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

A foreword to the report by chairman Tony Sewell, an education consultant and ex-charity boss, said: "We no longer see a Britain where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities."

While the "impediments and disparities do exist", it continued, they were "varied and ironically very few of them are directly to do with racism".

The report added that evidence had found that factors such as geography, family influence, socio-economic background, culture and religion had "more significant impact on life chances than the existence of racism".

"That said, we take the reality of racism seriously and we do not deny that it is a real force in the UK."

The report also said there is an "increasingly strident form of anti-racism thinking that seeks to explain all minority disadvantage through the prism of white discrimination" which it said diverted attention from "the other reasons for minority success and failure".
The above is, I understand an actual extract from the report. FWIW I am not saying there is no institutional racism in the UK, I am not saying I agree with the report (I have not read it) I am, however, concerned that concluding that all minority disadvantage has it's roots in institutional racism is potentially harmful so I am trying to take a balanced view. As I said in my previous post, Sewell is a controversial figure who is not afraid to go against grain.

Another good post foxie

I thought this report was into institutional racism. It seems to me that bigger 'institutions' such as NHS or police forces have all sorts of equality and diversity programmes and are at least trying to do their best. However, in ordinary life, racism can be experienced in a variety of settings.
There's nothing wrong in saying that families and educational opportunities help its just that there's more to it than that.

It appears that Johnson is now stepping back from the report, disagreeing with parts of it.

Bit odd as it was commissioned by the government and it will have been read by the appropriate minister before its release.

growstuff we can’t put all black working class boys together.
There is lots of evidence that shows boys with an African background are achieving far higher than boys with a Caribbean background.

Who is Tony Sewell? Controversial chair of the Race and Ethnic Disparities Commission behind major review

His appointment to the role in June 2020 was criticised by the Muslim Council of Britain who argued that Dr Sewell was “keen on downplaying race disparities”.

Prior to working on the race commission, Dr Sewell was chairman of Boris Johnson’s Education Inquiry panel when the now-Prime Minister was Mayor of London.

During his time with Mr Johnson, Dr Sewell oversaw the creation of the London Schools Excellence Fund, which helps London schools achieve top grades.

But he has previously been criticised for his comments on race and the LGBT community.

Here

Surely the worry is the people who are claiming not to have been consulted. The general public aren't going to go down the list of names and work out who did what. They will just take everything the government says at face value.

well whether you call it institutional racism or not, something's not right.
here's two different recent examples.
why does that not happen to a white person in the same circumstances...i wonder.

www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/investigation-launched-after-black-barrister-mistaken-for-defendant/5105752.article

www.theguardian.com/law/2020/dec/19/court-service-apologises-after-black-barrister-assumed-to-be-defendant

MerylStreep

growstuff we can’t put all black working class boys together.
There is lots of evidence that shows boys with an African background are achieving far higher than boys with a Caribbean background.

I'm not disputing that.

Have you read the report?

Have you read the report foxie?

Another meaningless and sycophantic post Smileless.

Aveline

I thought this report was into institutional racism. It seems to me that bigger 'institutions' such as NHS or police forces have all sorts of equality and diversity programmes and are at least trying to do their best. However, in ordinary life, racism can be experienced in a variety of settings.
There's nothing wrong in saying that families and educational opportunities help its just that there's more to it than that.

Exactly! It's more about what's not in the so-called report than what's in it.

If people has actually read the report rather than cherry picking a couple of quotes, they'd know that.

This isn't a report in the accepted sense of the word. It's a list of intended changes which the writers and their string-pullers had already decided needed to be introduced based on right-wing ideology.

Growstuff, Nope. I said that in both my posts and also said I was speaking anecdotally. I am also not right wing, never voted Conservative. I don't have an "agenda" either but I did spend some number of years in the race relations industry in the 90's (and yes it is an industry) which heightened my awareness of the tensions. TBH I just want to be as open minded as I can be and I want my grandchildren and their children etc to grow up in a fair and equitable society. My own very humble view is that my small contribution is to question things rather than just accept them because they come from the left. Perhaps Sewell has a point of view worth considering, perhaps he doesn't but I find it interesting that so many people jump on a band wagon without giving it much thought at all. Just how I feel, so really of little importance in the great scheme of things.

MerylStreep

growstuff we can’t put all black working class boys together.
There is lots of evidence that shows boys with an African background are achieving far higher than boys with a Caribbean background.

That is because they are not in the Afrocarribbean culture they are are the brightest and best from many places, they know real poverty. They have risked their life many times to get to the UK, they are living their dream, however menial that is, it’s far far better than their homeland.

Katie59

MerylStreep

growstuff we can’t put all black working class boys together.
There is lots of evidence that shows boys with an African background are achieving far higher than boys with a Caribbean background.

That is because they are not in the Afrocarribbean culture they are are the brightest and best from many places, they know real poverty. They have risked their life many times to get to the UK, they are living their dream, however menial that is, it’s far far better than their homeland.

That is a massive generalisation.

I shall treat your post @ 18.56 growstuff with the contempt it deserves.

foxie I would read it. I don't disagree with some of the recommendations, but it's really what it doesn't say which is important.

For the record, I don't like identity politics, and actually agree that the bigger problem is poverty, but what the report doesn't address is why so many people from certain groups are poor and have limited opportunities. In some cases that is a result of racism.

The underlying agenda of the report is to victim blame. Sewell is on record as claiming that the problems faced particularly by Afro-Caribbeans are the result of poor parenting, drug abuse, etc. and that message comes through in the report. That is a very "Conservative" attitude to poverty.

Smileless2012

I shall treat your post @ 18.56 growstuff with the contempt it deserves.

OK! Suits me!

Katie59

MerylStreep

growstuff we can’t put all black working class boys together.
There is lots of evidence that shows boys with an African background are achieving far higher than boys with a Caribbean background.

That is because they are not in the Afrocarribbean culture they are are the brightest and best from many places, they know real poverty. They have risked their life many times to get to the UK, they are living their dream, however menial that is, it’s far far better than their homeland.

Eh? What's that about? Most black children currently in the UK were born here ... in some cases they're second or third generation.

“Eh? What's that about? Most black children currently in the UK were born here ... in some cases they're second or third generation.”

I guess 90% plus are born in the UK, the families with direct African heritage have different cultural values, very often middle class in their homeland. The family connections within the UK and overseas is quite strong

Well this article won't go down well with the woke brigade.
Professor Matt Goodwin article
Should you want to succeed in modern Britain, don’t be a poor white boy.
That is what you might conclude after reading the controversial new report on race in Britain.
It is not a fashionable thing to say in a society that has lost interest in the white working class, but it is children — and especially boys — from these communities who are most likely to suffer a range of dreadful outcomes.
As the report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities makes clear, they perform worse than every other ethnic group at GCSE, are the least likely of all to make it into higher education, and are among the most likely to experience high rates of family breakdown. The deck is stacked against them from day one.

growstuff Thank you for posting the link to the report. I'm impressed that you have read it as it is quite long, but I'm going to have a go too so I know exactly what was said.

I think several people have already commented that several of the people appointed to participate in the compilation of the report had already stated their belief that there is no systemic/institutional racism in the UK.

Using sarcastic terms like "the woke brigade" doesn't, in my opinion, add anything useful to the discussion.

There is certainly plenty of evidence to show that poor white boys have the lowest achievement levels of all young people. The reasons for that need to be identified - though many of them are already known - and then an effort made to address them. But I am fairly confident the cause won't be because they are white. I have not heard any reports of young white MPs being challenged for using the MPs' lift because they are assumed to be cleaners, or of white banking professionals being mistaken for security guards, or of senior academics being questioned as to whether they are the guest speaker. Many black people report that, despite holding senior professional positions and dressing in a similar way to their white colleagues, they have experienced being mistaken for junior employees or manual workers.

Citing the issue of poor white boys is, in my view, an attempt to draw attention away from the fact that discriminatory practices and attitudes negatively affect the futures of significant numbers of non-white people, whatever their class, financial status or qualifications. Poverty and classism are known to be part of the problem of poor academic performance and employment outcomes, along with other less researched issues. But Conservative governments have increased poverty and deprivation and have reduced funding for initiatives to improve life outcomes, such as the Sure Start centres. So all this faux concern for working class white boys seems to me to be a rather cynical way of trying shift the focus by claiming some sort of white victimhood.

Chestnut Professor Matt Goodwin is known for being right wing and not unbiassed.

So how about the government does something about poverty, whatever colour people's skin is?

It's a distraction from the real issues and distinct from racism.

Goodwin has a history of pandering to white people in "red wall" seats, where there is an agenda of division by blaming "others" for unemployment and deprivation.