The issue of racism is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, whether you're supporting the #blacklivesmatter movement or you’re an ignorant, uneducated, racist, everyone is talking about it. But a lot of people in the UK seem to be getting their facts wrong when they claim the ‘UK is innocent.’ Not only was colonial Britain one of the prime catalysts of slavery and racist America, but modern-day Britain is saturated with institutionalised racism. From our education system to the police force and everything in between. Everyday racist remarks are just the tip of the iceberg.
The UK is a master at denying its own past in an attempt to erase its racist roots and reinforce a sense of national pride. School curriculums omit the true violence and discrimination, black people faced at the hands of British colonisers, while simultaneously glorifying former racist political figures, such as Churchill. Some AQA textbooks used all across the country have gone as far as describing Caribbean men as “largely absent” in family situations, simply furthering ludacris stereotypes, that have been put in place to vilify the black man or woman. Thus, a majority of the ignorant attitudes that exist in the UK can be correlated to the lack of education surrounding matters of race. And the sad truth is, that subconscious racist attitudes will continue to flourish if the UK does not face up to the role it played in diminishing the societal status of black people, by educating its people and setting the overdue reparations in place.
This blatant denial of the truth has meant that when white British people are presented with the idea that their beloved country is racist, they have an identity crisis. As for years, they have been moulded to believe that leaders like Churchill were the nation’s hero and deserved a statue put up in their memory when in reality they were as racist as it gets. Churchill openly claimed, that white people were “higher-grade race”, and that Indians were responsible for their own famine, “The famine was their own fault for breeding like rabbits.”
The only racism-related thing British history books teach you is the slave trade between America and Africa, describing it as a humanitarian disaster, but completely ignoring its own active role. Aside from the fact that Britain was amongst the first countries to invade Africa, way before America was involved, British merchants were amongst some of the most prominent participants in the Atlantic slave trade. White British people have been shielded from the truth in a nationwide attempt to erase racism, but instead, it has done the polar opposite and enhanced not only the ‘petty’ racism but also the institution deep discrimination.
Unfortunately, this is not the only example of how the British education system is blatantly racist. While the British school curriculum ignores African history, the school administrators make it almost impossible for people of African descent to excel as far as their white counterparts. A study by fullfact.org found that white students were twice as likely to be accepted into an ivy league university than black students. Both of these sources of racism at such early stages of life rigorously impact the future of both black and white people. In the sense that white people grow up to be sugarcoated racists, unable to acknowledge the obvious privilege they hold, meanwhile, the black community is told to survive in a country with values created to work against them.
You see, racist or at the bare minimum ignorant students grow up to be racist doctors, police officers, judges, teachers, and the whole lot, creating an undeniably racist system. A system that does not care about black lives. The statistics are there to prove it, according to a study conducted by the Telegraph found that white people in the UK earn 300% more than black African people, in addition to the fact that black people were 5 times more likely to bee arrested.
So, if you want to continue persuading yourself that the UK is not as bad as America in the matter of race, then you’re right. We’re worse. The UK was one of the first countries involved in colonisation of Africa and instead of righting their wrongs, they have attempted to brush history under the carpet.
The truth is out there, all it takes is research, and that means going further than the first page of Google. Stop reading the BBC, and publications owned by a white business mogul and read some books.
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