How to Tackle Racial Discrimination in the UK

Recently, four white teenagers threw pebbles at Asian passengers in front rows from the back seats on the upper deck of Bus 207. When a victim protested, the boys jeered at him. But they went downstairs when they realized that all other passengers were angry too. In another incident, as soon as a brown-skinned man sat next to a white middle-aged woman, the woman left the seat on the District Line Tube in London. Such things don’t happen every day -- few things do – but I see them happen with uncertain regularity.

Let us face it: we are all closet racists. However, some of us try to be more nuanced by not wearing the sin on our sleeves. Others are not so subtle, out of ignorance or simple malice. British society is no different. Most British are polite and respectful to minorities. Many of them understand their country’s compulsion – declining birthrate among whites and aging population -- to welcome immigrants to keep the economy growing and have learned to enjoy the diversity of faces, dresses, festivals and cuisines.

But a small misinformed and prejudiced minority hold immigrants, new and old, responsible for their woes. They might have heard bad things about aliens. Their employers might have fired them to hire minorities to save money. They see migrants taking away their jobs, but they don’t realize that their government allowed such foreigners in. A handful may even hate minorities simply out of ill will.

Consequently, every year, thousands of minority people face insult, abuse and violence. Official statistics pick some of them. For example, 41,318 race and religion related hate crimes were reported in 2010 and 37,623 (86 percent of 43,748) in 2011/12. Since the death of Stephen Lawrence killed in 1993, says the Institute o...

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... of Pakistani and African origins, whose unemployment rate is over 50 percent even when so many people are having two jobs – that could be a perennial source of instability.

There is a strong case for racial equality not just in law but beyond. For the faithful, all human beings are children of the same god. For evolutionists, the entire humanity evolved in Africa, spread across the world, and acquired different colors and features to adjust to the local climate. Either way, discrimination and injustice against our own brothers and sisters with slightly different appearances and beliefs is morally and politically wrong.

Do we want to prevent a clash of civilizations in Great Britain? Then let us enforce the law better, promote education, retrain people, create jobs, calibrate immigration controls and introduce the quota system for minorities. There is no short cut.