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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/apr/19/the-guardian-view-on-stephen-lawrence-we-owe-his-parents-better
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| The Guardian view on Stephen Lawrence: we owe his parents better | The Guardian view on Stephen Lawrence: we owe his parents better |
| (about 2 months later) | |
| It is 25 years since a tragedy and crime evolved into a national scandal. Two of the five original suspects in the racist murder of 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence were jailed almost two decades later, following advances in forensic science, but Scotland Yard says it has no further leads. The time it took to secure those convictions, and the fact that some of his killers remain free, is directly related to the second outrage that followed Stephen’s murder: the appalling failure of police to bring those responsible to account, and their shocking treatment of his family and his friend Duwayne Brooks, with him that terrible night, which extended even to spying on them. Only the extraordinary determination of Stephen’s parents, Doreen and Neville, confronted the wider public with the reality of racism both on the streets and within the state, and brought to light officers’ bias, sheer incompetence and alleged links to criminals. (The Guardian today reports fresh claims about those connections.) In 1999, the resulting Macpherson report exposed the institutional racism of police and forced a broader reckoning. | It is 25 years since a tragedy and crime evolved into a national scandal. Two of the five original suspects in the racist murder of 18-year-old Stephen Lawrence were jailed almost two decades later, following advances in forensic science, but Scotland Yard says it has no further leads. The time it took to secure those convictions, and the fact that some of his killers remain free, is directly related to the second outrage that followed Stephen’s murder: the appalling failure of police to bring those responsible to account, and their shocking treatment of his family and his friend Duwayne Brooks, with him that terrible night, which extended even to spying on them. Only the extraordinary determination of Stephen’s parents, Doreen and Neville, confronted the wider public with the reality of racism both on the streets and within the state, and brought to light officers’ bias, sheer incompetence and alleged links to criminals. (The Guardian today reports fresh claims about those connections.) In 1999, the resulting Macpherson report exposed the institutional racism of police and forced a broader reckoning. |
| The powerful BBC documentary series Stephen: the Murder that Changed a Nation captures these events in full. But it also shows how limited and slow progress has been. Lady Lawrence has repeatedly warned that racism still blights Britain, with discrimination persisting not only in the justice system but also education, housing and employment. This week the family’s solicitor, Imran Khan, revealed their shock on hearing an officer who had won their confidence dismiss the notion that the Metropolitan police as a whole was racist as “utter rubbish” and call Lady Lawrence ungrateful. “You cannot help but think that the improvements we so wanted to see were only skin deep,” Mr Khan wrote. | The powerful BBC documentary series Stephen: the Murder that Changed a Nation captures these events in full. But it also shows how limited and slow progress has been. Lady Lawrence has repeatedly warned that racism still blights Britain, with discrimination persisting not only in the justice system but also education, housing and employment. This week the family’s solicitor, Imran Khan, revealed their shock on hearing an officer who had won their confidence dismiss the notion that the Metropolitan police as a whole was racist as “utter rubbish” and call Lady Lawrence ungrateful. “You cannot help but think that the improvements we so wanted to see were only skin deep,” Mr Khan wrote. |
| Racism is not about the behaviour of an individual but structures, he noted: the institutions and society that frame, shape and respond to it. Discussing how the 50-year-old “rivers of blood” speech by Enoch Powell – admired by members of the gang that killed Stephen – legitimised physical attacks, he added: “It is politicians who set the parameters of how society behaves. It immediately filtered down.” | Racism is not about the behaviour of an individual but structures, he noted: the institutions and society that frame, shape and respond to it. Discussing how the 50-year-old “rivers of blood” speech by Enoch Powell – admired by members of the gang that killed Stephen – legitimised physical attacks, he added: “It is politicians who set the parameters of how society behaves. It immediately filtered down.” |
| The Macpherson report initially made public figures more careful in addressing race, and compelled institutions to face their shortcomings. Leaders had to decide whether they would tackle the worst instincts of society head-on, tolerate them as inevitable – or pander to them. As home secretary, Theresa May in some regards took up that challenge and showed a courage that predecessors lacked: calling police “too white”, criticising their use of stop and search, and meeting with the relatives of people who had died in custody. | The Macpherson report initially made public figures more careful in addressing race, and compelled institutions to face their shortcomings. Leaders had to decide whether they would tackle the worst instincts of society head-on, tolerate them as inevitable – or pander to them. As home secretary, Theresa May in some regards took up that challenge and showed a courage that predecessors lacked: calling police “too white”, criticising their use of stop and search, and meeting with the relatives of people who had died in custody. |
| But on immigration, political rhetoric has since turned for the worse. And immigration is inextricably connected to race relations; the rise in hate crimes after the Brexit vote hit not only European migrants but also British-born black and Asian citizens. | But on immigration, political rhetoric has since turned for the worse. And immigration is inextricably connected to race relations; the rise in hate crimes after the Brexit vote hit not only European migrants but also British-born black and Asian citizens. |
| The prime minister has failed this test. Her cynical creation of a “hostile environment” has fuelled divisions. Outsourcing border policing to untrained individuals such as landlords has predictable effects. The treatment of the Windrush generation has exposed that, but even people born here feel the impact. Some of those legally obliged to make checks see the easiest way to determine origins as a foreign accent or a non-white face – and perhaps the easiest course as simply saying no. Discrimination has been validated, even encouraged. The progress forced by the Lawrence family is real, and we should thank them. But it never went far enough, and in some regards at least we are sliding backwards. | The prime minister has failed this test. Her cynical creation of a “hostile environment” has fuelled divisions. Outsourcing border policing to untrained individuals such as landlords has predictable effects. The treatment of the Windrush generation has exposed that, but even people born here feel the impact. Some of those legally obliged to make checks see the easiest way to determine origins as a foreign accent or a non-white face – and perhaps the easiest course as simply saying no. Discrimination has been validated, even encouraged. The progress forced by the Lawrence family is real, and we should thank them. But it never went far enough, and in some regards at least we are sliding backwards. |
| Stephen Lawrence | Stephen Lawrence |
| Opinion | Opinion |
| Race | Race |
| Metropolitan police | Metropolitan police |
| London | London |
| Police | Police |
| editorials | editorials |
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