Racism & fascism - new material (37)
01 March 2003
Labour's hypocrisy on race, Imran Khan. Guardian 22.4.03. This piece, by the solicitor for the family of Stephen Lawrence, considers the impact of the Macpherson inquiry for race relations. A decade after Stephen's murder and despite Macpherson's findings, Khan finds that it is still necessary to offer a definition of institutional racism : "when discrimination becomes institutionalised, we are dealing not with individual prejudice but with power. That power is derived from racist laws, constitutional conventions, judicial precedents, institutional practices - all of which have the sanction of the state and the blessing of our establishment." Khan acknowledges that progress has been made but this has only brought us to "the point of accepting that there is a problem." He points towards the government's treatment of asylum-seekers which has opened the floodgates to attacks and exploitation by the BNP.