QUESTION: ON PRIORITIES
Posted by Be Utd in Tell CLG on April 17, 2009 | 5 responses
What should be the Government’s number one priority when it comes to tackling race inequalities?
5 Responses to “QUESTION: ON PRIORITIES”
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What should be the Government’s number one priority when it comes to tackling race inequalities?
The criminal justice system and over-representation of BAME communities at every stage should be the main focus.
I cannot agree with C Pooter, yes the Criminal Justice system is a travesty and has little to do with justice for anyone but housing is even worse.
In the northern towns and some areas of the midlands and parts of London the housing conditions in which the BAME communities live are appalling. Yes this is true for the indigenous population as well but the statistics show that you are far more likely to live in substandard homes, in overcrowded conditions and areas of multiple deprivation if you are from the BAME communities.
These conditions impact on health education and employment opportunities, so I say that housing is the key issue for government to tackle
Housing is but one strand of the sustainable communities agenda, but like Alex, I believe that it is THE MOST IMPORTANT.
If (social) housing allocations,management and cohesion can be drastically improved from the dire current level of service delivery in that sector (dire according to the vast majority of tenants I meet every day), AND the Private Rented Sector can be properly regulated and managed to higher standards, the whole of society would benefit .
Housing is the main vehicle to drive the necessary societal and other change so desperately needed in large areas of our country.
Fairness is paramount, and as Alex states the statistics clearly evidence the current corollary imbalance in demographic/deprivation/crime /health etc. becoming clustered and reflecting often neglected poorly managed communities where despair abounds.
We must be extra careful though not to further stigmatise tenants or the neighbourhoods where they live.
It should be stamping out racism.
Everything stems from the superiority complex; that somehow certain people are sub-human or demonised or stupid or etc, etc.. Then it becomes economic whether in the workplace or in housing or finances, etc, etc..
Everything stems from racism.
Patterns of blatant discrimination in school exclusions still persist – things haven’t changed much since the CRE’s formal investigation report in 1985.
Black students are still 3 times more likely to be excluded than others. It takes them longer to have their special educational needs assessed and adequate remedial resources provided. They face bigger problems in accessing school admissions and transfers/managed moves.
Once excluded, they find themselves on the slippery slope to delinquency, detention, crime, imprisonment, unemployability and mental breakdown.
Government needs to get rid of the clearly discriminatory system of exclusion from school. In the meantime, the DCSF needs to ensure that the parents of excluded children and young people have immediate access to independent expert advocacy services. At present fewer than 1 in 5 have such access.
Black young people – boys and girls – in particular are being denied their human rights – and the authorities don’t seem to care!