The term racism and its existence in contemporary Britain - Essay Example

Racism in Contemporary Britain Introduction Racism is one of the most contentious issues in the world that have existed for a very long time and exist in numerous forms. Many regions of the world have developed human rights architecture that act as watchdog for any attempt to violate fundamental human rights. Europe, particularly Britain, is not left behind in the fight against racism. Despite all the attempts to create a world that is characterized by equality and love for one another, racism is a menace that has simply refused to die and still exist overtly or covertly in the modern world. Even though much effort has been expended by governments and non-governmental organisations around the world, not very much has been achieved in attempts to exterminate racism in the society. This paper explores the term racism and delves further into the existence of racism in contemporary Britain with the main focus on Immigration and Asylum policy. The Definition of Racism and the Assessment of Existence Racism in the Contemporary Britain In order to successfully explain the existence of racism in contemporary Britain, it is imperative to develop clear understanding of the term “racism.” Racism has been defined differently by scholars from different fields. At the mention of the term “racism,” the idea that usually comes to the minds of people is extreme hatred between people of different races. Since pre-historic times, people have always been divided along their races. Some specific races, for example the whites have perceived blacks to be less of human beings. This has created tension between the two extreme races that would take centuries to reconcile. The color of skin, language as well as traditions have played significant role in defining the race of an individual, and hence racism. Racism can be defined in general and specific terms. Macpherson Report (1999), the term “racism” in general perspective constitutes what people say or do, which disadvantage individuals because of their colour, culture or ethnicity. Further, Hamilton and Carmichael also give a general definition of racism the subordination of a particular racial group through establishment of policies and decisions, which work to make the racial groups, usually minority, to feel inferior and thus be manipulated (Miles 2004). Institutional racism in Britain can be traced back to February 1999 when Sir William Macpherson issued his inquiry report on Stephen Lawrence’s death. The report exposed extensive incidence of institutional racism within Britain. According to Macpherson, the inconsistent police inquiries into the death of Lawrence were marred with institutional racism. It is in the best interest of every institution to device policies and also to review the results of such policies in order to ensure that they do not put any individual of the society at disadvantaged position. The discovery of institutional racism within the judiciary fixed by the government pointed out to British race relations watershed. Further, biological definition of racism focuses on the physical as well as biological differences that exist in individuals, which are used to put people into categories. Also, racism can be defined in terms of culture where people of minority culture are suppressed to an extent that they do not get the chance to express their culture. Cultural racism has mainly taken the shape of social construction, which in many cases is done to reflect the negative side of the constructed group. During early periods of 1960s, the concept of racism was coined as the problem of colour and it had been largely perceived as psychological misunderstanding or conflict between different cultures. Racism was understood to be an inherent fear for strangers. In Britain, the “strangers” were typically New Commonwealth immigrants, who were identified by their distinct colour of the skin. One would assume that in such circumstances, familiarity would erase the idea of stranger and strengthen the bond between Britons and the immigrants. However, this was not far from a mere dream. The first race protest had taken shape in Britain in 1958. By 1960s, the concept of racism was already taking a sophisticated twist. Even though it has been established that people are basically the same biologically apart from skin colour, the idea of biological racism, still exist within the British society today. Biological racism is still widespread among individuals in the modern Britain. Critics of the proposed programme to offer free health care services to foreigners residing within the United Kingdom pointed out that the move would encourage the inflow of immigrants with an aim of obtaining free health care (Hauk 2011; GREAT BRITAIN 2010). Despite the fact that the prevalence of HIV/AIDS varies from one part of the world to another, the debate was a big pointer towards biological racism (Lavalette & Penketh 2013). Giving an answer as to whether biological racism still exists in the contemporary Britain would pose a big challenge for many owing to its subtle form of existence. However, biological racism is still part and parcel of the modern Britain just like it was centuries ago. Despite the fact that many attempts have been made to destroy racism, it has not been completely eradicated in the British society. Nonetheless, biological racism has reduced significantly compared with how racism situation was many decades ago. Perhaps, the covert existence of biological racists has led to the notion that the now considered outdated form of racism is long gone, which even makes it more dangerous than it was in its overt nature. Biological racism still exists, albeit in a more subtle form. Racism in the contemporary Britain can be understood via critical assessment of definition of racism by institutions, policies and decision making in the country. The institutional perspective of racism is that the development of policies is usually done in such a way that they make certain racial groups so inferior that they can easily be manipulated. As it appears, institutional policies and procedures are usually made to intimidate particular racial groups. These policies are often made by those in the pinnacle of power rendering them far much superior to be challenge as compared to individual incidents of racism. According to Bourne (2002) the shift of focus on race from black individuals to white institutions was first articulated by A. Siva-nandan, caught in the middle of the race struggle. In his work, Siva-nandan noted that institutional racism was a huge problem in the contemporary society. By assessing immigration Acts importance from 1962 to 1971, the author clearly showed the powerful in the society took “discrimination out of the market place and gave it the sanction of the state” (Bourne 2002 p. 9). Institutionalizing racism made it not only respectable, but also clinical and thus heightening both social and political repercussions of racism (Bourne 2002). As such, institutional racism is that which is deeply and inherently embedded in government apparatus and societal structure. In Britain, racism was initially crafted into the laws that guided the country and then later transmitted to the judiciary and the executive (Bourne 2002). Many protests occurred in Britain in early 1970s, which featured African Caribbean. In the middle of the same decade, Britain also experienced frictional relationship with Asian youths, who were engaged in street protests. These acts would later be a wakeup call for the British government and led to the birth of Race Relations Act of 1976. This Act prohibited direct discrimination in all public facilities as well as supply of goods and services. The 1976 Race Relations Act was focused on creating harmonious society where individuals of different races had good relations with each other. However, this could never offload the discontent among blacks as was later witnessed in 1981 when a youth riot erupted in the inner-city in Brixton. Institutional racism can take place unconsciously through stereotyping and unsuspecting prejudice practices fueled by policies and culture, which function to disadvantage a section of the society. However the idea of institutional racism appears to be complex in the fact that organisations have no ability to make their own policies and regulations. The people who make up an organisation and control it are usually responsible for making organisational rules and policies. As such, it remains a concern whether institutions can be racists or institutional racism should be attributed to the people who run organisations (Wheeler 2005). The post Macpherson report era has seen numerous changes, aimed at fighting off racism, implemented by the government of the United Kingdom. However, eradicating racism is still far from over as is evident with most of the new laws of the country that relate to home secretary. While the government is busy fighting racism on one hand, it is implementing new laws, which perpetuate institutional racism on the other hand (Bourne 2002). For example, critically evaluating the justice system of the United Kingdom, one cannot miss to see institutional racism that shapes the manner in which the cases involving black people are handled. The magistrates accept police story without any doubt, making the blacks to opt for trial by the jury in most cases (Bourne 2002). The legislation bars black people from accessing justice like their white counterparts, which clearly indicate that the contemporary Britain is still riddled with institutional racism. Racial equality seems to be long way off and it might take centuries for people to realize some sense of equality between different races in the country (Hayes, Humphries & Cohen 2004). The Immigration and Asylum Act of 1999 saw the British government implement one of the most disastrous social policies in the United Kingdom. Despite the fact that the Act covers all the issues that pertain to immigration and asylum in the United Kingdom, it is driven very discriminatory procedures. The Immigration and Asylum Act (1999) focuses on conditions which immigrants willing to enter the United Kingdom should meet. However, the Act has not gone without criticism. According to Bourne (2002), the Immigration and Asylum Act of 1999 is one of the worst pieces of legislation that overtly discriminates asylum seekers. The practice of issuing asylum seekers with food vouchers was a leeway for stigmatisation and humiliating asylum seekers, which is one of the society’s most vulnerable groups that needs to be handled with a lot of care. The idea of issuing food vouchers to asylum seekers was tantamount to stimulating racism in the society. In order to receive help, asylum seekers were compelled to accept the idea of dispersing. Failure to agree to the dispersal proposition in the Act would mean no assistance to the asylum seekers. The asylum seekers were to be dispersed to regions of the country that have relatively poor economic performance (Biressi & Nunn 2013). Further the dispersion agenda would isolate the asylum seekers, which indicated discriminatory immigration policies that not only portrayed poor social planning, but also subjected asylum seekers to further stress. The Border Agency of the United Kingdom, whose main operation focuses on the issues associated with immigrant and asylum seekers, is a potential ground that perpetuates institutional racism, irrespective of whether such racism occur unconsciously or knowingly (MacGhee 2005). The policies that direct the agency dealing with immigration and asylum seekers are discriminatory and work to disadvantage particular ethnic groups that seek asylum in the United Kingdom. In a recent episode, the government of the United Kingdom staged an advertisement dubbed ‘go home’, which was mainly targeting illegal immigrants living in the country (MacInnes & Cheung 2013). This move would only worsen the situation for immigrants living in the United Kingdom as it is likely that the advertisement was a stimulant of racists who had been hibernating in their cocoons. The advertisement was a high display of institutional racism that indicates the existence of institutional form of racism in the contemporary Britain. According to MacInnes and Cheung (2013), recent miscounting of the number of immigrants in Britain has created negative attitudes towards immigrants. The authors argue that immigration and statistics go hand-in-hand, but in most cases, statistics if often abused to stir hatred for immigration. The coalition government policy established that immigration should be capped and the number of non-EU immigrants should be facilitated to ensure cohesion and also preserve public services. This move is very discriminatory against immigrants and asylum seekers who come from regions outside the European Union (Prince 2012). The policy is a clear show that the government is working to reduce racism on individual basis, while perpetuating institutional racism through its organs. Apart from institutional racism, there is also cultural racism, which extensively manifest in the modern Britain. The culture language dominantly prevails within the immigration and asylum agency of the British government. Cultural racism tends to emphasize the belief that minority cultures are maladaptive and dysfunctional with member of such cultures predominantly having deviant behaviours (Hayes, Humphries & Cohen 2004). Cultural racism focuses on individual failures instead of emphasizing on the inability of the society to promote coexistence between divergent cultures (MacGhee 2005). With biological racism generally disowned as a defunct way of grouping individuals in the society because no difference exists beyond the skin colour, cultural variation might as well suffice as a possible explanation of categorizing people within the social structures of the society. Basically, cultural racism manifests when an individual, presumably from a less dominant culture, is intimidated and denied the chance to express his or her own culture (Prince 2012). In Britain, cultural racism is one of the most overt forms of racism in recent times. Immigration has been linked with the problem of social construction in Britain (MacGhee 2005). Individuals who subscribe to Islamic religion face constant cultural racism in Britain. Muslims are continuously socially constructed as a homogenous societal group, which is far from reality. Within the religion of Islam, there are diverse cultures and treating all Muslims in the same way with the notion that this group is homogenous would be very misleading. Social construction of Muslims is usually done in a discriminatory manner because it is usually negative construction that aims at demeaning this minority group within the borders of Britain. In the immigration and asylum department, individuals who are of Islamic background usually face difficult and tormenting moments. With increasing rates of global terrorism, every Muslim is often linked with acts of terrorism irrespective of whether they are against terrorism or not. This majorly result from negative construction of Muslims as one homogenous group whose members possess similar traits. Asylum seekers, especially of Islamic background are usually subject to strict and often harsh scrutiny on arrival. It is a common idea that asylum seekers like any other people living in Britain have the choice of whether to engage in criminal activities or not. However, the existing government policies tend to create a negative picture of all Muslim asylum seekers in Britain, which only serves to intimidate those who successfully manage to obtain immigrant status in the country. Immigration and asylum Act works to soar rather than cement race relation in Britain, thus the need for reforms that would bring individuals of all racial backgrounds close to each other than ever before. Conclusion The concept of racism is wide and multifaceted. The concept of racism has a long history, not only in the United Kingdom, but also in other parts of the world. There exist numerous definitions of the term racism, which ranges from general to specific definitions. In Britain, race relations have achieved moderate success since pre-historic times. Unlike ancient times, people now practice acts of racism in ways that are likely to go unnoticed. The trend that racism has taken in the contemporary Britain can lead one to conclude that the government has managed to eradicate racism from the society, but this is far from the truth. There have been legislative reforms that have been implemented to fight off racism from the society. However, biological, institutional and cultural forms of racism are still prevalent in the contemporary Britain. Despite the government putting significant amount of energy in its bid to eliminate racism, it has created the same societal menace it aims to eliminate on the other hand by implementing policies which only serve to perpetuate institutional racism. Even though racism has been reduced from its overt to overt form, the complete elimination of racism in the contemporary Britain still has a long way to go. 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