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13 comments
One of the largest and most well-funded sociopolitical collectives is actively preaching that people are marginalized victims or privileged oppressors in a rhetorical interpretation of racism...based entirely on their physical characteristics.
This is, both technically and functionally, definitive racism.
What's worse, advocates of this political ideology believe they're fighting the very problem they're perpetuating.
TL;DR Just because we don’t publicly segregate black people in today’s society does not mean to say racism is no longer a matter of concern.
Although we have laws in place against discrimination because of one's race, racism still remains a big issue in our society, something we can see through a number of figures and case studies.
figures and case studies.
- The murder of George Floyd at the hands of officer Derick Chauvin is just one instance of racism. Chauvin held his knee on Floyd's neck for over nine minutes until he stopped breathing, with his force in this case deemed as excessive. At his memorial, shortly after his death Lawyer Benjamin Crump was quoted saying it was “The pandemic of racism and discrimination." that killed him. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. We are seeing many cases of black people being murdered and in other cases subsequently no receiving justice.
- This is what we have witnessed with the case of Breonna Taylor. She was killed in her own home after officers stormed in on a drug raid. The officer in question was charged with “wanton endangerment”. This was in regard to the shots fired into the neighbour’s apartment. In that, he was only charged for the shots that missed Breonna, not the ones that hit her.
- Another point is that the incarceration rate for people of ethnic backgrounds is disproportionally higher than white people. They are also more likely to receive harsher sentences.
- The Prison Reform Trust produced a number of statistics for 2021 regarding incarnation rates and race for England and Wales. Such statistics include:
If our prison population reflected the make-up of England and Wales, we would have over 9,000 fewer people in prison.
Analysis conducted for the Lammy Review found a clear direct association between ethnic groups and the odds of receiving a custodial sentence.
Black men are 26% more likely than white men to be remanded in custody. - The same can be said of the US as senior researcher and analyst Ashley Nellis outlines in some key findings:
African Americans are incarcerated in state prisons at a rate that is 5.1 times the imprisonment of whites.
In eleven states, at least 1 in 20 adult black males is in prison. - What is the reason for these statists? Finding that fail to correspond when the demographic of both countries on a whole. Quite ignorant to say they commit more crimes. What this is, is proof of institutional racism. There still exists inequality
- This is not limited to crime and the legal system but extends into our healthcare system. ‘Black women in the UK [are] four times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth.' The racial disparities in pregnant women aren’t due to any genetic variation but simply because of disproportionate treatment in our healthcare system.
- When we look at the statistics it is clear to see that racism is still a big problem in our society today. The list I have provided here is not exhaustive. But what this works to show is that racism is still a big problem in our society.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-52928304
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-54273317
http://www.prisonreformtrust.org.uk/PressPolicy/News/vw/1/ItemID/999
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/jan/15/black-women-in-the-uk-four-times-more-likely-to-die-in-pregnancy-or-childbirth
https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/color-of-justice-racial-and-ethnic-disparity-in-state-prisons/
Following on from the Euro finals I thought it would be beneficial to contribute to this opinion.
After England's defeat against Italy in the Euro Finals 2021, it was disgusting to see many take to social media, targetting and racially attacking players: Marcus Rashford, Bukayo Saka and Jadon Sancho. Despite the fact, this was the first time England had reached the finals in 55 years it was overshadowed along with the hard work and effort of the players in getting there. The hashtag #racistengland was trending in response to the trolling that was taking place online. This is just testimony to the fact that racism is still a BIG problem in our society today.
The focus was, I think, Rashford not Sterling. Sterling didn't take a penalty.
At the same time, I see more people in defence of these players than there were people abusing them
Whilst that is true, the abuse is something they never should have received in the first place. Why was it the initial reaction of many to immediately target them for the colour of their skin? Just because there was a lot of defence for these players doesn't mean to say racism is no longer an issue.
No-one's saying it isn't an issue, just not that big an issue. Remember these are still incredibly popular and well-paid guys with a lot of influence, with one of them able to change government decisions. So is it the hidden beliefs of the majority of the population or a handful of football fans with a lot of media coverage?
Racism isn't that big of an issue? I think you are very much misinformed and overlooking many of the statistics I mentioned in my argument. The racial abuse received by footballers is just one example that supports my argument that racism is still a big issue. Racism is not contained within football and I think you should read up on some of the following topics before claiming that it's 'just not that big an issue'.
-Mortality rates of Black pregnant women compared to other ethnicity groups.
-The banning of the hijab if working in a face to face environment.
-Incarceration rates of ethnic minorities compared to white people.
-Stop and search rates by race.
-Media treatment of Meghan Markle.
-Systematic racism in UK schools.
Hey, we're building Parlia as a place for truly civil debate, especially around the most contentious issues.
Rhetorical questions - 'Racism isn't that big of an issue?" and injunctions to 'educate oneself' don't help the quality of the conversation ;-)
Always make your case against the idea, never the person. Check out our 'Keeping it Civil' and 'Rules of Parlia' blogs - they're just the beginning of community guidelines, so please also make suggestions.
No, I don't think it's that big of an issue. I'll go over your points step by step
The racial abuse received by footballers is just one example that supports my argument that racism is still a big issue.
-I've already gone over this, but I'll repeat myself. The overwhelming majority of people defended the football players, versus a handful of hooligans dishing racial slurs, hardly a support for racism being a big issue. Name calling to me isn't a big issue.
Mortality rates of Black pregnant women compared to other ethnicity groups.
-I'll assume you read this from the Guardian so I'll quote: 'Almost all of those who died during or after pregnancy had multiple issues such as mental or physical health problems, were victims of domestic abuse, or were living in a deprived area. More than half of those who died were overweight or obese. Cardiac disease represents the largest single cause of indirect maternal deaths.' The actual report says 8 white mothers died per 100,000 pregnancies versus 34 black mothers. It's not great, but realistically it's 0.00034% of the population, not to mention the report itself says 'Maternal suicide is the fifth most common cause of women’s deaths during pregnancy and its immediate aftermath, and is the leading cause of death over the first year after pregnancy.' Not very nice statistics, but I don't think it indicates a white supremacy culture within the NHS.
The banning of the hijab if working in a face to face environment.
-First of all Islam is a religion, not a race, but I digress. I believe in religious freedom, so I'm against this. At the same time the ruling was in favour of businesses banning religious or political clothing to promote neutral images. To put that in perspective, how would you feel being served by a man in a KKK hood?
Incarceration rates of ethnic minorities compared to white people. Stop and search rates by race.
-I'll lump these in together seeing as they both tackle crime. First of all, the statistics I've found show BAME constitute 16% of the general population and 27% of the prison population, which to me isn't a huge difference considering the rest are white, but let's see why that is. A guilty plea will often result in a lesser sentence, up to a third of a sentence length, compared to a not-guilty plea. Looking at the people who hand over a not-guilty plea, 37% were BAME versus 27% white, meaning BAME will spend longer in prison, so no doubt there will be an accumulative effect occurring. This is assuming they're convicted which happens 79% of the time compared with 85% of white people. So BAME will actually be convicted less often than white people, is this evidence of racism against the white population? As to stop and searches, we see that the most common crime BAME people are convicted for is drug offences and possession of weapons, and that the majority of stop and searches happen within London, where the BAME population is 41%. I'll conceed the police are disproportionately stop and searching blacks, but make of that what you will.
Media treatment of Meghan Markle
-Not really indicative of racism. The majority of the public and the media were excited about the Royal wedding. Meghan Markle makes a big song and dance about how she's constantly the victim, but when you look at all the factors surrounding her; the fact her dad wasn't invited to the wedding, the high staff turnover rate, the absconding of her and Harry from the UK, there's one common denominator. Is Meghan really a victim or is there no smoke without fire?
Systematic racism in UK schools
-Not really heard of this one, honestly. Is it that black students often hear racist language? Or that they're given detention for adopting hairstyles from their cultural tradition? If the latter, that's not surprising, schools are always getting into the media about uniform regulations, how many times have you heard of boys wearing skirts in protest during the summer? As to racist language, I don't agree with it, but we're talking about teenagers here.
So is racism a problem? Absolutely. Is it a big problem? I think that's debateable. Are we to assume that everything different that happens to the BAME population will be the result of racism? Or shall we accept that there are cultural clashes that cause disparities between us? Are we going to ignore that Chinese pupils do better in standard education? Or that the majority of homeless people are white Or that Indians are the most employed? Or that the Chinese (again) are the most well paid? I'd encourage you to 'get informed' but that would be uncivil.
@MrStrawHat - this is such a great response... can I please ask you to cut the last sentence? We're super early days with the site and every comment helps set the tone for the next...
Racism is subjective and dependent on where in the world you are. White people make up maybe an 8th of the worlds population, Chinese are a 3rd, so does that make whites a minority? The USA has had some horrific race laws in the last century, but they never existed in the UK, white famers get killed in South Africa and no-one cares, Gypsies get persecuted worldwide but no-one cares. When I'm in the US, I see racism everywhere, when I'm in the UK I rarely see racism, when I'm in France I see racism, when I'm in Dubai I see racism against non Arabs
I'm choosing my side based on how people act vs what the evidence shows.
I know people who act as if everything wrong with the world today is because of racism. A footballer kicked a cat and his teammate tried to make the conversation about racism.
I have personally read the Ministry of Justice's Policing and Crime reports and seen that the statistics don't prove racism. Everything they do is proportional to the area they police. I think the UK in general isn't really racist.
Make the case or invite a friend to comment!