COULD COVID-19 DEATHS AMONG THE BAME COMMUNITY IN THE UK BE TRACED TO RACISM?

Samuel Abah, PhD.

President HolyNations Int’l Ministries/EBIHAS virtual research and training

SYNOPSIS

While racism is very apparent in some society, it is salient in others. Particularly when it is rooted in institutions and controlled by cabals. This seems to be the case in the United Kingdom. Just put your eyes down and you will see it. It is not as common to see police killing “People of Colour (PoC)” on the streets in the UK but many bullets are routinely being fired through high level diplomacy against PoC in several institution within the UK. As a proponent of equality, inclusion and diversity we hope to somehow pinpoints how racism might have contributed to higher death rate among the BAME community in the UK and to also highlight some racism stories in the United States and then propose some framework to fighting racism and inequality by drawing on the past and present lessons for the future.

Studies showed increasing level of racism in the UK. Racism in the UK has had correlation with unemployment and foreigners. Black and Asian Britons, the BAME community in general, were reported to be less likely to be employed and are more likely to work in worse jobs, live in worse houses and suffer worse health than White Britons (Modood et al. 1997; Blackaby et al. 2002; Robert, 2008).

This is likely to be responsible for the widely reported higher incidence of COVID-19 deaths among the BAME population. Provisional analysis has shown that the risk of death involving the coronavirus (COVID-19) among some ethnic groups is significantly higher than that of those of White ethnicity. Black males are 4.2 times more likely to die from a COVID-19-related death and Black females are 4.3 times more likely than White ethnicity males and females. People of Bangladeshi and Pakistani, Indian, and Mixed ethnicities also had raised risk of death involving COVID-19 compared with those of White ethnicity.

Various police forces in the United Kingdom have been accused of institutional racism throughout the late 20th and 21st centuries and women professors in the UK has claimed to be victims of racism all through their career.

The challenge of racism in the UK is a serious one in that, surprisingly, about 33% of English, Welsh and Scottish people has claimed that they have been victim of racism. There is also an increasing challenge of discrimination among BAME/PoC which could be very pronounced at times. In-spite of these in-loco discrimination among the BAME community, it is true that this group are under heavy racism attack within the UK more than any other group.

References

Ford, Robert. "Is racial prejudice declining in Britain? 1." The British journal of sociology 59.4 (2008): 609-636.

Blackaby, D., Leslie, D., Murphy, P. and O’Leary, N. 2002 White/ethnic Minority Earnings and Employment Differentials in Britain: Evidence From the LFS’, Oxford Economic Papers 54 (2): 270– 97.

Modood, T., Berthoud, R., Lakey, J., Nazroo, J., Smith, P., Virdee, S., and Beishon, S. (1997) Ethnic Minorities in Britain: Diversity and Disadvantage, London: Policy Studies Institute.