The best way to fight racism

The government has announced a new cross-governmental commission on race and ethnic disparities, to address the problems of inequality in the present without rewriting our past. 
  • No one who cares about this country can ignore the many thousands of people who have joined the Black Lives Matter movement to protest peacefully, as most of them have, in the last few days.
     
  • It is no use just saying that we have made huge progress in tackling racism. There is much more that we need to do; and we will. It is time for a cross-governmental commission to look at all aspects of inequality – in employment, in health outcomes, in academic and all other walks of life.
     
  • We need to tackle the substance of the problem, not the symbols. We need to address the present, not attempt to rewrite the past – and that means we cannot and must not get sucked into never-ending debate about what well-known historical figure is sufficiently pure or politically correct to remain in public view.
     
  • Let’s fight racism, but leave our heritage broadly in peace. And if we really want to change it – there are democratic means available to everyone in this country.

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