Today is National Stephen Lawrence Day, which celebrates the life and legacy of Stephen Lawrence. Stephen Lawrence was a Black British teenager who was murdered in an unprovoked racially motivated attack while waiting for a bus in Eltham on the evening of 22 April 1993.

The term institutional racism was first coined in 1967 by Stokely Carmichael and Charles V. Hamilton in Black Power: The Politics of Liberation. Carmichael and Hamilton wrote that institutional racism is less perceptible because of its “less overt, far more subtle” nature. Institutional racism originates in the operation of established and respected forces in the society.

According to data compiled by INQUEST, there has been a total of 211 deaths of Black, Asian and Minoritised Ethnics in custody (189) or following police contact, and as a result of police shootings (22) in England and Wales since 1990.

Black people are 28 times more likely than white to be stopped and searched by the police (using Section 60 powers).

Black people are over 3 times more likely than white people to be arrested.

Those classifying themselves as ‘Other Black’ are 6 times more likely than average to be admitted as mental health inpatients.

In October 2017 the landmark Independent review of deaths and serious incidents in police custody by Dame Elish Angiolini QC was published. The review recognised the disproportionate number of deaths of people from Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic groups following restraint and the role of institutional racism and police training and concluded that the “deaths of people from BAME communities, in particular young Black men, resonate with the Black community’s experience of systemic racism.”

In April 2018, a group of UN experts commented on ‘structural racism’ being rooted at the heart of British society. The group of human rights experts cited police data showing a disproportionate number of people from ethnic minorities died as a result of excessive force.

In April 2021, the UK government published the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities: The Report  predicated on previous reviews (i.e., The Macpherson Report 1997, Race Disparity Audit 2017, The Lammy Review 2017, Windrush Lessons Learned Review 2020), claiming that institutionalised or structural racism ‘DOES NOT EXIST IN BRITAIN!’

In July 2021, the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, published a damning report calling on states including the UK to “end impunity” for human rights violations against Black people by police officers and reverse the “cultures of denial” towards systemic racism, particularly in the context of policing and deaths in custody.

The March 2023 publication of the independent review into the standards of behaviour and internal culture of the Metropolitan Police Service by Baroness Casey found ‘institutional racism, misogyny and homophobia in the Met.’

Let me be clear… Racism is the manifestation of white supremacy. White supremacy is based on the doctrine of scientific or biological racism (founded in Eugenics) and relied on pseudoscientific arguments that are NOT based on what is recognised today as credible scientific research.

White supremacy is the institutional belief that White people are superior to those of all other races, especially the Black race, and should therefore dominate society. White supremacy as a racist ideology underpins the justified use of violence and acts of terror against Black and Global Majority populations.

White supremacy has always maintained the sanctity of Whiteness.

So, who will maintain the sanctity of Blackness if not us?

Please support the Stephen Lawrence Foundation. The Foundation, established amid unprecedented growing global awareness of racial inequality, exists to inspire a more equitable, inclusive society, and to foster opportunities for marginalised young people in the UK. More information here