Condemnation of report from Government's Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities
Pride in London is beyond disappointed in - and angered by - yesterday's report by the Government's Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities. The report's 258 pages dismiss the undeniable racism, inequality, prejudice and discrimination which continue to define the lived experience of so many in our city and across our country. Racial prejudice can be institutional, structural, systemic or cultural. Or it can be all of those things. Denying its very existence lies at the heart of the issue. While there have clearly been pockets of progress, the notion that the UK "should be regarded as a model for other white-majority countries" is as flawed a notion as it is insulting.
As we have seen ourselves as an organisation, inequality and prejudice - and the division they create - are not always overt. But that doesn't mean that they aren't there. As an organisation committed to equality and unity, we are already exploring and confronting these dynamics at the most fundamental level. We will do so in collaboration and conversation with our entire community, and we will be saying more about that over the weeks and months ahead. In the actions we take, we will not hide from our responsibilities or from the lived realities of the community I am personally proud to be part of and the many communities we serve. We call on the Government to stop doing so for our capital and our country.
