The Sewell Report: The Runnymede Trust, Patrick Vernon, Michael Hamilton & Lord Simon Woolley
The Commission on Race & Ethnic Disparities have launched their report and surprise surprise the Government have found that there seems to be no evidence for institutionalised racism!
Patrick joined Runnymede CEO Dr Halima Begum & Operation Black Vote CEO Lord Simon Woolley to discuss the report, you can view this here or by clicking the video below:
Runnymede Trust has issued a statement about the report:
“The report from the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, 3 months overdue and 9 months after the Commission’s inception, is a script that has been written for 10 Downing Street. The people involved in this Commission had no interest in genuinely discussing racism, but even this Government does not go as far as to say that we are post racial. The least the Commission could have done is acknowledge the very real suffering of Black and minority ethnic communities here in the UK…
…This Commission lost the confidence and the trust of ethnic minority communities when Tony Sewell was appointed to lead it – a figure who had previously asserted that institutional racism does not exist, and whose commitment to the wider equalities agenda was questionable.
Frankly, by denying the evidence of institutional racism and tinkering with issues like unconscious bias training and the use of the term ‘BAME’, the Government have insulted not only every ethnic minority in this country – the very people who continue to experience racism on a daily basis – but also the vast majority of the UK population that recognise racism is a problem and expect their government to contribute to eradicating it. All on Derek Chauvin’s trial day, no less.”