Black people need to act on Data

The purpose of this blog is to give an in-depth analysis of the problems facing black people in the UK.

The hope had been that with the UK progressing to a much open, tolerant, fairer, multicultural society. Outcomes for black people would've massively improved. After all, since 2010, the Equalities Act has meant that direct and indirect discrimination, victimisation, and harassment are illegal. But the data tells a very different story, especially when it comes to outcomes for black people. The effects can be seen from childbirth to life expectancy, criminal and justice, homelessness, mental health, employment and earnings, and education. The main reason often cited for the poor outcomes for black people is institutional racism. The claim that government institutions mainly the police service in the UK is institutionally racist was widely accepted after the Macpherson Report was published in 1999. The report concluded that there may be widespread ‘unwitting prejudice' that lead to racially discriminatory practices. When these prejudices and practices are carried out by groups with power, such as governments, businesses, or schools it becomes systemic racism.  while most of these institutions have reformed and put in place policies to protect ethnic minorities, too many people in the UK are still complacent about racism. And until outcomes for black people change, we cannot say that we live in a just society. 

Childbirth 

Life and outcomes start at birth, In November 2019, a report into maternal morbidity in the UK from researchers at Oxford University, found black women are five times more likely to die in pregnancy, childbirth, or in the postpartum period, compared to their white counterparts. Black Caribbean and black African families have twice the rate of infant mortality as white people. Some Medical professionals say the death rate can be explained by pre-existing conditions amongst black women such as high blood pressure, or the higher prevalence of complications such as pre-eclampsia. But some argue it is down to underlying prejudice among health care workers as a crucial factor in the deaths of black mothers: “Black women are categorised according to a white perspective; they are not believed, this notion of them having a higher threshold for pain and these biases mean that serious conditions are missed and this might be contributing to the deaths of black mothers.” Rather than wait for an improvement from the government black women need to set up more spaces to discuss black motherhood such as Buabeng’s Mummy’s Day Out and put pressure on the government to improve the outcomes for black mothers.

Life Expectancy

Black men and women have lower life expectancy than men and women from white and other ethnic groups. This is mainly due to more black people living in areas of deprivation compared to the general population.  Even with coronavirus, black people are "disproportionately" dying with coronavirus as compared to whites. Suggested reasons have included existing health inequalities, housing conditions, public facing occupations, and structural racism. In its 2017 report, Public Health England found that black British people had the highest proportion of the population that lived in crime deprived neighborhoods at 26%, compared to 8% of White people the lowest proportion out of all the groups. The man had 9.2 years less life expectancy than those from the least deprived. Women had their life expectancy reduced by 7.1 years. Both had a ‘healthy life’ expectancy gap of 20 years. 

Education

From their early years, black people do not have the same life chances as the rest of the population. New research by the Greater London Authority (GLA) found that teachers in London are biased against blacks and especially black Caribbean boys, its study found "unconscious prejudices affect the way they are disciplined at school, how their work is assessed, and the academic ability set that they are put in". and this is also true of the rest of the UK.

• White students aged 16-18 are twice as likely (11.0% versus 5.1%) as their fellow black students to achieve 3 A grades at ‘A’ Level. 
• Black Caribbean pupils were nearly twice as likely to be excluded as white pupils (10.2% compared to 5.2%) in the academic year 2016/17 and three times more likely to be permanently excluded.
• black Caribbean boys’ attainment in London is 17 percentage points behind the London average for expected standards in reading, writing, and maths by the end of primary school.

The reasons for the underachievement of Black especially black Caribbean pupils are wide‐ranging and complex. 'Within education literature four main schools related factors are  seen as the main causes: stereotyping; teachers' low expectations; exclusions and Headteachers' poor leadership on equality issues.

Employment

Wherever you look across society this yawning gap in the lives of the black and white population reveals itself. In 2018, black people had the highest unemployment rate of any ethnicity at 9% – more than twice the white population at 4%. Data from the Office for National Statistics shows that, in 2018, only 66.9% of the black population was employed, versus 76.4% of the white population.

Even when they are employed, black people do not earn as much as others. In London in 2018, ethnic minorities earned 21.7% less than the rest of the population.  In the same year, the Resolution Foundation found that, overall, 1.9 million black and ethnic minority workers are paid about £3.2 billion less than their white counterparts every year.

Crime & Justice system

It is now well established that black boys and young men experience discriminatory practices is evident in official statistics and studies conducted across all stages of the youth and adult criminal justice system.

Victims of Crime - Black Caribbeans believe that they are more than 50% more likely to be a victim of crime in the next year compared to white people (28% versus 18%).

Stop and Search - Black people are nearly 10 times more likely to be stopped and searched by police than white people, according to the Government’s own statistics. Between April 2018 and March 2019, there were 38 stop and searches per 1,000 black people, compared to four per 1,000 white people.

Arrests - Black people are three-and-a-half times more likely to be arrested than white people. Black women are twice as likely to be arrested than white women.

Death in Custody - Nearly a third of all police custody deaths in the past two years involving were of black people, according to a review into deaths in police custody by the Independent Office of Police Conduct.

Prison - Black people serve prison sentences that are 50% longer than those for white people. In 2017, the average length of sentence for a young black adult was 28 months, compared to 19 months for a young white adult. Young black defendants are twice as likely to be denied bail.

The question for black people in the UK is, why do these huge gaps in outcomes still exist in 2021? These racial inequalities are systemic. While most of these statistics are gathered by the Government, begs the question of why those in power have done so little to improve them. In my opinion, black people are ultimately culpable for allowing them to continue, But I don't see the sort of outrage that I would expect from the UK black community. Instead, we are very quick to protest when any form of injustice that happens across the pound such as the killing of George Floyd. Black people, do not have the luxury of a passing interest in this data like white people. It is our lived reality. The Equalities Act means nothing if we don’t act to change the real world of inexcusable inequality. The Government must stop simply collecting data and actually use it to inform policy and the allocation of budgets – to bring about real change. And the Black community needs to be driving this change. We need more people to start looking at this data and asking questions to end this endemic racial discrimination.