Runnymede- The Report

Information at  http://www.runnymedetrust.org.uk/meb/TheReport.htm

Preface
Bhikhu Parekh, chair of the Commission

The Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain was set up in January
1998 by the Runnymede Trust, an independent think-tank devoted to the cause
of promoting racial justice in Britain. The Commission's remit was to
analyse the current state of multi-ethnic Britain and propose ways of
countering racial discrimination and disadvantage and making Britain a
confident and vibrant multicultural society at ease with its rich diversity.
It was made up of 23 distinguished individuals drawn from many community
backgrounds and different walks of life, and with a long record of active
academic and practical engagement with race-related issues in Britain and
elsewhere. They brought to their task different views and sensibilities and,
after a good deal of discussion, reached a consensus. The report is the
product of their two years of deliberation.

Given the fluidity of social life and the constant emergence of new ideas
and insights, no report can claim to be the last word on its subject, and
this one most certainly advances no such claim. However, as a carefully
researched and thought-out document, hammered out in searching discussions
conducted in a spirit of intellectual and moral responsibility, it
represents, we hope, a major contribution to the national debate. In view of
the history of slavery and the violence inspired by racist doctrines, race
is too important and sensitive an issue to be turned into a political
football or approached in terms of narrow electoral calculations. We hope
that our report will form the basis of, or at least pave the way for, a
much-needed national consensus.

It is informed by several fundamental principles which in our view are, or
deserve to be, shared by most people in Britain.

First, all individuals have equal worth irrespective of their colour,
gender, ethnicity, religion, age or sexual orientation, and have equal
claims to the opportunities they need to realise their potential and
contribute to collective wellbeing. The principle of equal moral worth
cannot take root and flourish within a structure of deep economic or social
inequalities.

Second, citizens are both individuals and members of particular religious,
ethnic, cultural and regional communities. Britain is both a community of
citizens and a community of communities, both a liberal and a multicultural
society, and needs to reconcile their sometimes conflicting requirements.

Third, since citizens have differing needs, equal treatment requires full
account to be taken of their differences. When equality ignores relevant
differences and insists on uniformity of treatment, it leads to injustice
and inequality; when differences ignore the demands of equality, they result
in discrimination. Equality must be defined in a culturally sensitive way
and applied in a discriminating but not discriminatory manner.

Fourth, every society needs to be cohesive as well as respectful of
diversity, and must find ways of nurturing diversity while fostering a
common sense of belonging and a shared identity among its constituent
members.

Fifth, although every society needs a broadly shared body of values, of
which human rights are a small but important part, there is a risk of
defining these so narrowly that their further development is ruled out or
legitimate ways of life are suppressed. While such essential procedural
values as tolerance, mutual respect, dialogue and peaceful resolution of
differences are paramount, as are such basic ethical norms as respect for
human dignity, equal worth of all, equal opportunity for self-development
and equal life chances, society must also respect deep moral differences and
find ways of resolving inescapable conflicts. Human rights principles
provide a sound framework for handling differences, and a body of values
around which society can unite.

Finally, racism, understood either as division of humankind into fixed,
closed and unalterable groups or as systematic domination of some groups by
others, is an empirically false, logically incoherent and morally
unacceptable doctrine. Racism is a subtle and complex phenomenon. It may be
based on colour and physical features or on culture, nationality and way of
life; it may affirm equality of human worth but implicitly deny this by
insisting on the superiority of a particular culture; it may admit equality
up to a point but impose a glass ceiling higher up. Whatever its subtle
disguises and forms, it is deeply divisive, intolerant of differences, a
source of much human suffering, and inimical to the common sense of
belonging lying at the basis of every stable civilisation. It can have no
place in a decent society.

We approach the current state of multi-ethnic Britain against the background
of these and related principles. We believe that it is both possible and
vitally necessary to create a society in which all citizens and communities
feel valued, enjoy equal opportunities to develop their respective talents,
lead fulfilling lives, accept their fair share of collective responsibility,
and help create a collective life in which the spirit of civic goodwill,
shared identity and common sense of belonging goes hand in hand with love of
diversity. Having sketched our vision of a relaxed and self-confident
multicultural Britain with which all people can identify, we analyse the
obstacles standing in its way and propose policies most likely to overcome
them. The obstacles include racial discrimination, racial disadvantage, a
racially oriented moral and political culture, an inadequate philosophy of
government, a lack of carefully thought-out and properly integrated
administrative structures at various levels of government, and a lack of
political will. The policies we propose address each of these. They require
not only appropriate legislative, administrative and other measures, but
also a radical shift in the manner in which British identity and the
relations between different groups of citizens are generally defined.

The very language used to describe and define race relations in Britain is a
source of considerable conceptual and political muddle. Such terms as
'minority' and 'majority' signify fixed blocs and obscure the fluidity and
heterogeneity of real life. The term 'ethnic group' traps the group
concerned into its ethnicity, and suppresses both its multiple identity and
its freedom of self-determination. The term 'integration' is even more
misleading, as it implies a one-way process in which 'minorities' are to be
absorbed into the non-existent homogeneous cultural structure of the
'majority'. We are fully aware of these and other limitations of the
dominant language of debate. Inventing a wholly new vocabulary does not
help, for such a language would be too abstract, artificial and unrelated to
the idioms of everyday life to be intelligible, let alone provide a vehicle
of meaningful dialogue. We have therefore thought it best to avoid parts of
the current vocabulary when we could conveniently do so, and to redefine or
use words with suitable qualifications and warnings when we could not.

A word about our mode of working is in order. We visited many regions,
consulted a wide range of organisations, conducted interviews, organised
focus group discussions and received several hundred written submissions. We
also held several day-long seminars where well-known activists and experts
in the field debated relevant issues in great detail; some of the
participants later commented at length on the written reports of these
seminars. The seminars were particularly helpful in relation to Part One of
the report, which deals with issues of considerable theoretical and
practical significance. For Part Two we commissioned papers from experts in
the relevant areas, invited comments on them from other experts, and
discussed these in full Commission meetings. Broadly the same procedure was
followed also for Part Three.

We were frequently struck by the absence or inadequacy of research data in
significant areas of public policy. We hope very much therefore that the
Economic and Social Research Council will earmark funding for policy-related
research on race and diversity issues, and similarly that other funding
bodies will give high priority to research on the topics and concerns
covered in this report.

For my part it has been a great privilege to chair this Commission of such
distinguished and talented people over a period of two years. It was a
delight to see them debate complex issues. I was also deeply moved by their
enormous generosity and patience. In meeting after meeting they dissected
drafts of the chapters, revising and even rethinking them in the light of
their colleagues' searching comments. They gave most magnanimously of their
time and energy without any hope of reward, and sometimes wrote and rewrote
whole chapters out of loyalty to their colleagues and commitment to the
cause of a better Britain. Working with such wonderful colleagues has been
both a humbling and an uplifting experience. The report is entirely their
creation, and I only hope that the understandable but regrettable tendency
to identify a report with a commission's chair will be studiously resisted.

The Commission owes a deep debt of gratitude to a large number of
individuals and organisations. They are all named in the acknowledgements in
Appendices A and B. The report would not have been possible without the
continuing support of the Runnymede Trust and the generosity of the Joseph
Rowntree Charitable Trust, the Nuffield Foundation and the Paul Hamlyn
Foundation, our three funders. I should like to express my own and the
Commission's profound indebtedness to Robin Richardson for his marvellous
skill in turning discussions and thoughts into a cogent text. I also thank
Sir John Burgh, and the Commission's staff for their support over the last
two years.

The report was inspired by and intended to rethink the seminal report Colour
and Citizenship by Jim Rose and his colleagues, published in 1969. As a
founder and trustee of the Runnymede Trust, Jim took a keen interest in our
work and was most anxious to see its publication. Sadly he died last year.
We salute his memory with pride, remember with sadness those who died
victims of or in the course of struggle against racial injustice, and
express our deepest gratitude to those countless white, black and Asian
people in Britain who are continuing the struggle in small and large ways.
Every generation owes its successors a duty to bequeath them a better
country than it inherited. This report offers one way of discharging that
great historical obligation.

Bhikhu Parekh

July 2000

Overview
England, Scotland and Wales are at a turning point in their history. They
could become narrow and inward-looking, with rifts between themselves and
among their regions and communities, or they could develop as a community of
citizens and communities. Britain as a whole could be such a community, and
also each region, city, town and neighbourhood within it. Building and
sustaining a community of citizens and communities will involve:

v rethinking the national story and national identity

v understanding that all identities are in a process of transition

v developing a balance between cohesion, difference and equality

v addressing and eliminating all forms of racism

v reducing material inequalities

v building a human rights culture

Part One of the report discusses each of these six themes in turn. Part Two
considers the six themes in various areas of social policy. It starts with a
discussion of police and policing. This is where, for many citizens and
communities, the abstract concepts of equality, rights, difference and
belonging are most clearly and concretely seen - or not seen. But the police
service is only one part of the wider criminal justice system. The report
looks next, therefore, at this wider structure. It continues by considering
the education systems of England, Scotland and Wales, then cultural policy,
health and welfare, and employment.

How a state sees and controls the borders between itself and others is of
paramount importance. Therefore the report looks also at immigration and
asylum policy. This is currently a topic of great political sensitivity, and
the report therefore considers the responsibilities of politicians in
leading public opinion. In addition, the discussion of politics embraces
issues of representation on elected and unelected bodies. Part Two closes
with a consideration of religious motivations and affiliations, and of
relations between religious bodies and the state in a multi-faith society.

Part Three is concerned with strategies for change at national, regional,
local and institutional levels. It begins with a discussion of the role of
government in providing direction and resources, driving through change, and
leading by example. The report then argues that legislation on equality
needs reforming and strengthening, and discusses how this might be achieved.
Finally, there is consideration of what every organisation or institution
needs to do if Britain is to develop as community of citizens and
communities.

Terminology
Britain

The term 'Britain' is used in this report to refer to Great Britain, i.e. to
England, Scotland and Wales. General statements which are true of one part
of Britain are not necessarily true of other parts, for there are three
education systems and two justice systems, and additional constitutional
differences of major importance have been introduced by the Scotland Act and
the Government of Wales Act. Recommendations in the report are directed as
appropriate to the administrations in Cardiff, Holyrood and Westminster.

Minority/majority

The term 'minority' has connotations of 'less important' or 'marginal'. In
many settings it is not only insulting but also mathematically misleading or
inaccurate. Further, its use perpetuates the myth of white homogeneity - the
notion that everyone who does not belong to a minority is by that token a
member of a majority in which there are no significant differences or
tensions. The terms 'minority' and 'majority' are not used in this report
except in quotations from others.

'Ethnic'

There is a gulf between specialist and non-specialist usage of the term
'ethnic'. For specialists it is an adjective derived from the noun
'ethnicity', similar conceptually to words such as 'religious', 'national'
or 'linguistic'. In popular usage, however, it implies not-Western (as in
'ethnic food'), not-classical ('ethnic music'), not-white ('ethnic
communities') or not-British (as in the late 1990s dispute about insignia on
British Airways aircraft). To avoid misunderstanding, the term ethnic is
seldom used in this report; it is never used as a synonym for not-white or
not-Western.

'Race'

The term 'race' is of essential importance, since it alludes to racism. It
is unhelpful, however, to the extent that it reflects and perpetuates the
belief that the human species consists of separate races. A further
disadvantage is that overuse can deflect attention from cultural and
religious aspects of racism as distinct from those which are concerned with
physical appearance. It needs often, therefore, to be complemented with
other terms.

This report uses the phrase 'race equality and cultural diversity',
sometimes shortened to 'race and diversity', to refer to its overall area of
concern. The phrase stresses that addressing racism requires not only the
creation of equality but also the recognition of difference.

The words 'race' and 'racial' are not used in the report in ways that might
imply the view that the human species consists of separate races.

The term 'racist violence' is used, not 'racial violence'.

Asian, black and Irish

The report often uses the term 'black, Asian and Irish', or else 'black and
Asian' or 'Asian and black', as appropriate. The word 'black' in this
formulation refers to people with recent origins in Africa or the Caribbean.
The word 'Asian' refers to all Asian countries and regions, not to
Bangladesh, India and Pakistan only.

The report uses the term African-Caribbean in preference to Afro-Caribbean
or Black Caribbean, and the term South Asian in preference to Asian if the
reference is to Bangladesh, India and Pakistan.

The Turning Point
The future of multi-ethnic Britain, as also the future of multi-ethnic
Europe, depends on many factors outside the specific struggle against
racism: economic factors, the policies taken as a whole of different
political parties, the adverse effect of harsh asylum policies, the
prospects for real religious toleration, and much more. But despite the
great difficulties to be faced, there is room for optimism at the beginning
of the new century.

From a presentation to the Commission, autumn 1999

The futures facing Britain may be summarised as static or dynamic;
intolerant or cosmopolitan; fearful or generous; insular or
internationalist; authoritarian or democratic; introspective or
outward-looking; punitive or inclusive; myopic or far-sighted. It is the
second term in each of these pairings which evokes the kind of Britain
proposed in this report.

Many customary images of Britain are England-centred - and, indeed, southern
England-centred - and leave many millions of people out of the picture.
Increasingly in Scotland and Wales people have a sense of multiple identity.
Also, Englishness is in the process of being redefined.

People in Britain have many differences, but they inhabit the same space and
share the same future. All have a role in the collective project of
fashioning Britain as an outward-looking, generous, inclusive society.


Rethinking the National Story
The future of Britain lies in the hands of . descendants of slave owners and
slaves, of indentured labourers, of feudal landlords and serfs, of
industrialists and factory workers, of lairds and crofters, of refugees and
asylum-seekers.

From a response to the Commission

A state is not only a territorial and political entity, but also an
'imagined community'. What is Britain's understanding of itself? How are the
 histories of England, Scotland and Wales understood by their people? What
do the separate countries stand for, and what does Britain stand for? Of
what may citizens be justly proud?

How has the imagined nation stood the test of time? What should be
preserved, what jettisoned, what revised or reworked? How can everyone have
a recognised place within the larger picture?

These are questions about Britain as an imagined community, and about how a
genuinely multicultural Britain urgently needs to reimagine itself. Among
other things, such re-imagining must take account of the inescapable changes
of the last 30 years - not only postwar migration but also devolution,
globalisation, the end of empire, Britain's long-term decline as a world
power, moral and cultural pluralism, and closer integration with Europe.


Identities in Transition
The young participants, school and college pupils, stated that they were
proud to be Scottish. 'I want to be Scots not English. I want to be Scottish
and British, but not if people assume that being British means being
English. Too often people talk about England when they mean Britain and they
forget Scotland.' But they also asked a number of pointed questions. Why
should it be a problem to be Scottish, born in England, of French
nationality and part Indian? Or to be from the north-east of England,
although born in Scotland .How late it is, how late to be asking these
questions.

From an article about the Commission, December 1998

All communities are changing and all are complex, with internal diversity
and disagreements, linked to differences of gender, generation, religion and
language, and to different stances in relation to wider society. Also, there
are many overlaps, borrowings and two-way influences - no community is or
can be insulated from all others.

Increasingly people have the capacity to manoeuvre between distinct areas of
life and to be 'cross-cultural navigators'. Hybrid cultural forms have
emerged, especially in music and the arts. In this context, ­does
'Britishness' have a future? Or have devolution, globalisation and the new
cultural diversity undermined it irretrievably?


Cohesion, Equality and Difference
 I still think of that scene at the end of A Passage to India, where two
characters discuss relations between English and Indian people and say 'Not
yet, not yet' with regard to full understanding. I think one could say the
same about relationships between all the communities in Great Britain and do
not think we can hope for anything more than a distant mutual toleration.

From a response to the Commission, 1998

The government has stated that it is committed 'to creating One Nation', a
country where 'every colour is a good colour . every member of every part of
society is able to fulfil their potential . racism is unacceptable and
counteracted . everyone is treated according to their needs and rights .
everyone recognises their responsibilities . racial diversity is celebrated'
.

The statement invites several searching questions. What values and loyalties
must be shared by communities and individuals in One Nation? How should
disputes and incompatible values between different communities be handled?
How is a balance to be struck between the need to treat people equally, the
need to treat people differently, and the need to maintain shared values and
social cohesion?

Most theoretical debates on such questions in Britain have been between what
may be called nationalist and liberal theories of society. However, this
chapter argues that the need now is for debates between liberal and
pluralist theories. Britain should develop both as a community of citizens
(the liberal view) and as a community of communities (the pluralist view).


Dealing with Racisms
The Rule Britannia mindset, given full-blown expression at the Last Night of
the Proms and until recently at the start of programming each day on BBC
Radio 4, is a major part of the problem of Britain. In the same way that it
continues to fight the Second World War . Britain seems incapable of shaking
off its imperialist identity. The Brits do appear to believe that 'Britons
never, never, never shall be slaves' . [But] it is impossible to colonise
three-fifths of the world with unspeakable barbarism, occasioning several
holocausts in the process, without enslaving oneself. Our problem has been
that Britain has never understood itself and has steadfastly refused to see
and understand itself through the prism of our experience of it, here and in
its coloniser mode.

From a presentation to the Commission

In other European Union countries it is customary to use the phrase 'racism,
xenophobia and antisemitism' as a way of summarising the issues to be
addressed.

The term is cumbersome and is unlikely to become widespread in Britain. It
is, however, helpful, for it stresses that hostility which uses skin colour
and physical appearance as markers of supposed difference does not represent
the whole picture. There is also hostility using markers connected with
culture, language and religion. The plural term 'racisms' is sometimes used
to highlight such complexity.

A distinction needs also to be drawn between overt racism and institutional
racism. This chapter discusses the history and development of racism and
reviews and expands on the definition of institutional racism in the Stephen
Lawrence Inquiry report. Tabulation of the interacting components of
institutional racism is provided.


Reducing Inequalities
Rather than concentrate on minorities based on ethnicity or religion, should
we not urge Government increasingly to counter the emergence of an
underclass, whose deepening exclusion - known to every youth magistrate - is
a matter of shame to the whole nation? Of course this underclass has black,
Asian (mainly Muslim) and white minorities within it - but it is the pains,
injustices and problems of the underclass as a whole which require
fundamental action. It is here that the questions of racism, equalities etc.
take on their sharpest edge.

A correspondent in Birmingham

Three main approaches to combating social exclusion must be combined: (a)
improving physical infrastructure; (b) using welfare-based measures; and (c)
pursuing labour market strategies to improve underlying economic potential
and performance. A single-pronged attack will not work.

Within this framework key tasks include securing long-term financial and
political support for projects in specific local areas; achieving and
sustaining inter-agency working; empowering local communities; maintaining
local commitment and avoiding activist burn-out; redirecting main programmes
and resources; providing access to credit; hitting the right balance between
area-based projects and conurbation-level measures; hitting the right
balance also between central government initiative and local responsibility;
and engaging the private sector.

Further, and essentially, measures should not be colour-blind or
culture-blind.


Building a Human Rights Culture
Human rights, being universal by definition, are not the privileges of
citizens but the entitlement of all individuals . It is not a shared
passport which motivates individuals to respect human rights and the
corresponding responsibilities but a shared humanity.

From a submission to the Commission

Negotiations over contested issues - for example, the content of the
national curriculum, sensitivity to cultural diversity in the health
service, the wearing of religious clothing at work, equality for women in
the home - cannot take place in an ethical vacuum. They require ground rules
that provide a minimum guarantee of protection for individuals and a
framework for handling conflicts of interest.

The argument in this chapter is that such ground rules are provided in part
by international human rights standards, for example those enshrined in the
European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and the UN Convention on the
Rights of the Child.

The Home Secretary has said of the new Human Rights Act, which brings the
ECHR into domestic law, that it is 'an ethical language we can all recognise
and sign up to, a . language which doesn't belong to any particular group or
creed but to all of us. One that is based on principles of common humanity.'

Summary of the Vision
This chapter summarises key points made in the report so far. The
fundamental need, both practical and theoretical, is to treat people both
equally and with due respect for difference; to treasure the rights and
freedoms of individuals; and to cherish belonging, cohesion and solidarity.

Neither equality nor respect for difference is a sufficient value in itself.
The two must be held together, mutually challenging and supportive.
Similarly, neither personal liberty nor social cohesion is sufficient on its
own. They too must be held together, qualifying and challenging each other,
yet also mutually informing and enriching.


Police and Policing
In a recent speech to chief constables and chairs of police authorities the
Home Secretary described the police service as ' a can-do organisation'. The
description is an accurate one. Chief constables are oriented towards doing
rather than thinking carefully about and clarifying the ideas that inform
their policies and actions. His description, however, could have the
unintended consequence of sustaining a very undesirable situation in which
the police do much but understand little about the ideas underpinning their
actions.

From a presentation to the Commission

The values of community, citizenship, social inclusion and human rights, and
the balance between cohesion and difference and between equality and
diversity, discussed in Chapters 2-7, can all be either sustained or
undermined by the way in which a country arranges and runs its criminal
justice system.

In the context of this report, the system comes under the microscope in two
particularly sensitive ways. On the one hand, it must deal with racist crime
with the utmost vigour; on the other, it must engage in its own processes
with the utmost professionalism and fairness, and with the minimum of damage
to wider relationships and public trust.

This chapter discusses the impact of the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry on the
police service, notes criticisms of many forces made by Her Majesty's
Inspectorate of Constabulary, and makes practical recommendations about the
use of discretionary powers, the need for a better complaints system and
better training, and the need to reduce deaths in custody.


The Wider Criminal Justice System
Notoriously, more young black men in the USA now go to prison than go to
college, and in some cities the percentage of young black men under criminal
justice system control has reached levels of 40 per cent. What has happened
is not that crime has disappeared from the streets of America but that a
whole generation of young black men has become inured to the experience of
imprisonment. Although UK penal policy is not (yet?) as draconian as that of
the US, and although the figures of black male imprisonment are not so
massive, some of the same trends are apparent here. There has been the same
tendency to substitute penal policy for social policy .

From a presentation to the Commission

There is a growing body of data (albeit collected almost exclusively in
England and Wales - the British Crime Survey, despite its name, does not
cover Scotland) which shows that black and Irish people are differentially
treated at all stages of the criminal justice process, and that they are
disproportionately likely to be imprisoned.

This chapter discusses the response of the criminal justice system to racist
crime, considers the role and responsibilities of the prison service and the
Crown Prosecution Service, notes that certain American approaches to penal
policy currently being adopted in Britain are likely to have harmful
effects, and discusses the likely impact, from the point of view of race
equality and cultural diversity, of a range of new government measures and
initiatives.


Education
'What's wrong with you, miss? Why are you always smiling?' the students at
my black-majority school ask me. 'I smile because I see you,' is my habitual
reply. But what I want to say is something like this:

'I smile to salute you, to salute all the learners here, who continue to
hold tight to their dignity and self-belief in the endless and ugly face of
racism, rejection and poverty. I smile to salute our teachers who work more
hours than there are, before and after school, in holidays and at weekends,
to struggle beside our students to try, through mentoring, after school
classes, residential courses, to restore the balance and open the doors in a
closed and unbalanced world.' That's what I hope they hear in my smile.

But even that ignores the poignancy of their question, their subtext that
says a smile - respect, recognition, affirmation - is so unexpected as to be
a symptom of illness, of deviance, their message that announces that there
is nothing to smile about.

From a correspondent in London

A country's education system is a gateway to employment and to participation
in political, social and cultural affairs. Also, it equips children and
young people - or fails to equip them - with the essential understandings,
skills and values which they need to play a substantial role in the building
and maintenance of Britain as a community of citizens and a community of
communities.

England, Scotland and Wales have different educational systems and
curricula, but in each there are individuals and institutions engaged in
fine work in relation to race equality and cultural diversity. Also,
however, there is a lack of commitment and leadership on these issues from
the respective government authorities.

Monitoring by ethnicity is inadequate or non-existent; there are substantial
inequalities affecting in particular pupils and students from
African-Caribbean, Bangladeshi and Pakistani communities; there is
insufficient official guidance on the content of the curriculum; teacher
training - both initial and in-service - needs to be improved; and the
inspection systems are insufficiently rigorous and authoritative.


Arts, Media and Sport
Acts of racism, racial violence, racial prejudice and abuse do not exist in
a vacuum. They are not isolated incidents or individual acts, removed from
the cultural fabric of our lives. Notions of cultural value, belonging and
worth are defined and fixed by the decisions we make about what is or is not
our culture, and how we are represented (or not) by cultural institutions.

From a presentation to the Commission

The cultural fabric of a society expresses ideas of who 'we' are. To the
extent that it is inclusive it gives all people a sense of belonging, and
makes a strong stand against racism. Cultural fabric has many strands, but
of particular importance are the performing, visual and literary arts, the
print and electronic media, and a wide range of representative and
recreational sport.

This chapter discusses issues of programming, staffing, bias and
representation in the arts and media, and in sport at all levels. It cites
specific examples of good practice, including an exhibit at the Royal
Maritime Museum at Greenwich, the play The Colour of Justice, a book of oral
history, a number of anti-racism projects in professional football, and the
constructive way in which one newspaper responded to a complaint about bias.

But the overall message of the chapter, in the words of a specialist who
gave evidence to the Commission, is that 'the arts and media sectors do not
see any implications for themselves in the Macpherson report', for they do
not recognise that institutional racism needs urgently to be addressed
within their own domains.


Health and Welfare
Mainstream British people seem to believe that non-English speakers and
different dress codes are inferior. In mainstream health and social services
there are little or no provisions for language interpreting. Not only
children, but also cleaners are often used for interpreting in serious
matters of health even in major hospitals ...

One hospital was rather surprised when I sent them an invoice following a
six-hour interpreting session on a serious case involving complicated
diagnosis and treatment. They said they never paid for interpreting as they
have no budget for such things. When I asked how they managed with
translations, ' we use relatives' was the reply. 'And if there are no
relatives?' I enquired. 'We use cleaners,' said the head nurse.

Letter from a Somali organisation, London

A recurring theme throughout the report is that public bodies should treat
people both equally and differently. The need for both equal and different
treatment is seen particularly clearly in services providing health and
social care.

This chapter reviews the twin roles of the NHS as (a) a provider of services
and (b) an employer. The roles are linked in a striking paradox. On the one
hand the NHS depends, and for several decades has depended, on the
contributions of Asian, black and Irish doctors, nurses, managers and
ancillary staff.

At the same time patterns of mortality and morbidity are more serious in
Asian, black and Irish communities than in the population as a whole, and
there is much insensitivity in the NHS to the distinctive experiences,
situations and requirements of these communities.


Employment
A lot of employment places recognise equal opportunities, but it's like just
a procedure thing . it's not really put forward in action.

We came here because they brought us over here to do the jobs that they didn
't want to do and now that we've made something of our life they're cursing
us for it. I can't understand that. They want us to go back because they've
finished with us . We're not going to accept that, we're going to make
ourselves better. We're going to strive to make our community better than
what it is already. And we're always going to do that.

If your name's Patel and they've got Harvey Wrinkleworth-Smith, Harvey's a
couple of steps ahead of Patel. Even if Patel has got greater
qualifications. So there it is. The old school network.

From transcripts of the focus group research

Broadly, in the context of this report, there are two large tasks to be
undertaken: (a) to reduce unemployment and underemployment for all those who
are affected; (b) to eliminate glass ceilings.

The tasks have practical implications for the government at national,
regional and local levels; for employers in the public, private and
voluntary sectors; for unions and professional associations; and for those
who provide financial and advisory support to new business enterprises.

This chapter discusses practical implications, focusing in particular on the
role of government, and stresses that there is substantial diversity among
and within different communities, and that the labour market itself has
changed substantially over the last 20 years.


Immigration and Asylum
I'm afraid that it will, alas, be necessary to make elementary points about
the benefits of immigration, given that the atmosphere is once again being
poisoned by deeply prejudicial statements about refugees and asylum seekers,
taken up first in the media and now (to their shame) by politicians. I
understand how tedious it is to have to restate arguments with which all of
us are familiar. But since there is currently a vacuum of leadership on this
issue, an authoritative statement is all the more necessary.

From a letter to the Commission, April 2000

Postwar British history is littered with legislation and regulations passed
swiftly, and by both major political parties, to counter perceived 'floods'
of immigrants and, latterly, asylum-seekers.

There are two problems with this approach. First, the sense of panic the
issue instils, and the subjectivity with which it is discussed, lead to bad
law which does not work even in its own terms, giving rise to challenges
both in UK courts and among international human rights bodies.

Second, and even more seriously from the point of view of this report, it
undermines Britain's development as a community of communities.

This chapter reviews and criticises immigration and asylum policy over the
years and makes several recommendations for short- and longer-term action.


Politics and Representation
The proportion of ethnic minority electors as compared to the total
electorate is tiny. But so is the thumb as a physical proportion of your
body. But try picking up your pen without the aid of your thumb. It is its
strategic position that gives it a disproportionate importance.

From a paper submitted to the Commission

If Britain is to flourish as a community of citizens and communities
(Chapter 4), its political leaders will lead, not pander to, public opinion
on issues relating to race and diversity. Their legitimate desires to
maximise their own electoral support and to diminish the attractions of
their opponents will never involve playing the race card, either openly or
covertly.

Further, black and Asian people will be more fully involved than at present
in the party political system at local and national levels, both as elected
representatives and as party activists, as well as fully involved in
unelected bodies. Such bodies are representative in the sense of exhibiting
a spectrum of perspective and experience.

Both elected and unelected bodies will be strenuously and explicitly
concerned with the themes discussed in this report.


Religion and Belief
There was a newspaper ... article about racism. It asked a hundred white
people about it - and most hated was Asians, Muslims ... That makes me
realise I'm walking around now and people are looking at me in a different
way.

From focus group research, autumn 1999

 There is a tendency in western democracies to believe that secular society
provides the best public space for equality and tolerance . [but] secular
society tends to push religion . to the margins of public space and into the
private sphere. Islamophobia and antisemitism merge with a more widespread
rejection of religion which runs through a significant part of 'tolerant'
society, including the educated middle class and the progressive media.

From a letter to the Commission from a Christian organisation, 1998

Article 13 of the Treaty of Amsterdam provides the European Union with a
legal basis for action against discrimination based on, among other grounds,
racial or ethnic origin and religion or belief. In Britain many public
bodies have declared formally that, in addition to their obligations under
the Race Relations Act 1976, they will not discriminate on grounds of
religion. At present, however, such discrimination is not unlawful.

This chapter considers the importance of religious identities and
organisations in modern society; the practical and theoretical problems of
introducing laws against discrimination on grounds of religion or belief;
whether the Church of England should be disestablished; whether a range of
religions and beliefs should be represented in public life; how to balance
action against discrimination with the need for beliefs of all kinds to be
challenged and interrogated; and ground rules for handling profound
differences and disagreements between and within communities.


Government Leadership
. My final appeal to the Commission would be not to produce another worthy
document or report without any real action being taken. We have already had
many worthy reports and documents which have propped up bookcases, shelves
or doors. We need to have clear aims and aspirations as a society, reflected
through . political processes, resources, actions and media and at
individual and community levels.

From a response to the Commission, 1998

Government has four principal functions: to provide political leadership; to
allocate resources; to manage its own departments in ways that are both
efficient and exemplary; and to formulate and implement legislation, with
support, regulation and enforcement as necessary.

In the course of 1999 the current government began to drop its colour- and
culture-blind approaches to social policy and to modernisation, and by the
early summer of 2000 it was able to itemise several specific and significant
developments.

It needs, however, to give a more explicit lead, to ensure greater
consistency and co-ordination between its separate departments, to accord
race equality and cultural diversity a higher profile, and to ensure that it
hears and attends to a wider range of views and perceptions.


Legislation and Enforcement
. By now I would have thought that there would be a move to a new piece of
legislation . the 1976 RRA [Race Relations Act] has many loopholes. Speaking
from experience . I have taken up a case against an employer with help from
a local REC and worked for them as a race equality officer and . seen them
fail twice.

From a submission to the Commission, 1998

The Race Relations Act of 1976 has had a positive effect - it has helped to
curb the worst kinds of discrimination in employment and the provision of
services, and has had an invaluable impact on the general climate of
opinion. The amendments made in 2000 will make it applicable to the
functions of nearly all public bodies, and introduce a positive duty on
public authorities to promote equality of opportunity.

These changes are most certainly to be welcomed. In the longer term,
however, amendments are not enough. A new Equality Act is required, together
with a new Equality Commission.

Further, there needs to be a Human Rights Commission to promote a human
rights culture, and the United Kingdom should formally declare itself to be
a multicultural state.

Organisational Change
Racism is often portrayed as though it is something like a disease which can
be cured .[Racist beliefs] are reinforced in so many ways in white people,
from the cradle . It is not a question of curing me, but of me acknowledging
my racism and taking responsibility for operating in an anti-racist way
personally and encouraging organisations and institutions in which I have an
influence to do the same.

From a response to the Commission, 1998

This chapter discusses issues that need to considered and acted on in every
separate authority or organisation, including government departments.

It follows on naturally from the previous chapter on legislation, since a
recurring emphasis there was that one aim of legislation should be to
promote and support self-generated organisational change. It is not
necessary to wait for new legislation, however, before considering change at
local or institutional levels.

The chapter discusses leadership, documentation, management and
mainstreaming, monitoring, training and the concept of 'a listening
organisation'.

                   
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