Opinion: Britain is Just As Racist as America

by Maya Davis

Race is merely arbitrary. It was created to give power and justification to the false supremacy of White people over non-White people.

Institutes of science, such as The Smithsonian and National Geographic, believe race does not exist. It is only a false classification of people that is not backed or based on any real and biological truth.

Yet, it’s one thing that has utterly ravaged people’s lives.

image credit: David Everett Strickler (Unsplash)

Racism in the U.S.

America’s racist climate is shockingly oppressive. It has a long history of racism, and today still faces almost as heavy a battle as it did decades ago. It has been over 150 years since the 13th amendment ‘abolished’ slavery. Yet, the legacy of slavery remains, and still has a devastating impact on Black people’s existence in American society today.

Racism sits at America’s core. It exists in laws, voting, education, the criminal justice system, land ownership, and citizenship. It is a never-ending cycle from slavery to Jim Crow, to systemic racism. Today Black America is deathly oppressed and is still looked at as less than by the majority - White. America is not only rooted in racism, but it thrives off of it.

It is a history that has never made history, but has remained the norm in the country of the “land of the free”. Overt racism has been at its peak in the last few years, and that is due to the perpetuated bigotry and racism of the U.S. President, Donald Trump.

56% of Americans believe that President Trump has made racial hatred worse since he came into office.

Pew Research Center has observed that 56% of Americans believe that President Trump has made racial hatred worse since he came into office. His presidency has made those who are prejudiced become the loudest voices in the room. It has given those people a new meaning of self, a platform, and has put their confidence at an all-time high. This is a country where racist organisations, such as the Klu Klux Klan (KKK) are legal, as well as the confederate flag and white nationalists marching the streets are celebrated.

It is a country where lack of investment in Black communities has seen widening gaps in wages, housing, bank loans, health, and food. It has become a country where a Black person can openly be called the dehumanising and oppressive word n*****, and the perpetrator faces no consequences, but could be met with a high-five for those actions.

Britain is Not Such a Different Story

Whilst U.S. racism is loud and blatant, Britain’s racism is the silent death and oppression of Black-Brits. The U.K.’s racism embodies quiet oppression, as it is not blatantly out there, but it is ingrained in the systems and in the institutions.

This sort of racism is overwhelmingly damaging because it is not deathly obvious, yet affects Black- Brits in catastrophic ways. The majority of White-Brit’s either do not acknowledge racism, or do not accept the racist history that Black-Brits face. However, YouGov data observed that 86% of 1200 BAME Britons believe that racism does exist in the country. Instead, it has been presented as classism - rather than what it is, covert racism.

Britain’s racism manifests in various aspects and it is addressed on different levels, the country’s response to racism, at one point, was almost denial.

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.”

YouGov data observed that 86% of 1200 BAME Britons believe that racism does exist in the 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. 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 are just as damaging. Both countries have a well known 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 BlackBrits cry for help. The world is historically fighting racism together with global protests that have consecutively gone on for two months. We are seeing a 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.