Todays society

I appreciate your view ( Unlike yourself who it seems cannot bare other opinions ) but disagree with your opinion, You revel in fake oppression like the racist anti white mob we see on the media and fail to see you are part of the problem by regurgitating old stories and failing to see there is another reason for discrimination, It is odd that the Asian population who have a strong work and education ethic are rarely mentioned or that the fact one of the most disadvantaged are poor white working class boys, But of course that does not suit the rhetoric

 

Only because of team loyalty, which is admirable, but they still know it's wrong and will be shown up when fans are back and we all (but a few) know it...

 

Looks like they'll be in power for many many years Steve, thank Corbyn for putting Labour back 40 years.

 

Sorry Steve it does not belong in sport, and I for one will be turning my back on any such actions.

 

At a time where the narrative around it and the level of pressure in sections of society and certainly the media, may well have very heavily influenced the position that players took.

 

I don't have the insight to comment on your experience of the mental health service and its experience for BAME people, but I do have first hand experience of the shambolic state of mental health support in relation to my own (white) family.

Stop and search seems to disproportionately affect black people, and there may be an element of unconscious bias at hand, but I think that's more complex than a simple matter of race. And in terms of the police and criminal justice system, the statistics also show that you're more likely ro be convicted of a crime if you're white and more likely to die in police custody if you're white (though that happens very rarely across the board).

There are areas of society where black people are under represented, but then there are areas where black people are positively over represented too. The key point of the survey and its findings, to my mind, is to try and bring some facts to bear that haven't really had much media air time in the last 12 months and more to the point, look more deeply at instances of where areas of society are disadvantaged and tye layered factors that extend beyond a simple matter of race.

 

Skewed logic here Al. Nobody ever said that all discrimination is against black people.

 

It's all relative. Of course people want to come to a rich country where the standard of living is massively higher than the poverty/war/persecution etc that they experience. No one is suggesting that Britain is in the same league as various despotic regimes around the world. But we shouldn't be comparing ourselves with the worst examples. As a very rich, economically developed country we should be aspiring to much higher levels of fairness, equality of opportunity. Complacently believing that there isn't a widespread institutional racism problem is denying the lived experience of millions of British citizens.

 

Or maybe the difficulties and challenges faced by millions of British Citizens is much more complex than a simple matter of race. I think that's the crux of the report. Aspiring to a better and fairer society for all is exactly right. But they're not mutually exclusive points - it may be the case that many BAME people face challenges, as do many white ethic brits, but it isn't a given that the foundation of those challenges is institutional racism. Poverty, Social and Cultural factors, geographic factors, all play a huge part. These challenges won't be resolved by this enduring narrative of 'white oppression'. Its a lopsided argument.

 

I think you're completely misinterpreting what is meant by institutional racism. It's not necessary for every cop to be consciously racist for there to be an institutional racism problem in the police. Ditto the NHS, education system etc.

 

Of course poverty, social and cultural factors play a huge part. And of course many white ethnic Brits face challenges. But the way that many institutions work adds additional layers of challenge for many black people. Recognising that doesn't deny the difficulties faced by many white people.

 

But then you'd have to look at 'institutions' that apparently favour black people. Its a complex issue and I'm still firmly of the view that this is not a fundamentally racist country and that given the same set of life circumstances, life choices and individual capabilities, white and non white people have access to the same opportunities and outcomes as one another in the vast, vast majority of cases.

 

Which are those institutions that favour black people?

 

So, if that's the case, why is it that numerous surveys have found that people with black sounding names, but equal or better qualifications, get rejected in much higher numbers and, in many cases, don't even get offered interviews?

 

Sport? Music? Drama? The Governments cabinet office is represented by BAME members according to their % within the population. And whilst I don’t know that I’d term it as ‘favour’ as such, in so many professions now, the proactive attempts to ensure access to opportunities for roles and employment are accessible to BAME candidates is profound. In my business, a significant amount of our recruitment activity and people management and wellbeing activity, measures race, ethnicity, gender. If we advertise for a role and the amount of applicants is significantly under represented on the basis of race and gender, we make very strong efforts to re-advertise and proactively engage candidates from those under-represented groups. We look at every grade and salary within our business using data on race and gender, sexuality. And we’re far from unique, that sort of thing is commonplace. Most organisations have some form of Diversity based specialist(s) employed. Have a look on LinkedIN - the proactive support of BAME and female professionals is the the most common subject published on that platform. Doesn’t the governments report speak to the strong performance of BAME school students, indeed citing that BAME students are out performing white students?

One key part of the report touches on the family demographic within black communities. It’s very widely and well researched, and accepted, that growing up in a single parent family is the biggest predictor of a persons chances of living their life in poverty and being involved in crime. And black communities tend to have much higher rates of single parenthood. It’s the first time I’ve seen it mentioned in any mainstream media during the last 12 months and it’s central to so much of the debate. But no one seems willing to discuss the role it plays - much easier to defer to ‘white oppression’

 

Those surveys weren't written by people I agree with so we can just ignore those findings.

 

I’ve seen very little of that sort of thing so I couldn’t comment. But I have referred to my own lived experience in my most recent post, and its representative of my own professional experience across several organisations. Most organisations are capitalist by their nature. They’d employ a garden tool if it made them money.