Following on from Simon Batterbury's comments, a few points:
In today's Guardian newspaper in Britain a columnist (I think it was
Decca Aitkenhead) made two interesting points
1. As long as people go on shrugging their shoulders and allowing
racist banter to continue in pubs, clubs and other places, then they
are complicit in racism. She goes on to point out, of course, that it
is not always easy (and can sometimes be counter-productive) to
adopt the 'moral high ground' of condemning what we see as the
unacceptable views of others)
2. Home Secretary Jack Straw and the labour government are
continuing a 'get tough' policy on people seeking political asylum in
Britain. An attitude of suspicion towards 'foreigners' seeking
admittance to Britain is being actively promoted. Such an
environment is hardly conducive to good race relations.
Another dimension of the Lawrence case is the risk of creating an
impression that having highlighted racism and incompetence in this
particular case society can somehow pat itself on the back and say
'we've done our bit', acknowledge it should not have happened and
carry on as before. The nature of the Lawrence case also carries the
risk of seeing racism as an attitude amongst people seen as 'white
trash' rather than something which permeates broader society.
Finally, amidst all the publicity surrounding this case, other forms
of racism remain unchallenged. This is particularly the case in
sport. Within the world of football there have been moves within
recent years to 'kick out racism' yet this morning (on the same news
programme which reported the latest fiasco in the Lawrence case and
the vandalising of his memorial) the Manchester United manager Alex
Ferguson observed that kiddology, or deliberately misleading the
media, was 'something he might expect from the Italians' (a reference
to Inter Milan, who United play next week in a European match). There
was no response from the interviewer, no furore over this blatant
stereotyping.
Racism is more than just physical and verbal violence
against black people, it is the stereotyping and belittling of
'foreigners', and people seen as 'foreigners', of all skin colours.
David
Dr. David Storey
Geography Department &
Centre for Rural Research
University College Worcester
Henwick Grove
Worcester WR2 6AJ
England
Tel: 01905 855189
Fax: 01905 855132
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