Reports today of the sentencing of a man who sold 20,000 bottles of illegal skin lightening products on Ebay has brought the issue of 'colourism' into the news.  Colourism is a system of inequality that views fairer hues as more beautiful than darker skin complexions. Studies have shown that it is often the reason behind skin lightening, a practice common among people from Black, Asian and minority ethnic communities in the UK, US and parts of the Caribbean and Africa. Many remain unaware of the health risks, including increased chances of skin cancer, plus liver and kidney damage. The lightening products routinely contain hydroquinone or corticosteroids, both banned and dangerous chemicals. One called 'Pure White Dark Spot Corrector Serum' contains both but does not list them as ingredients.
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Labour MP Kim Johnson commented. “Illegal skin lightening products are incredibly dangerous, not just because of the physical harm they can do but also because they reinforce Eurocentric beauty standards and valorise fair skin at the expense of darker complexions. That this legacy of colonialist attitudes is still so prevalent and these products are still widely available in 2024 is a stain on our society, and must be stamped out. These attitudes stretch far beyond the realm of beauty standards and are reflected in the economic and structural oppression of people with darker skin.” She is calling for tougher government restrictions on the sale of these items.

Read more about this story here. Read more about colourism in the book 'Shades of Black: The Origins of Colour Consciousness in the Caribbean', available here.

Right Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin, the C of E's first female black bishop in a stinging rebuke against government ministers and others “who are threatened” by the social justice movement has declared “Woke” should not be used as a negative term. Speaking at General Synod Hudson-Wilkin said such people want others to think it was a “sin created by the left.”

“When it comes to the topic of racial justice, I have heard the word ‘woke’ being bandied about by many people, including government ministers, certain radio presenters and those in the media. And in every case, they’ve used it incorrectly. The term woke originated in the USA and it was a black terminology, speaking specifically and directly to black people regarding the need to wake up and stay alert, to be consciously aware. So it is not just a mere word, it is a movement.

“Those who are threatened by the authenticity of this movement want to scare us into thinking that being woke is a sin created by people on the left. But as the people of God, we should never be afraid or embarrassed of being called an advent people, always in the business of preparing and staying alert. So I want to address the elephant in the room… in case there is anybody nurturing those incorrect thoughts and mumbling under one’s breath or to your neighbour, ‘here we go again’, negatively using the term woke.

“We must remain awake to the reality that the church’s commitment to racial justice is not the church attempting to follow the world’s direction of travel regarding inclusion, equality and diversity, but instead it is a given. It comes from a deep desire to follow the lead of Christ.”

The issue of racial justice was not an “optional extra that we can choose to address if we feel like it. The racial justice mandate flows not from identity politics, but from our primary identity in Christ. The gospel calls us to prophetically address head-on the evils in our society, indeed in our world, which leave some parts of humanity dehumanised.”

The General Synod, the C of E’s ruling assembly, decided by 364-0 votes that all parishes should develop local action plans to address racial injustice and dioceses should collect relevant data on race and ethnicity.

​Read more here and here.

According to a report by the Black Equity Organisation two-thirds of Black people in the UK have experienced prejudice from healthcare professionals, but Black women in particular felt that their concerns were not being listened to. This is why Health Secretary Steven Barclay last week telling NHS Trusts to stop recruiting diversity officers has met with protest from front-line staff. His comments came just hours before a major report by the care regulator revealed huge inequalities in the healthcare system, with ethnic minority communities being among the most likely to receive poor care.

The "strong Black woman" stereotype has its roots in slavery, when the myth emerged that Black people had a higher pain threshold, according to social historian Professor David Olusoga. “That idea is still in the subconscious of both Black people and clinicians.”

​Read more in this article which also includes a number of individual stories.

This is the title of a new report from the Runnymede Trust to mark 30 years since the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence. This is from the introduction:

Racism is often a matter of life and death. This was never more true than for Stephen Lawrence, a bright young man who dreamed of becoming an architect. 
Stephen was murdered by racist strangers as he made his way home with a friend in South East London, 30 years ago. The fight for justice that followed, led by Stephen’s grieving parents, has brought us all to know Stephen’s name, and carry forward his legacy. 
Stephen’s murder changed the country, and was core to progressing racial equality in the UK. This report, produced in partnership by the Runnymede Trust and Stephen Lawrence Day Foundation, is intended as a small contribution to mark this difficult anniversary and assess just how far we have come as a nation in the last 30 years. 
In 'Dear Stephen', we reveal the points of hope and connection in our communities, at a time when the UK feels increasingly polarised. Data from the British Social Attitudes Survey shows that, although people feel the world around them is becoming more hateful and prejudiced, people’s own attitudes are shifting in a much more positive trajectory, and that race, inclusion and belonging are not such divisive issues as we are led to believe.

​Download the report here.

The biggest and most comprehensive survey of race inequality in the UK for more than a quarter of a century has found that more than a third of people from ethnic and religious minorities have experienced racially motivated physical or verbal abuse. The two-year research project declares that “Britain is not close to being a racially just society.” Its detailed evidence of discrimination and unfairness directly challenges the findings of the government-commissioned Sewell report on racial disparities of 2021, agreeing with many at the time who argued it downplayed the existence and impact of structural and institutional racism in the UK.

The study was led by Nissa Finney, professor of human geography at the University of St Andrews, who said it showed racism was “part of the daily lives” of people from ethnic minorities. Halima Begum, chief executive of the race equality thinktank the Runnymede Trust, said:  “Sadly, few ethnic minority Britons will be surprised by the findings."

Commenting on the report on Channel 4 News, Professor Jason Ardey, Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, said: "There are no immediate shocks or surprises. In some respects it's more of the same. It reflects the glacial change that's transpired in the last twenty or thirty years in relation to race, equality and mobilising greater race equality in the UK. What we are seeing is that racism is a systemic and institutional problem. It's ability to re-invent itself and pivot to the prevailing inequalities that exist is in some respects quite impressive in a strange way."

The research, produced by the Centre on the Dynamics of Ethnicity at Manchester University, will be published this week in a book Racism and Ethnic Inequality in a Time of Crisis. It claims to be the most extensive survey of racial inequalities since 1997. Read more here.

A new NHS report is set to reveal that a third of Black and ethnic minority health staff have suffered racism or bullying as the NHS fails to address “systemic” levels of discrimination. Levels have not improved in the last five years at almost 30%, compared to 20% of white staff. The report will also reveal that despite being one-quarter of the workforce, minority ethnic staff make up just 10% of the most senior positions.

Equality for Black Nurses has launched 200 cases of alleged racism against a number of NHS trusts since it was set up by Neomi Bennett in 2020. Ms Bennett said: “The bullying of Black nurses has reached pandemic levels and goes unchallenged. However, there is a clear difference in experiences when comparing Black nurses’ difficulties to white nurses.”

This year's NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard report will show that the number of minority staff in the NHS has increased by 100,000 since 2018 – largely driven by increased international and overseas recruitment. But just two-fifths of staff reporting that their hospital provides equal opportunities. Internal NHS survey figures show that race was the most commonly reported type of discrimination across all staff, with female workers of colour experiencing the highest level of discrimination in 2022. Other causes of discrimination, however, have reduced since 2016.

Read more here.

Nadine White, Race Correspondent for The Independent has written this reflection on another Black History Month and concluded: "​Racial equality in Britain is as distant a dream as ever".

Despite the high profile political appointments of people of colour, the heightened awareness of racial injustice since the murder of George Floyd in 2020 has not been harnessed. Instead "​From the widening ethnicity pay gap between Black and white workers to the “violent” deaths of Black people in prisons, the struggle is real. From the absence of Black history on school curriculums to the majority of Black Britons reporting experiences of racial discrimination by doctors and nurses, there’s yet more work to be done."

She quotes just released statistics that reveal that Black British people are still disproportionately affected in terms of detention and treatment compared to white people. The optimism of 2020 has largely gone as the government presses ahead with plans "to send thousands of Black, Asian and Middle Eastern refugees to Rwanda, describing them as 'illegal' migrants because they arrive by boat. Meanwhile, ministers have rightly opened our doors to tens of thousands of mostly white Ukrainians fleeing Russia’s bloody war."

The government’s Hate Crime Action Plan launched in 2016 appears to have ground to a halt and there hasn’t been a word from ministers about the worrying surge in these incidents in the last year.

​Read the full article here.

Shades of Black: The Origins of Colour Consciousness in the Caribbean is an important new book looking at how colour consciousness in the Caribbean has affected immigrants, and issues of race, in Britain​. It is written by former MJR trustees Clifford Hill and Nigel Pocock and current MJR Chair Alton Bell. We have been sent these details of a launch event online.

Should there be positive discrimination in the public sector?
 
As we mark Black History Month, we would be delighted to invite you to an important discussion as part of the launch of Shades of Black, a new book exposing the roots of colour consciousness and racial discrimination with a view to exploring the question ‘Should there be positive discrimination in the public sector to encourage anti-discrimination?’   
 
Aimed at creating conversation across the UK on this important area, you are invited to join us on Thursday 27th October 2022 between 12.30pm and 2.00pm. A meeting in the House of Commons will follow on November 24.

This meeting will be introduced by Sir Stephen Timms MP with contributions from Dr Clifford Hill, Pastor Alton Bell and others.

To join us online, please register here. To attend or for further information, please register or contact Adam May by email or phone 07736 949 869.

Please share this invitation to anyone you believe would benefit from this discussion.
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Find out more about Shades of Black here.

This article by Nadine White, race correspondent for The Independent is headlined: 'The Commonwealth Games are rooted in slavery – let’s consign the event to history'. Despite being a fan of sport, White says this particular event "sticks in my throat because the Commonwealth, as an institution, is rooted in chattel slavery and the brutalisation of African people."

She continues: "After the abolition of slavery in 1833, financially prosperous Britain skipped off into the sunset without investing in the economies of its former sources of slaves in any meaningful way – and those left behind in the former colonies have grappled with poverty and destitution ever since. Britain paid nothing to the freed slaves in an attempt to redress the injustices they suffered."

Most of the 56 member states of the Commonwealth are former British colonies. But "the wealth is not common. ... The Commonwealth purports to be about 'promoting justice and human rights', yet reparatory justice for chattel slavery, a heinous crime perpetrated against African people by colonialists, has not been paid." The Commonwealth Games should be: "scrapped and replaced with a sporting event that isn’t bonded by racial trauma against a backdrop of Eurocentric denialism".

Read the full article here.

A Home Office commissioned paper that officials have repeatedly tried to suppress since it came out in 2021 concludes that the origins of the Windrush scandal lay in 30 years of racist immigration legislation designed to reduce the UK’s non-white population. The 52-page paper, which has been leaked to The Guardian states that “during the period 1950-1981, every single piece of immigration or citizenship legislation was designed at least in part to reduce the number of people with black or brown skin who were permitted to live and work in the UK”. 

​The report, named 'The Historical Roots of the Windrush Scandal', was commissioned by the Home Office as part of a commitment to educating civil servants about the causes of the Windrush scandal, which saw thousands of people wrongly classified as illegal immigrants by the department. Stating that “the British Empire depended on racist ideology in order to function” the report asserts that in the 1950s, British officials shared a “basic assumption that ‘coloured immigrants’, as they were referred to, were not good for British society.”

While circulated internally, a year on the report remains unpublished and a Freedom of Information request by The Guardian was turned down by the Home Office; a refusal described as "shameful" by Simon Woolley, the former CEO of Operation Black Vote and chair of the No 10 race disparity unit. “The government is hellbent in its denial of the systemic nature of racial inequality and in this climate historical facts have become uncomfortable truths that need to be hidden.” Read the full Guardian article here.

​Image by Steve Eason.