Racism in the United Kingdom today is still very prominent, evidently ethnic minorities face inequality within housing, employment, and justice system. Ethnic minorities un-employment rate is double compared to white residents and ethnic minorities are often found to be living in overcrowded environments and subjected to police stop and searches. According to The Guardian in 2020 people of colour are currently 9 times more likely to be stopped and searched by police. The Guardian conducted a survey, 1,000 people from minority ethnic groups were surveyed and it was discovered they are consistently more likely to face negative experiences associated with racism than opposed to white people in a comparison poll. The survey found that almost 50% of those from a minority ethnic background find difficulty achieving advancements within their current job role in a way that they felt was unfair, more than twice the amount of white people who have reported the same experience. Results show that ethnic minorities are more than two times more likely to be thrown out of or refused entrance to a restaurant, bar or club.
Data for arrests show that black people are three times more likely than white people to be detained and people from ethnic minority groups are 1.5 times more likely than white people to be sentenced to jail time for drug offences. Black and ethnic minorities make up 14% of population but make up for almost a quarter of prison inmates, people from these minority groups are getting harsher punishments and longer sentences for the same crimes committed by white people. Systematic racism is so built into our society that we have a large task ahead of us undoing years of inequality and oppression. I strongly believe now today we need to be actively anti-racist and continue educating ourselves and others.
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Its clear to see government is not doing enough to tackle racism and discrimination within our communities. One of the news articles that BLM brought to my attention has stayed with me and really affected me. Shukri Abdi a 12-year-old Somali refugee was found dead in a river in Manchester, the local police and school have not carried out any enquiries surrounding the death of this little girl. Shukri's family said she could not swim and playing by the river was 'out of character'. Her uncle, Mustaf Omar, said everything about it is out of character for her. Shukris mother had reported bullying and incidents to the school for over a year before her daughter's death. A child at the scene attempted to save Shukri from going in the river and told an inquest that another child who took her to the river laughed for two minutes while they watched her drown, the inquest heard that after Shukri’s death, one child claimed to have told Shukri “If you don’t get into the water, I’m going to kill you.” The police and school have ruled Shukris death as not suspicious. Shukris mother is still looking for answers, there have been protest and petitions circulating to demand justice for this poor girl and her family since the police are not interested in doing their job. I can't help but feel that if this had happened to a white child there would be no need for petitions and protests for government officials to take notice seriously.
Black lives matter today, tomorrow, and always.
