BLM Spotlight
Its racism is subtle and mainly
hidden. Because of that, many
Brits, including politicians, either
downplay it or deny it, but it’s
there and just as bad as America.
Even Britain’s Prime Minister,
Boris Johnson has said he does
not see Britain as a “racist
country.”
The majority forget the vital
role the U.K. played in both the
slave trade and slavery itself.
Slavery was abolished in 1833,
and instead of slaves being
compensated, over 40,000
British slave-owning citizens
were compensated to redeem
their “financial” losses.
YouGov data observed
that 86% of 1200 BAME
Britons believe that racism
does exist in the country.
As farcically as it is that British
were paid out for giving Black
people freedom, it is purely
unacceptable that the teaching
of British Empire is still being
whitewashed by the educational
system, where students in
the U.K. are not taught British
colonialism, yet they learn
about American slavery. Unless
a student were to go out of their
way and research colonialism,
they would have no knowledge
that British people themselves,
brought slaves to America.
This being only one example of
how the U.K. is covert in their
racism through the educational
system.
There was and still is racism
in the U.K. politics, a flashback
to 1964 when former MP Peter
Griffith’s general election
campaign slogan was, “If you
want a n***** for a neighbour,
vote Labour.” Instead, covert
racism resides in the U.K. politics
today. For example, in 2002 when
the now Prime Minister, Boris
Johnson, referred to Africans
as “flag-waving piccaninnies”
and described them as having
“watermelon smiles”.
Covertly, racial prejudice is
heavily ingrained in employment
and in all three political,
education, and criminal systems.
Because of racial bias, Black-
British women are seven times
more likely to be detained than
White-British women.
Prosecution and sentencing rates
for Black-Brits are three times
higher than White-Brits, and
Black-Brits who leave school
with A-levels get paid 14.3% less
than their white counterparts.
The country’s racism is
widely overlooked because
U.S. racial hatred is massively
overshadowing U.K. racism,
yet both countries are just as
damaging.
Both countries have a wellknown
fascination with one
another, and at one point in
time were both the leading
imperial power- as they justified
imperialism with spreading
“freedom and democracy”.
The constant comparison of
their political landscape, puts it
directly in relation to the racism
in the U.S., with the intention
to minimise the racism that
continues to manifest in the
U.K.- essentially ignoring Black-
Brits cry for help.
The world is historically fighting
racism together with global
protests that have consecutively
gone on for two months. We are
a seeing change in police reform
and new policies have emerged in
the U.S., while Brits have finally
begun to confront racism head on
in the U.K..
Knocking down statues of
oppressive figures in history is
just the first step in breaking the
silence.
Who to follow:
U.S.: NAACP
NAACP.org
@NAACP
U.K.: Stop Hate UK,
www.stophateuk.org
@stophateuk
image Unsplash: David Everett Strickler
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