In 2021, an infamous government-backed report, the Sewell Commission, claimed that the UK was “a model for other White-majority countries” on issues of race equality. Much to the consternation of many anti-racists, the report found that there was scant evidence of institutional racism in the UK.
Just three years later, this “model” country is gaining international attention as far-right thugs intimidate, harass and attack people of colour.
As hotels housing people seeking asylum are torched and Nazi salutes are being thrown in the air across the country, the UK is anything but a beacon of equality some would like us to believe.
The violence that has long been simmering under the surface has finally reared its ugly head. As the Runnymede Trust warned, this is what happens when the scapegoating of migrants and people seeking asylum gains full sponsorship by mainstream political elites and the media.
This is what happens when political parties across the spectrum pursue hostile environment immigration policies over decades to distract from economic and political failings.
When concerns about racism in Britain are ignored and diminished, the fascist right is emboldened.
Over the past five years in particular we have been sounding the alarm about the rowback of the civil and political rights of migrants, refugees and people of colour through recent legislation, and of the impact of harmful anti-migrant rhetoric.
Through these policies, the hostile environment has achieved what it set out to do: deputise its citizens to create a culture of fear and exclusion for migrants.
From the Rwanda and Immigration Acts, which undermined the human rights of asylum seekers and refugees, to the attack on the democratic freedoms of people of colour under the guise of the Public Order and Elections Act, people of colour and migrants have faced huge hostility.
But our concerns have been downplayed, replaced with attacks on civil society for highlighting the existence of structural inequalities.
How the UK establishment enables racism
As in 2021, at this moment of crisis, the concerns of people of colour are again being undermined and diminished.
Media coverage of the race riots have received criticism for focusing on the actions of 'protestors’ and ‘demonstrators’ in British towns and cities rather than labelling them as rioters.
This is coupled with claims that the fascists marauding the streets represent legitimate frustrations and that the “dumping of millions of migrants from alien cultures”, the supposed failure of Black and Brown people to ‘integrate’ into British society and “uncontrolled, mass immigration” are to blame.
There has even been a failure to name the violence as openly Islamophobic, despite the targeted attacks on Mosques and Muslim grave sites.
Indeed, when Zarah Sultana MP, a brown, Muslim politician went on Good Morning Britain to talk about the Islamaphobic nature of these riots, her treatment by presenters was widely criticised as patronising, and belittling.
Far-right politicians and figures are telling us to take seriously the claims that ‘two tiers of policing’ are being employed against rioters — that the policing response has been more heavy-handed than their response to, for example, the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
Not only is the institutional racism of the police service well-evidenced, a whole tranche of anti-protest legislation was introduced in the wake of BLM. To compare BLM demonstrations with the current race riots is wrong.
Ironically, former Conservative Cabinet Minister Robert Jenrick demonstrated the absurdity of this myth by advocating that, in the middle of this crisis of racist hatred against Muslim people, those who proclaim ‘Allahu Akbar’ in public should be “immediately arrested”.
In other words, even at this moment of profound anxiety, tension and pain for communities of colour, every effort is being made by certain political and media elites to diminish, and sometimes demonise our concerns.
This is a well-worn tactic but should not deter us from struggling for justice in the face of these unspeakable horrors.
People of colour are exhausted from being gaslit. We are tired of being told we should be happy with our lot, that anti-migration policies have nothing to do with race, that the demands of fascists are reasonable.
It’s time to take our concerns seriously, so that we can build a better future free from fear and violence.
Alba Kapoor is the Head of Policy at the Runnymede Trust, the UK's leading race equality think tank. She delivers large scale pieces of policy research and works to set out Runnymede’s anti-racist agenda. Alba was the recipient of the Kennedy Scholarship 2022-'23 at Harvard University.
Follow her on X: @kapoor_alba
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