Civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson weighed in in the UK debate on race today by saying that Britain is the “mother of racism”.
The influential American, 79, said Britain must face its role in slavery as it flatly opposed the results of the latest report on race and racism in Britain.
It comes after the Racial and Ethnic Differences Commission, chaired by Tony Sewell, said it could not find conclusive evidence of institutionalized racism in the UK.
In its report, the Commission also stated that Britain was a role model for the world of a successful multi-ethnic society – while accepting that there are still “overt” prejudices.
However, Rev. Jackson, who worked closely with civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., said there was a “pattern of racism” in Britain.
Speaking to Times Radio, he said: “Britain has a certain responsibility to face up to and change racism.
Civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson weighed in on the British ranks today and said Britain is the “mother of racism”.
Reverend Jackson rejected the report by the Commission on Racial and Ethnic Differences, chaired by Dr. Tony Sewell (pictured) who concluded that there is no evidence of institutionalized racism in the UK
“I’ve traveled around the UK and there is clearly a pattern of racism.”
He also claimed “blacks can’t … be part of the crown” when asked if he thought the royal family was racist – after Meghan Markle’s bombshell claims she made in her interview with Oprah Winfrey.
The Duchess of Sussex claimed that an unnamed member of the royal family asked what color Archie would be if she were pregnant with Prince Harry’s first child.
Reverand Jackson refused to say whether he thought the royal family was racist but instead said Harry and Meghan’s marriage showed that “change is in the air”.
He added: “In a democracy everyone has the chance to be everything.
‘(There is) no superior race and no inferior race. We all have royal blood. We are all God’s children. Everyone is important. ‘
Rev. Jackson is one of the most influential civil rights activists of his generation and was once close to Martin Luther King Jr.
The Baptist minister was at the side of the legendary civil rights activist when he was assassinated in 1968.
In addition to his civil rights work, Rev. Jackson was also involved in founding charities and ran twice as a presidential candidate for the Democrats in the 1980s.
His criticism comes amid a heated debate over the results of the report, which were published last week.
The Racial and Ethnic Differences Commission set up by Boris Johnson after the Black Lives Matter protests concluded that while Britain is not yet a “post-racial society,” its success should be a model for white majority countries.
Rev. Jackson is one of the most influential civil rights activists of his generation, close to Martin Luther King. Pictured: Rev. Jackson walks with then Mayor of London Ken Livingston during an anti-war march in London in 2003
The chairman Dr. Sewell said Britain has become a “successful multiethnic and multicultural community” that is a “beacon for the rest of Europe and the world”.
He warned ministers that they must also consider the needs of the white working class, and said his report revealed how “stuck” some groups were.
Dr. Sewell later insisted that he did not deny the existence of racism – but rather cursed people who used the institutional racism charge “willy-nilly”.
However, the report has been criticized by activists and politicians, including Baroness Doreen Lawrence.
Baroness Lawrence, whose son Stephen was murdered in a racially motivated attack in southeast London in 1993, said the report’s authors were “out of touch with reality”.
Speaking at a public event organized on Wednesday by the Stephen Lawrence Research Center at De Montfort University Leicester, she said, “When I first heard about the report, my first thought was that it caught on [the fight against] Racism for 20 years or more.
Baroness Doreen Lawrence (pictured) said the report’s authors were “out of touch with reality”.
“I think if you were to speak to someone whose employer speaks to them in a certain way, where are you going with it?
“If a person is ready for promotion and it has been turned down, where is they going with it?
“You know, all of these things that we’ve worked for that show that structural racism exists – we’re talking about the pandemic when you look at how many of our people have died, all of the nurses, doctors, frontline workers Covid and thus this report denies that these people suffered … they deny that people like my son were murdered by racism and that it took 18 years to get justice for him. The report denies all of these problems.
“The people who marched for Black Lives Matter? All of this is denied. The George Floyd stuff? All of this is denied.
“Those who are behind this report (say) that there is no or no more racism must speak to the boys who are constantly being stopped and searched on the street. You need to talk to these young people. ‘
Baroness Lawrence continued: “You (the authors of the report) are essentially out of touch with reality.
“That’s what matters. If you are privileged, you do not have these experiences.
“My son was murdered for racism and you can’t forget that. Once you start covering it up, give the racists the green light.
“You imagine what will happen tomorrow. What will happen to our young people on our streets? You give the green light to racists. ‘
Labor justice spokesman David Lammy said black Britons were being “gassed” and described the report as an insult to anyone in Britain who has experienced structural racism.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson insisted that there are “serious problems our society is facing in relation to racism” and that work must be done to “fix the problem” but warned that the report’s findings did not necessarily agree with the thoughts of those of No. 10.
He said, ‘This is very interesting work. I’m not saying the government will be fine with absolutely anything in it, but it does contain some original and inspiring work that I think people need to read and consider.
“There are very serious racism-related issues our society faces that we need to address.”
What did the Racial and Ethnic Differences Commission find? The report in a snapshot:
– Poverty affects educational performance more than race. In areas like Blackpool, Knowsley and Plymouth, poor students were more than two years ago – almost all of them white.
– The wage gap between white and ethnic minorities has closed to 2.3 percent. Chinese and Indian employees now earn “significantly more” than the white average.
– Life expectancy and death rate show that ethnic minorities overall outperform white populations and outperform many of the top 25 causes of death. Britain’s worst life expectancy is in the northeast – one of the whitest regions.
Statistics show that last year 15 percent of all families were single parents – but 63 percent of black Caribbean children and 43 percent of black African children grow up in households with one parent. In the case of Indian families, it is only six percent.
– Although ethnic minorities make up 16 percent of the population, nearly 50 percent of doctors working in NHS hospitals are ethnic minorities – as are 21 percent of lawyers.
– Poor white boys get the lowest GCSE grades. Only 39.1 percent of white boys reached 5th grade or higher in English and math in 2019, compared to 49 percent of Asian boys.
– Last year, white students were the least likely to go to university (32.6 percent), compared with nearly half of black students and 71 percent of Chinese. However, ethnic minority students are more likely to drop out, achieve lower exam scores, or have lower income after graduation.
– The children of the youngest migrants do particularly well in school. However, long-term analyzes suggest that these successes will diminish in subsequent generations.
– According to opinion polls, the percentage of people who believe that you have to be white to be “really British” has fallen from 18 percent in 2006 to seven percent now.
– Instead of “racism” being a factor, employers can hire on their own terms and pick new employees based on their “cultural fit” or “chemistry” based on “affinity bias”. The report says: “All people, not just whites, are exposed to these prejudices.”
– Black Caribbean and Arab women, on average, earn more an hour (£ 12.09 and £ 12.49, respectively based on 2019 figures) than white British women who were paid £ 11.21 an hour.
– Blacks are three times more likely to be arrested than whites – but juries are less likely to convict ethnic minority accused. Gangs and gang-related violence are associated with broken families and are not limited to black communities. In the north, they are largely associated with white communities.
– Black African men died almost 3.4 times more often from Covid-19 than white British men in the first wave of the pandemic. However, this was more related to an increased risk of infection – living in multi-generational households, working in publicly available professions – rather than a difference in treatment or ethnicity alone.
– Some ethnic minorities live longer and are less likely to be diagnosed with cancer than whites, despite living in disadvantaged communities.
– Racism and discrimination are not widespread in the health system, as is claimed. Both black and white patients say they are equally satisfied with the treatment.
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