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A CONTROVERSIAL government-backed race report was an “ideological attempt to undermine the reasons for the Black Lives Matter movement” a statement by politicians and family justice campaigners has claimed.
Outrage was sparked earlier this month in response to the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report, which claimed that Britain no longer has a system rigged against ethnic minorities.
The statement, released today, condemns the report as “an ideological attempt to undermine the Stephen Lawrence inquiry and the reasons for the Black Lives Matter movement.”
A landmark inquiry into the murder of Lawrence, a black teenager, in 1993 by a racist gang found the Metropolitan Police to be institutionally racist.
Among the statement’s signatories are Labour MPs Diane Abbott, Bell Ribeiro-Addy, Apsana Begum and Zarah Sultana, award-winning writer Professor Gus John, Windrush campaigner Jacqueline McKenzie and the Belly Mujinga campaign lawyer Lawrence Davies.
Teachers’ union NEU general secretary Kevin Courtney, Labour peer Peter Hain and Stand up to Racism co-conveners Sabby Dhalu and Weyman Bennett also backed the statement.
It stresses that institutional racism is a “reality embedded in the police, criminal justice system, health, education and employment.”
“Every report in the past 20 years, except for this one, acknowledges that. We wholeheartedly reject this ideologically motivated report and vow to redouble our efforts in challenging racism in all its forms.”
Ms Dhalu said the report was an attempt “by the government to deny the reality of institutional racism and push back against demands to address it.”
“In its place we need an independent public inquiry like the Stephen Lawrence inquiry into the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on [ethnic minority] communities and to implement recommendations in all previous reviews and inquiries on racism.”
The commission was approached for comment.