racism essay uk

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Racial disparities in the UK: key findings of the report – and what its critics say

Analysis: the report’s conclusions and recommendations on education, health, terminology and more

The government has released the full 264-page report by a commission set up by Downing Street to investigate racial disparities in the UK . These are its main findings:

Overall view

The commission says that while racism and racial injustice still exist, “we no longer see a Britain where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities”. More than 200 pages later, the conclusion says “a degree of optimism is justified” and that “too many people in the progressive and anti-racism movements seem reluctant to acknowledge their own past achievements”.

The approach has brought criticism from some campaigners about a complacent attitude. The conclusion offers one clue to this, noting that in contrast to most Black Lives Matters protesters, the bulk of the commission are from “an older generation whose views were formed by growing up in the 1970s and 1980s”. That could be a key divide: just because there is less racism than 40 years ago, should it be viewed as no longer a pressing problem?

Institutional racism

Pre-publicity for the report suggested it would dismiss the idea of institutional racism altogether. The reality is more nuanced: it argues that overuse of the term, sometimes when there is no evidence of an inbuilt institutional bias in that context, has “diluted its credibility”. Where such claims are made, the report suggests, they should be proved – which campaigners will argue is not necessarily an easy thing to do.

The report calls for a broader use of terminology, including phrases such as systematic or structural racism.

Teaching of colonialism/slavery

One section of the report – on teaching about Britain’s colonial past – says this should include material about the Caribbean experience “which speaks to the slave period not only being about profit and suffering, but how culturally African people transformed themselves into a remodelled African/Britain”. Labour said the government “must urgently explain how they came to publish content that glorifies the slave trade”.

Halima Begum, at the equality thinktank the Runnymede Trust, said: “I’m absolutely flabbergasted to see the slave trade apparently redefined as ‘the Caribbean Experience’, as though it’s something Thomas Cook should be selling – a one-way shackled cruise to purgatory.

“The cultural deafness of this report is only going to become clearer in the coming days and weeks.”

Individual/community responsibility

On a similar theme of moving away from structural issues, the report calls for more focus on “the extent individuals and their communities could help themselves through their own agency, rather than wait for invisible external forces to assemble to do the job”. The report notes differing levels of single-parent families between varying communities, suggesting this as a factor to be examined. While it stresses that this is “not about allocating blame” or stigmatising single parents, such a focus risks accusations of a return to earlier attitudes when this did happen.

Campaign groups

In one of the more openly culture war-based elements of the report, it accuses “well-organised single-issue identity lobby groups” of reinforcing “pessimistic narratives about race” through over-emotive, non-data-based approaches to their work.

It is particularly scathing – critics would say patronising – about Black Lives Matter campaigners, noting the “idealism of those well-intentioned young people” but saying that “a narrative that claims nothing has changed for the better” will mainly end up just alienating “the decent centre ground” of all ethnicities.

As widely reported in advance, the report suggest this acronym – referring to black, Asian and minority ethnic people – be ditched, calling it a “reductionist idea [that] forces us to think the principle cause of all disparities must be majority versus minority discrimination”.

In what critics called a deliberate failure to acknowledge institutional and structural racism in the labour market, the study says the pay gap between ethnic minority and white workers has been falling and is at its lowest level in almost a decade, at 2.3%, and that over the past 50 years several ethnic groups have made exceptional progress in the UK.

It also says diversity has increased in professions such as law and medicine and that unemployment rates between ethnic groups have been declining, and it recommends scrapping unconscious bias training .

Unemployment in 2019 was 4% among white people and 7% among minority groups combined. For people aged 16 to 24 the gap was more pronounced, with rates of 10% and 19% respectively. Black African and Bangladeshi ethnic groups had the highest rates of youth unemployment, at 26% and 24%.

Other findings include that employees from the white Irish, Indian and Chinese ethnic groups on average had higher hourly earnings than the white British ethnic group, and although ethnic minorities have been making progress up the professional ladder, there remains under-representation at the very top.

Unions described it as a “deeply cynical” study that ignored black and ethnic minority workers’ concerns. Rehana Azam, of the GMB union, said: “Institutional racism exists – it’s the lived experience of millions of black and ethnic minority workers.”

In one of the most controversial sections of the report, it argues that education has been the single most emphatic success story of the British ethnic minority experience, where children from many ethnic communities largely do as well as or better than white pupils, with black Caribbean students the only group to perform less well.

The tone is in marked contrast to a Guardian investigation this week into race and UK education , which found more than 60,000 racist incidents recorded in the past five years, and notably higher exclusion rates for children from some minority communities.

The report recommends research into the varying academic performance of different ethnic groups, particularly focused on why black Caribbean pupils still tend to do worse.

Crime and policing

A significant section of the report, about 60 pages, is devoted to this, but it is notable that it is almost all about policing, with virtually no mention of courts or racial disparities in the criminal justice system.

Much of the section on policing focuses on stop and search. While broadly supportive of the tactic, it does stress the way it can often be used to target minority ethnic youths for minor drug offences, pushing them towards the courts. Among recommendations are for police forces to improve the use of stop and search, including via bodyworn cameras, and to divert low-level drug arrests away from the justice system. It also calls for all police forces in England and Wales to better represent their communities.

Another long section, this brings one of the major suggestions of the report, for the establishment of an Office for Health Disparities to look into the issue and to work along the NHS to reduce differences in areas such as healthy life expectancy, and the propensity to develop some conditions.

On Covid, the report is similarly tentative, noting that while death rates were notably higher among some minority groups, this is mainly due to external factors such as a greater likelihood to live in deprivation or to do a public-facing job. Campaign groups would argue that these are just the sorts of structural factors that feed into health inequalities.

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How racist is Britain today? What the evidence tells us

Director of the Centre for Social Investigation, Nuffield College, University of Oxford

Lecturer in Sociology, University of Oxford

Disclosure statement

Anthony Heath (with Valentina Di Stasio) received funding from the EU's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No. 649255 to the GEMM project (led by Dr Neli Demireva) to conduct the field experiments in the labour market. He also (with Lindsay Richards) received a Brexit priority grant from the ESRC, award number ES/R001081/1 to conduct the online survey.

Lindsay Richards (with Anthony Heath) received a Brexit priority grant from the ESRC, award number ES/R001081/1 to conduct the online survey.

University of Oxford provides funding as a member of The Conversation UK.

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When seeking to get a picture of the inequality and social injustice faced by black and minority ethnic groups in the UK, a good place to start is the government’s own figures ).

It’s starkly evident that major ethnic and racial inequalities persist in employment, housing and the justice system. Black and Muslim minorities have twice the unemployment rate of their white British peers and are twice as likely to live in overcrowded housing. They are also much more likely to be stopped and searched by the police. We could also add to the list the alarming ethnic differences in deaths from COVID-19.

The government’s pioneering ethnicity facts and figures website brings together in a single accessible format the hard evidence on ethnic disparities collected by government departments. It is a world-first, established in 2016 by former prime minister Theresa May, who pledged to tackle “burning injustices”.

Critics could plausibly argue that disparities of the kind demonstrated by the website do not, in themselves, prove that racism and discrimination are the driving forces behind the inequalities. But, when combined with other direct evidence, it’s hard to avoid concluding that they play a role.

There are two main sorts of direct evidence that show racism and racial injustice continue in Britain – surveys about British people’s beliefs and field experiments testing whether minorities receive equal treatment in practice.

Racist beliefs

Let’s look at racist beliefs first. Through the European Social Survey , we asked a representative sample of the British public two questions on “biological racism” – that is, the belief that there are innate differences between racial or ethnic groups. A belief that innate differences make some groups inherently superior to others is generally taken to be the core idea of racism.

We asked whether interviewees agreed that “some races or ethnic groups are born less intelligent than others” and found that 18% of the British public agreed with the statement. We also asked whether “some races or ethnic groups are born harder working than others”, to which a substantially larger percentage – 44% – said yes.

Perhaps the difference between these two percentages is due to political correctness. The claim that there are innate group differences in intelligence would widely be recognised as a racist statement, whereas innate differences in work ethic may not have the same blatant connotations. But whether we go for the lower or the higher figure, on this evidence a substantial minority of the British public subscribe to some form of racist belief.

We repeated these questions on biological racism in a more recent (2019) nationally representative online survey . The findings were very similar – 19% agreed that some groups were born less intelligent, and 38% agreed that some groups were born less hard working. We also found that people who subscribed to these racist beliefs were more likely to be opposed to immigration and to express other “nativist” views, such as that one needs to have English ancestry to be truly English.

People who express agreement with these racist statements in an interview may not necessarily act on them in practice. But the finding is in line with minorities’ own reports that they experience racial hostility and harassment in their daily lives.

Discriminatory practices

Field experiments can provide more direct evidence about what happens in practice. To investigate discrimination in the job market, researchers typically send matched written applications from fictitious minority and majority-group applicants to advertised vacancies. The applications are identical in all respects and differ only in the names of the applicants, which are selected to be typical British or minority names respectively. Field experiments like these are generally recognised as the “gold standard” for determining whether minorities are at risk of discrimination.

In 2016 and 2017 we carried out a study along these lines. We found that applicants with typically black or Muslim names were much less likely than those with standard British names to receive a positive response from employers. For every ten positive replies that the British applicant (James or Emily) received, a person with a recognisably African (Akintunde or Adeola) or Pakistani name (Tariq or Yasmin) received only six. Minorities with a west European name (Guillaume, for example) were only slightly less likely than the British to obtain a positive callback.

In 2018 The Guardian newspaper conducted a similar field experiment in the private flatshare market. Expressions of interest were sent from “Muhammad” and “David” to almost 1,000 online advertisements for rooms across the UK. The Guardian found that for every 10 positive replies that David received, Muhammad received only eight.

So, government data and field experiments provide pretty conclusive evidence that black and Muslim minorities are at risk of discrimination when looking for a job or home in the UK. They only study the outcome rather than the motivations of the employer or landlord so we can’t be sure that they are acting on racist beliefs – but in law it is the outcome that matters. Unequal treatment of applicants is illegal, whatever the motivation.

Rigorous field experiments have not, to our knowledge, been conducted in the criminal justice system but we certainly cannot rule out the possibility that racial stereotyping is behind the disparities in stop and search data recorded by the government.

Racial discrimination may be more widespread than the limited amount of testing carried out has so far proved – just as COVID-19 infections have almost certainly been a great deal more widespread than the testing indicated. We need more testing. But, even more importantly, the testing that has already been carried out indicates a pressing need for real change.

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Systemic racism within UK criminal justice system a serious concern: UN human rights experts

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Racism in the United Kingdom is “structural, institutional and systemic”, independent UN human rights experts said on Friday, warning that people of African descent in the country continue to encounter discrimination and erosion of their fundamental rights.

“We have  serious concerns about impunity and the failure to address racial disparities in the criminal justice system , deaths in police custody, ‘joint enterprise’ convictions, and the dehumanising nature”, of the so-called ‘stop and search’ policing strategy, the UN  Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent  said in a statement at the end of an official visit to the UK.

‘Will this ever end?’

The Human Rights Council -appointed experts said they had gathered evidence of the all-too-real trauma felt by people of African descent who were suffering racial discrimination and injustice:  “A woman of African descent we met during our visit lamented, ‘will this ever end?’”  they said.

#UK: ‘Will this never end?’ #Racism in the #UnitedKingdom is structural, institutional & systemic, UN experts say, warning that people of African descent in the country continue to encounter racial discrimination and erosion of their fundamental rights.  👉 https://t.co/5F3F0xzw5i https://t.co/M1ev0nrFuM UN Special Procedures UN_SPExperts January 27, 2023

A decade of economic austerity measures in the UK following the global crash of 2007-8, had exacerbated racism, racial discrimination and other intolerance which people of African descent encounter, thereby eroding their rights, the experts observed.

“From the perspective of people of African descent,  racism in the UK is structural, institutional and systemic,”  the experts said.  

The lived experience dealing with State and public institutions, the private sector and society, was that it perpetuates racial hierarchies, the experts concluded.

Racist acts, persistent and widespread

“Racialised acts targeting people of African descent  have remained steadfast , and the  experience is similar across different parts of the UK ,” the experts said. “They are victimised and have no assurance of effective redress from authorities or the justice system”.

Welcoming emerging efforts towards reparation for the legacies of the trade and trafficking in enslaved Africans, the Working Group encouraged all stakeholders including the Government, to  do more to ensure rehabilitation, restoration, and reconciliation.

“Streamlining accessible,  independent and effective complaint mechanisms  to address racism, ensuring police accountability, fair trial guarantees for all persons, and  redress to all persons affected by the  Windrush scandal , are imperative”, said Catherine Namakula, Chair of the Working Group.

“Austerity to the peril of fundamental rights, is a costly undertaking for the UK,” she said.

Legacy of Windrush

The Windrush scandal erupted more than five years ago involving those born in the Caribbean who were brought to the UK as children, being asked by the UK Home Office – despite living in the country for 50 years - to prove their status as citizens, some having never been formally naturalized, or having never applied for a passport.  

Dozens were deported or told they would be removed from the UK, despite being legal British subjects in their country of origin, and hundreds suffered hardships, threats and other deprivations of their rights, leading to the resignation of the then Home Secretary, in 2018.

The Working Group visited London, Birmingham, Manchester and Bristol in the course of their official visit.

The experts will present a report with their findings and recommendations to the UN Human Rights Council, later this year, in September.

Independent experts

The Working Group was established in 2002, following the World Conference against Racism, held in Durban, South Africa the previous year.

It is composed of five independent experts: Catherine Namakula (Uganda) current Chair-Rapporteur; Barbara Reynolds (Guyana) current Vice-Chair; Dominique Day (United States of America); and Miriam Ekiudoko (Hungary).

The Independent Experts are not UN staff and are independent from any government or organization. They serve in their individual capacity and do not receive a salary for their work.

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Department of History

Race, racism and resistance in modern britain (hi2d4).

Selection of sources from The Modern Records Centre's collections - https://warwick.ac.uk/services/library/mrc/studying/docs/rem/ Link opens in a new window

Module Convenor: Dr Simon Peplow  

Module Description

While there is currently great uncertainty surrounding issues of race and migration in the post-Brexit era, it is impossible to deny the long history of migration into Britain. For example, Zig Layton-Henry summarised that ‘Throughout its history Britain, especially England, has been a destination for immigrants and refugees’ ( The Politics of Immigration , 1992). Following an introductory overview of earlier migration movements to consider wider contexts, this 30 CATS undergraduate second-year option module examines histories of race, ethnicity, and migration in modern Britain. Beginning with the nineteenth-century migration of people fleeing poverty and the Great Famine in Ireland, it takes a roughly chronological approach by charting major events and debates, including: the 1919 racist riots; various legislative measures designed both to limit immigration and (apparently) improve domestic ‘race relations’; anti-racism and the British Black Power and Asian Youth Movements; and how ideas of ‘Britishness’ have been (re)constructed in multicultural Britain.

Throughout, this module examines a wide range of key themes - particularly focusing on the experiences of people often omitted from histories of modern Britain, how immigration has influenced Britain and what it means to be British, and why some migrants appear to be more welcome than others. Through engaging with a wide range of sources, we explore changing notions of race, levels of racism and discrimination, and acts of resistance – not just public, organised movements or ‘visible’ events, but also private and subtle acts that demonstrate opposition to racism and unequal power structures in Britain. As education is neither neutral nor apolitical, this module implements an anti-racist pedagogical approach focused on challenging dynamics of power and dominant ideologies that reinforce systems and cultures of racial inequality in the classroom and wider society.

This module does not assume prior knowledge of the topic, and encourages students to engage with both the existing secondary literature and the wide range of sources available to conduct their own examination into this important and relevant aspect of modern Britain – including oral history interviews, songs, pamphlets, letters, police reports, government records, and other materials held by the Modern Records Centre .

Student Reviews

• "I really loved and appreciated the lectures and I thought they offered just the right balance between context, content and historiography and I also thought the seminars were the best out of any module I have taken at uni so far in staying focused on the actual topic but remaining really engaging and interesting at the same time."
• "The things that have had the most impact on my learning are the brilliant reading list/the general availability of and sign-posting to resources for learning and essays, and the willingness of the seminar tutor to help you pursue your areas of interest within the module."
• "The use of engaging primary sources [both in seminars and during trips to the Modern Records Centre] has really enhanced my learning, and as a result this has been my favourite module of university so far."
• "It’s a subject I’ve never studied before and it’s really interesting."

Learning Outcomes

• Demonstrate a detailed knowledge of modern British race, ethnicity and migration history.
• Generate ideas through the analysis of a broad range of primary source material.
• Communicate ideas and findings, adapting to a range of situations, audiences and degrees of complexity.
• Analyse and evaluate the contributions made by existing multidisciplinary scholarship.
• Act with limited supervision and direction within defined guidelines, accepting responsibility for achieving deadlines.
• 1500 word essay (10%).
• 3000 word essay (40%).
• Timed Take-home Assessment (40%).
• Seminar Contribution (10%).

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My experiences of racism: five minutes with . . . Zana Khan

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The London GP talks about her personal experiences of racism, and the need to be bold in tackling racism and discrimination in the NHS

“Racism and discrimination are not things that I’ve experienced previously in the same way as I do now. I often say that the past five years have been worse than the five years before that, and the five years before that. And I think this reflects political cycles. There is no better example than the ‘hostile environment’—a systematic and psychological assault on attitudes towards people of colour.

“The covid-19 pandemic has laid bare so many problems, including race and racism. I attended an academic meeting on racial discrimination. During that hour, an academic presented the eye watering differences in mortality between ethnic groups, an Asian doctor described being denied personal protective equipment (PPE) when it was available, and I heard the most heartfelt story of a daughter being told her father had to be cremated rather than buried because he had covid-19—this information was incorrect and also in contradiction to Muslim burial practices. Around the same time, we had shocking news articles about the fact that black and minority ethnic (BAME) staff who complained about the lack of PPE were more likely to be disciplined. All of this tells us that we must do better.

“But I am not without hope. I would never have shared these thoughts or experiences six months, a year, or two years ago. Something has changed in 2020 that gives us greater permission to discuss this openly. A doctor I met recently described the NHS as a family and as health professionals we are a family—we are trained to hear, to be open and non-judgemental. We are privileged to be part of people’s lives from birth to death, bearing witness to joy and tragedy. But now, more than ever, we need to apply all of this to each other, our practice, our services, and our teams. We must summon up inner strength and our voices to speak out, challenge what we feel is wrong, share our experiences, and feel confident that we will be supported.

“Voicing and tackling racism and racial discrimination are not just the remit of people of colour and BAME groups. Everybody must step forward to say what they think and to stand in solidarity. Without that, it becomes more difficult.”

Zana Khan is a GP specialising in the care of homeless people and inclusion health groups, based at South London and Maudsley NHS Trust. She was speaking at the Royal College of GPs virtual conference on Thursday 22 October

What is racism - and what can be done about it?

• Published 17 June 2020
• comments Comments

With protests and demonstrations taking place around the globe in recent weeks and people talking about removing old statues, it's likely you've heard the word 'racism' a lot recently.

Racism is where someone treats another person differently because their skin colour is not the same as theirs, they speak a different language or have different religious beliefs, for example.

In this guide, you're going to find out what racism is, where it comes from and what you can do if you see or suffer from racism.

More on this subject

Kids tell us about their experiences of racism in the UK

What inequalities do black people face in the UK?

Advice if you're upset by the news

What is racism?

Racism can be most simply understood as someone behaving differently to another person based on the colour of their skin or culture.

Some people are picked on because they look different or speak a different language.

Some people wear certain styles of clothing because of their religion and may get bullied because of this.

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WATCH: The 10-year-old boy tackling racism in football

Racism includes picking on people who are from a different country too.

Racism is felt by lots of different groups.

For example, Jewish people have been persecuted - this is called anti-Semitism.

Jenny went to meet Jewish children to talk to them about anti-Semitism (February 2015)

The UK is full of people who follow lots of different faiths and religions.

Most of the time they all get along and people are free to live the way they want to.

However, some groups are targeted because of their beliefs, and because of events that people blame them for - even if this is incorrect.

For example, Islamophobia is when Muslims are the victims of attacks just because of their religion.

WATCH: What is Islamophobia?

Why is it wrong to be racist?

It is a crime to be racist to someone in the United Kingdom.

According to UK law, a person is committing a 'hate crime' if they direct hostile behaviour at someone based on that person's race and they can face criminal charges.

In 2019, there were almost 80,000 hate crimes in the UK. That's 10% more than the year before.

Useful terms to know:

Ethnic minority : A group within a community which has different national or cultural traditions from the main population.

BAME: This stands for Black, Asian, and minority ethnic and is used to refer to members of non-white communities in the UK.

One of the biggest anti-racism charities in the UK is Show Racism the Red Card (SRTRC).

It says the main reason why it's wrong to be racist is because "for the person experiencing racism it can be really damaging to their wellbeing".

Racism is known to cause feelings of sadness, anger and depression .

Why are some people racist?

WATCH: De'Graft, Shanequa, Mwaksy and Rhys talk about growing up black in the UK

"Nobody is born racist", according to SRTRC.

The charity says that there are three main things that influence people to act out or say racist things:

Our experiences in life.

The people we interact with.

The society we grow up in.

For example, if someone in your family says racist things while you're growing up, you might start to think that's acceptable behaviour.

Unless something is done about that behaviour, you may keep those views throughout your life.

WATCH: Kids of Chinese heritage share their experiences of racism during the coronavirus pandemic, which started in China

You might also grow up around people - and go to school with people - who are from the same culture as you, speak the same language as you and have the same interests as you.

That sense of belonging to a group has both positive and negative outcomes.

The negative outcome is that it can set up differences between other groups and, over time, might lead to you to thinking that your group is better than others.

If you grow up in a society where you have advantages over people from other groups, this also could lead to you thinking you are better than others.

White people have advantages over non-white people in society and this is called 'white privilege'.

WATCH: What is white privilege?

Where does racism come from?

It isn't currently a rule that you have to teach black history in UK schools

Some people believe that they are better than others - just because of the colour of their skin.

But racism can come from ignorance too - some people might not even know they are being racist in how they are acting.

That's because they might have made assumptions based on another person's colour or culture. This is sometimes called 'racial discrimination'.

A lot of racism comes from history - for centuries, white Europeans were in charge of much of the world and thought they were better than people from other countries.

Over time, their white culture was seen as 'normal' and anything else seen as different.

This engraving shows slaves being loaded onto a ship

Black history expert, Professor Kehinde Andrews, says racism is built into British society and is "the product of centuries of history".

He said a lot of where racism comes from is to do with what children in the UK are taught in schools.

"If you look at how we understand the history of slavery , it's not really part of the UK school curriculum and that means it's not part of the discussion", he explained.

Learning about non-white history is not something that has to be taught in British schools - but some people are campaigning to change that.

"I think sometimes we focus on the individual racist attitudes rather than the bigger problem because it's harder to pin down the wider problem," Professor Andrews added.

Racism in history - slavery

History is very important when looking at racism.

For hundred of years, until the 1800s, millions of black people were taken from Africa and transported by white Europeans to become slaves.

Slave ships from Britain left ports like London, Liverpool and Bristol for West Africa, carrying goods such as cloth and guns to be traded.

These goods were traded for men, women and children who had been kidnapped then sold to slave traders or bought from African chiefs.

The orange arrows on this map show the journeys along which slaves were transported to be bought and sold. This was called the Atlantic slave trade, as it took place across the Atlantic Ocean

Millions of families were separated. They were then tightly packed onto slave ships and travelled for months to the Caribbean or to North and South America. Many people died on the journey because the conditions were so bad.

It is thought at least 24 million Africans were sold to slave traders around the world.

There were lots of attempts by enslaved people to fight back against slave owners.

In 1832, an enslaved Jamaican man called Sam Sharpe led the biggest ever slave rebellion called the "Baptist War".

20,000 enslaved people fought in the conflict and it took over a month for the British Empire's army to gain back full control.

Experts believe that this rebellion, and others like it, helped bring about the abolition of slavery across the British Empire by 1838.

Racism in history - Windrush

WATCH: Baroness Floella Benjamin tells the story of the Windrush generation

After World War Two, lots of people from the Caribbean - many of whom were descendants of slavery - moved to Britain to work.

They had been encouraged by the British government to come over after the war to take jobs that could not be filled by British people.

They got on a ship called the Empire Windrush in 1948 and travelled thousands of miles over the Atlantic Ocean.

Even though they were citizens under British law, many of them experienced racism and discrimination and often found it hard to get proper homes to live in and to make friends with British people.

They were joined by lots of other people from different ethnic backgrounds who moved to Britain in search of work and new opportunities.

It wasn't always easy for the new arrivals to get jobs. Some companies said they didn't want black or other ethnic minority people to work for them.

To put that in context, it wouldn't be until 1982 that a Viv Anderson became the first non-white footballer to play for England's national team.

WATCH: What was it like being the first black footballer to play football for England?

Racism in history - Stephen Lawrence

The murder of teenager Stephen Lawrence (pictured) in 1993 was very controversial and called into question the relationship between police and people from ethnic minority backgrounds in the UK

In 1993, a black teenager called Stephen Lawrence was killed by a group of white men in an unprovoked racist attack in London.

There was a huge investigation into his death which resulted in a really important document being published called the "Macpherson Report".

The report concluded that the police treated Stephen's case differently because he was black - and that some officers acted in a racist way, which led to the murder trial against the suspects collapsing.

This incident was just one example of the difficult relationship between police and non-white people in the recent history of the UK.

What is institutional racism?

This is where racial discrimination is established as a normal behaviour within organisations that make up a society.

Put more simply, it's the suggestion that people from black or other minority backgrounds have to work harder in society in order to get the same results as white people.

A report looking at the death of Stephen Lawrence suggested the case had been handled in an institutionally racist way by the police because the investigation had not been handled with the same care that a case involving a white person would have been.

Racism in history - protests

Protests against racism have often brought change - in the late 18th Century a movement called the abolitionists campaigned for an end to slavery, though it took many years for that to happen.

In the United States in the 1960s, the civil rights movement successfully campaigned for laws to be changed to bring about more equality - black people were still treated as second class citizens with fewer rights than white people.

WATCH: Civil rights leader Martin Luther King helped bring about the end of segregation in America. Find out about him here.

This was the case in the UK as well.

In 1963, the West Indian population of Bristol led a four-month boycott of buses in the city after the Bristol Omnibus Company refused to employ any Black or Asian workers.

At that point in time, there was nothing in law to prevent racial discrimination when hiring people for jobs.

Two years later, this was made illegal through the establishment of the Race Relations Act in the UK.

Find out more about the history of protests in America here:

Key moments of black history in the United States

However, racism is still widespread and in recent years there have been many more protests as people continue to fight for an end to racism.

In the US, an organisation called Black Lives Matter (BLM) was formed with the goal of ending violence against black people.

It was set up following a number of deaths of black people at the hands of police.

In 2020, protests were held by BLM all over the world following the death of an unarmed black man called George Floyd after he was stopped by police in the US.

Find out more about the case of George Floyd here:

George Floyd: Why are there huge protests in the US and around the world?

UK kids on how George Floyd's death has affected them

'Let's stop thinking that our voice don't matter'

What should you do if you've experienced racism?

WATCH: Advice to help you if you're upset about racism

If you've experienced racism, you shouldn't keep it to yourself. There are lots of websites where you can find help and advice.

On its website, Show Racism the Red Card says: "If you think someone is being unfair to you or is bullying you because of your race or colour, you should tell somebody as soon as possible."

This could be your parents, a teacher or another adult that you trust.

Remember, being racist is against the law and your teacher or parents may choose to get the police involved.

The children's charity, Childline, says it's really important you stay safe : "If someone is being racist towards you, walk away to keep safe and don't retaliate or respond."

Adding to this advice, SRTRC, say: "Even though you might want to, you shouldn't rise to the problem. Answering back or getting into fights will only make things worse. Instead, try to get help and talk to someone about it ."

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Hover and click on coloured underlined text to it's relevant comment in a popup. Clicking on the icon to see more about the colour coded "Functions and Qualities" of writing. You can show and hide each comment's type by clicking on their colour codes in the sidebar under "Comments Key", this can help make the Extract easier to read.

Essay: Critically analyse the concept of institutional racism in policing and evaluate policy responses to it.

This essay is well structured, with effective signposting, which is helpful to the reader. The argument is outlined and supported by evidence, demonstrating a good level of analysis.

Function: Describe

This is an opening statement presenting an idea which has already been established. It sets the essay in context before moving onto specific details.

Function: Analyse

This is an example of effective referencing, whereby evidence from two other authors is used to back up points.

This is an example of critical analysis whereby the significance of the two reports is outlined.

Quality: Structure

This sentence helps specify more clearly what the essay will cover and relates it to the essay title.

The writer sets out the problem and lists the items to be covered in the essay. This helpfully shows the reader the essay’s structure. The conclusion is mentioned briefly here as it contextualises the whole line of argument.

The paragraph opens with a general sentence about the crisis in modern policing and then moves on to discuss an example. Opening with the general statement sets the example nicely in context. This signposting helps the reader, and introduces the area of the crisis in modern policing as a starting point to be expanded on throughout the essay

Quality: Authority

It is always important to support an argument with information and evidence as has been done here. The argument of widespread racism existing in the Police is supported by this reference, which could be followed up by the reader.

A new term, ’overpolicing’, is presented here. A more interesting way of introducing a definition is to describe a situation or practice first (the previous sentence) and then introduce the term, rather than the other way around.

This sentence offers over-policing as a reason for heightened racial tension.

Quality: Voice (or Style)

The use of the word ‘however’ implies a relationship of difference between the previous sentence and this one: it may be more appropriate to use the word ‘finally’ to bring together the considerations previously outlined.

These final three sentences are well structured: a general point is made, supported by a relevant quotation and then further backed up by a relevant example.

This essay is well structured, with effective signposting, which is helpful to the reader. The argument is outlined and supported by evidence, demonstrating a good level of analysis. View linked text

This is an opening statement presenting an idea which has already been established. It sets the essay in context before moving onto specific details. View linked text

The writer sets out the problem and lists the items to be covered in the essay. This helpfully shows the reader the essay"s structure. The conclusion is mentioned briefly here as it contextualises the whole line of argument. View linked text

A new term, "overpolicing", is presented here. A more interesting way of introducing a definition is to describe a situation or practice first (the previous sentence) and then introduce the term, rather than the other way around. View linked text

This is an example of effective referencing, whereby evidence from two other authors is used to back up points. View linked text

This is an example of critical analysis whereby the significance of the two reports is outlined. View linked text

This sentence offers over-policing as a reason for heightened racial tension. View linked text

This sentence helps specify more clearly what the essay will cover and relates it to the essay title. View linked text

The paragraph opens with a general sentence about the crisis in modern policing and then moves on to discuss an example. Opening with the general statement sets the example nicely in context. This signposting helps the reader, and introduces the area of the crisis in modern policing as a starting point to be expanded on throughout the essay View linked text

These final three sentences are well structured: a general point is made, supported by a relevant quotation and then further backed up by a relevant example. View linked text

It is always important to support an argument with information and evidence as has been done here. The argument of widespread racism existing in the Police is supported by this reference, which could be followed up by the reader. View linked text

Quality: Voice

The use of the word "however" implies a relationship of difference between the previous sentence and this one: it may be more appropriate to use the word "finally" to bring together the considerations previously outlined. View linked text

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How Racism Affects Health and Wellbeing

Black people still face significant disparities in housing, education, work, and healthcare. Learn more about the disparities on our Black History Month page.

These inequalities can have a real impact on people’s quality of life and their health.

How Racism Affects Health and Wellness

Over the years, many studies have demonstrated that experiencing racism is connected to poor mental and physical health.

Mental Health

A 2015 research study shows that racism is twice as likely to affect mental health than physical health.

Unfair treatment and microaggressions at work, over-disciplining in schools, prejudice and discrimination in day-to-day life can cause the following mental health issues:

• emotional distress
• post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)
• suicidal thoughts

Even the fear of racism can be harmful as a 2018 paper suggests.

Mental health problems decrease positive mental health characteristics like resilience, hope, and motivation, making it hard for people to be mentally well.

Physical Health

Racism is a stressor that can impact physical health since mental health problems such as anxiety, PTSD, and stress can have effects on our physical bodies.

Racism increases stress levels which elevates blood pressure , causing high blood pressure and a weakened immune system. A 2019 study found that racism can increase inflammation in people’s bodies which can lead to chronic conditions such as heart disease and kidney disease.

Another study found that experiencing discrimination is linked to higher rates of smoking, alcohol use, drug use, and unhealthy eating habits.

During Covid-19, we saw the effects of the resulting poor physical health within the Black and Asian communities, which had the highest death rates.

Young People Facing Racism

Racist incidents affect confidence and self-esteem, increases stress and anxiety, and reduces concentration and focus levels. With more than half of young black and minority ethnics experiencing racism at their workplaces, and almost all Black British students experiencing racism in schools – many Black young people are at risk of falling behind performance-wise, as they deal with racism along with the usual issues, worries  and hard work of school and early career jobs.

This means we have a generation of young people who have an additional barrier to cross when it comes to succeeding in life because of racism and its effects on mental and physical well-being.

Eradicating racism from society is paramount to give every child and young person a level-playing field so that they only have to worry about things that are normal at their stage in life, like doing well in an exam or preparing for your first day at your job – not facing racism .

Normalisation of Racism for People Affected

People experiencing racism don’t need research studies to tell them that the stress, fear, and low self-esteem they suffer are because of racist incidents, microaggressions, and prejudice set against them.

But many are unaware of the scale of racism’s effect on their wellbeing. Racism is so normalised for people who experience it, that the effects of the trauma from abuse and discrimination are not completely acknowledged or even understood.

Instead, people affected by racism may blame themselves for not performing well at school, at work, or not having the ability to be fully present in their personal lives.

Action Not Words

We can list numerous ways people experiencing racism can make their lives easier, taking care of their mental wellbeing and fostering a safe environment around themselves – but the theme of Black History Month this year is ‘Time for Change: Action Not Word’.

It is time to help Black people by aiming where the target should be – eradicating racism. It is time to take action, stand against hate and intolerance, and create an anti-racist society.

Education is key to make an anti-racist society a reality, but the responsibility falls on us as individuals to educate ourselves – not on Black people to spend mental and emotional labour educating us.

Here is a great page to start where you can find books, podcasts, websites, social media pages, and talks on Black history, racism, and racial equality.  

Learn more on our Black History Month page about taking proactive steps to educate yourself and help create an anti-racist society:

Support Stop Hate UK's Work to Combat Racism

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• Crime, justice and law
• Prisons and probation

Criminal Justice Board for Wales

Criminal Justice Board for Wales annual reports and action plans.

The Criminal Justice Board for Wales brings together criminal justice organisations and partners, including Public Health Wales,  Welsh Government, Voluntary Sector bodies and the Victims Commissioner, to tackle the cross-cutting challenges.

The Criminal Justice Board for Wales Annual Reports provides insight into the Boards’ Work plan and what has been done to achieve their ambitions.

One of the Boards ambition is to oversee delivery of the ‘Criminal Justice Anti Racism Action Plan for Wales’ – the plan and subsequent annual reports which document achievements in this space, are included below.

Annual reports

• 30 April 2024
• Corporate report
• 27 April 2023
• 1 September 2022

Wales: Criminal Justice Anti Racism Action Plan

• 21 December 2022

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