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What is Racism
Racism is
a belief that due to genetic factors which define different races of
humans, some races are superiors to other races of human beings. Racial
Discrimination is the effect of this belief and is when a person or
group of people are discriminated against on an ethnic, linguistic and
or cultural basis. Racism is not acceptable within UK law.
How Racism can take place
Racial discrimination can take place in a number of ways, here are some examples:
- Teasing somebody for the colour of their skin.
- Mimicking or mocking somebody's linguistic accent.
- Excluding someone from a group activity because of their ethnic or cultural difference.
- Verbally or physically attacking someone because of their ethnic background or nationality.
There
are many forms that racial discrimination can take. Therefore it is
important to discuss with an experienced caseworker or legal adviser for
racial complaints. This can help decide whether an incident is racial
discrimination.
The Law and Racism
The Race Relations Act 1976 was the first piece of law dedicated to stopping racial discrimination in the UK.
It introduced many important concepts about direct and indirect
discrimination, victimisation and segregation. These are explained below
in detail. However there were some gaps in the law that were later
amended by the Race Relations
(Amendment) Act 2000 and the Equality Act 2010. However there was a
significant incident that took place that helped to determine racial
discrimination more widely. This was the legal case regarding the murder of Stephen Lawrence.
The Case of Stephen Lawrence
The
case of the murder of Stephen Lawrence was a landmark case in helping
to change attitudes in discrimination work. Here were the main facts
from the case:
Stephen Lawrence, a British black teenager was murdered in 1993.
- 5 people were arrested for murdering Stephen on racial grounds but they were not convicted.
- The police and Crown Prosecution service were accused of not handling the case properly due to racial grounds
- This
led to an inquiry by Lord MacPherson with the result that the police
has acted in an Institutional Racist way towards this case
- This
finding had an impact on all public services and how they dealt with
ethnic minority people in general as employees and service users.
Institutional Racism
This
term was founded by the Lord MacPherson Enuiry in to the Stephen
Lawrence case. It is important to understand what this terms means and
it affects: "...the
collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and
professional service to people because of their colour, culture or
ethnic origin", which "can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes,
and behaviour, which amount to discrimination through unwitting
prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping, which
disadvantages minority ethnic people". (The Stephen Lawrence Enquiry, 1999) This is
discrimination against ethnic minorities that is systematic and
embedded in the procedures, routines, and culture of an organization and
not simply the product of racist attitudes amongst individual employees
and managers. This term has now started to be used for other forms of discrimination and is known as institutional discrimination.
Equality Act 2010
Race equality in Scotland is governed by the Equality Act 2010. This
act makes it illegal to discriminate against person on the grounds of
their skin colour, nationality (including citizenship), race and
national or ethnic origin. This act exists to protect everyone against discrimination and is not just for one group. The act defines that a person can experience discrimination on racial grounds in the following ways:
Direct Discrimination: This
occurs when you are able to show that you have been treated less
favourably on racial grounds (race, colour, nationality, ethnic or
national origins) than others in similar circumstances.
Indirect Discrimination: This
occurs when a rule or condition, for example the dress policy of a
workplace, which is applied to everyone but which one racial group may
find hard or impossible to comply with or gives rise to unfair treatment
of individuals from one racial groups.
Victimisation: It
occurs if you are treated less favourably than others in the same
circumstances because you have complained about racial discrimination,
or supported someone else who has.
Segregation: It
is unlawful to separate workers or deliberately place them in
particular groups based on their skin colour, race, nationality, ethnic
or national origins. If an individual feels they have been discriminated against on racial grounds they may take a complaint forward.
Hate Crime and Third Party Reporting
A
Hate Crime is when a person commits a crime against another person
because the victim is identified with or is perceived to be identified
with a particular race, religion or belief, gender identity, Sexual
orientation or disability. There a number of laws which protect people
who have experienced a hate crime and the people have been prosecuted
with fines and jail terms for carrying out acts of hate crime. If
you gave experienced a hate crime you should report it to the police
either by going to your local police station or phoning the police
directly. Sometimes people do not feel comfortable going and reporting
incedents themselves amd may ask a friend, family member or trusted
individual to help them to report. This is called 3rd Party reporting
and allows the police to record and investigate incidents. It is
possible to report hate crime online using a form on the Police Scotland website or alternatively someone can fill out a paper form which
can also be found on the website and send it to the address given on the
form. The form can be filled out anonymously, this means that the
police cannot contact you but the crime will be recorded.
It
can be very stressful and painful to report a hate crime which has
happened to you but you can get support from lots of different
organisations and should the crime be brought to court you will be
offered help and support when the time comes for you to go and given
evidence.
It
is very important to report hate crime either directly to the police
or by reporting through a 3rd party as this lets the police know how
many people are experiencing it and lets them take action to stop it. It
also means that the more people who are prosecuted for committing hate
crime it will hopefully stop people from doing this in the future.
IF YOU ARE AFFECTED BY RACISM OR KNOW SOMEONE AFFECTED BY RACISM - YOU CAN CONTACT
West of Scotland Regional Equality Council
39 Napiershall Street
Glasgow
G20 6EZ
(Monday to Thursday 9.30am to 5pm; Friday 9.30am-4.30pm)
Tel: 0141 3376626 (Third Party Reporting Centre for racial incidents for Police Scotland)
Ishara Project
Deaf Connections
100 Norfolk Street
Glasgow
G5 9EJ
(Monday to Thursday : 9.30am to 4.30pm)
Tasnim Sharif : Community Development Worker for Deaf ME Community
Text: 0141 4202171 / SMS: 07749311524
Website : www.deafconnections.co.uk
(Third Party Reporting Centre for hate crime incidents for Police Scotland)
We would like to thank our partner West of
Scotland Regional Equality Council
for helping us develop this resource.
This initiative is supported by:
