that includes history and the humanities.

eazybee

From the extracts I have read, it contains a great deal of common sense.

And what extracts would they be?

From the extracts I have read, it contains a great deal of common sense.

The BMJ blogger wasn't terribly enchanted with the report's conclusions

This report is a missed opportunity. It lacks the scientific credibility and authority to be used for major policy decisions. Its methodology and language, its lack of scientific expertise, and the well-known opinions of its authors make it more suitable as a political manifesto rather than an authoritative expert report. The new government approach on race, divorced from reality, fails to provide any solutions to ethnic disparities in health. Its attempts to undermine the well-established and evidence-based role of ethnicity on health outcomes will lead to a worsening of systemic inequalities putting more ethnic minority lives at risk.

blogs.bmj.com/bmj/2021/03/31/structural-racism-is-a-fundamental-cause-and-driver-of-ethnic-disparities-in-health/