Racism to multiculturalism

Twitter claim UK “by far” main origin for racist abuse following 11 arrests after Euro finals

Racist abuse was hurled at England players after the team lost a penalty shoot-out in England's Euro 2020 final defeat to Italy on 11 July.

Marcus Rashford, Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka were the three black players targeted for abuse after missing penalties, predominantly on social media.

On 10 August, Twitter UK posted: “On the night of the Euros final, our automated tools kicked in immediately, and ensured we identified and removed 1,622 abusive tweets in the 24 hours that followed.

"While many have quite rightly highlighted the global nature of the conversation, it is also important to acknowledge the UK was - by far - the largest country of origin for the abusive tweets we removed.”

The thread continued: “We're determined to do all we can, along with our partners, to stop these abhorrent views and behaviours being seen on and off the platform."

The UK Football Policing Unit (UKFPU) launched a hate crime investigation following the racist comments directed at the players. So far, police forces across the UK have arrested 11 people.

The investigation team has received more than 600 reports from individuals, charities, clubs and other organisations across the country. Of these reports, 207 were criminal in nature. The UKFPU has made data requests to social media companies to progress further investigations.

Chief Constable Mark Roberts, National Police Chiefs' Council Football Policing Lead, said: “There are people out there who believe they can hide behind a social media profile and get away with posting such abhorrent comments.

“They need to think again – we have investigators proactively seeking out abusive comments in connection to the match and, if they meet a criminal threshold, those posting them will be arrested.”

He added: “The complexities of investigating social media abuse cannot be underestimated. A vast amount of work has gone into identifying these eleven individuals.”

To report a hate crime, contact your local force by calling 101 or visiting their online reporting portal.

Growing up coloured in the UK

For 58-year-old Jeffrey Patterson, a lifetime of racist attacks and discrimination led to a blazing incident that almost ruined his life. 

Growing up as a coloured child in Clapton Park Estate in East London, Jeffrey wasn’t aware of the racism in his community. His mother, who was part of the Windrush generation, single-handily raised him and his siblings on the estate, where they played with children of all ethnicities. Jeffrey explained that poverty was what brought everyone together.

South Asian immigration and the progress to multiculturalism

Indians are the largest ethnic minority in the UK and have fared very well professionally, predominantly being in the middle-class. Their influence on British culture and cuisine is unquestionable.  Where would we be without the ever-popular national dish, the chicken tikka masala?

From the 1950s, many South Asian and African countries gained independence from British colonial rule and became members of the Commonwealth. Fearing discrimination from their own national governments, many Asians from Kenya and Uganda decided to hold on to their British citizenship hoping to migrate to the UK.

Additionally, the partition of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh led to a large migration of South Asians, being lured by the promise of better economic opportunities in the motherland. However, the journey to a multicultural Britain wasn’t an easy one as they faced discrimination from both the public and the government.

PC Desai went on to explain that the discrimination slowly started to diminish as more ethnic minorities integrated with white people in the workplace. Many of his co-workers still keep in touch decades later. However, he believes that the racism continued “from the top” as Britain has a history of institutionalised racism.

He said: “The real discrimination came from the authorities and the government.”

In 1962, the government implemented the Commonwealth Immigrants Act, which ended the automatic right of people of the British Commonwealth and colonies to settle in the UK. Many Commonwealth doctors and nurses could not find employment in their chosen professions as their qualifications were deemed invalid in England. The Immigration Act of 1971 saw that immigrants were only allowed temporary residence unless you could trace your parents and grandparents to living in Britain.

Mr Desai said: “The legislation tied your Britishness with family heritage.

“You can see the unspoken racist tones. If you’re from Australia or South Africa, you are far more likely to have white British ancestry than if you came from India.”

Unsurprisingly, amid the pandemic, the latest survey showed Britons putting health (52%) as the topmost worrying issue, with the environment (46%) and the economy (34%) making the top three national concerns. Overall, immigration and asylum came fourth at 31%.  

However, the most recent results revealed that 55% of Conservative voters and 56% of Leave voters believe immigration and asylum should be first on the list, notably higher than health and the economy. Tory voters have become increasingly more concerned about immigration since 30 March 2020, at the start of the first lockdown.

During this time, debates on whether the UK should have tighter border control to decrease the spread of Covid-19 helped fuel anti-immigration sentiments. It also shifted the blame and responsibility onto foreign countries, rather than the British Government.

Further data showed how each demographic views immigration. When the voters were asked what the positive affect of immigration was, the outcome was unanimously that it brings people to fill highly skilled jobs where there is a labour shortage (50%).

However, for Labour voters, the second positive impact of immigration is that it brings more culture and diversity to the UK. This tied with bringing more working, taxpayers into the country at 39%. Bringing diversity and culture came a lot lower for right-wing voters at 15%.

When asked what the negative impact immigration has on the country, 62% of Tories and 61% of Leave voters said it was people coming here to claim benefits for them and their families. In second place, Conservative (50%) and Leave voters (48%) believe immigration allows in people with extremist views or terrorist sympathies. And in third place, they believe that immigration damages Britain’s own culture and traditions, close to 40%.

For Labour, the main concern is the increasing pressure and demand for housing, with 43% of voters believing this. Allowing in extremists, increasing pressure on public services, and immigrants claiming benefits all had a similar number of votes at around 30%. Only 10% of voters thought immigration negatively impacts British culture.

The data suggests that a large portion of voters in the UK see other cultures as a threat to British values, fearing extremism and the loss of their own culture and traditions. This fear is often perpetuated by politicians, who cement these negative views about foreigners.

During a controversial LBC chat, one caller told Labour party leader Kier Starmer that she felt that white people were becoming the minority. The caller referenced a white supremacist conspiracy, often called the great replacement theory, which is the belief that white people will become an ethnic minority in their homelands by 2066 due to immigration and increasing birth rates amongst POC.

In another episode, a different caller tells MP David Lammy that he can’t be truly English because he is ethnically Afro-Caribbean. These calls suggest that this way of thinking, holding pride in skin colour, has pushed its way into British public thinking.

Historian Liam Liburd said: “White supremacy has roots in British society, as deep as it does in America. Thousands of years of being told they’re the greatest and to regard POCs as useless WOGs has left a stain.”