Credit;PA
The Government-backed review of racial disparities in Britain is “out of step” with public opinion, an education union has said.
It comes as chairman of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities Dr Tony Sewell has been been accused of putting a “positive spin on slavery and empire” when explaining the report’s recommendation on teaching history in schools.
The report proposes a Making Of Modern Britain teaching resource to “tell the multiple, nuanced stories of the contributions made by different groups that have made this country the one it is today”.
In Mr Sewell’s foreword to the report, he said the recommendation was the body’s response to “negative calls for ‘decolonising’ the curriculum”.
He wrote that the resource should look at the influence of the UK during its empire period and how “Britishness influenced the Commonwealth” and how local communities influenced “modern Britain”.
In light of the report Boris Johnson’s most senior black adviser has resigned as ministers face a backlash after a Government-backed review said Britain is no longer a country where the “system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities”.
Samuel Kasumu has quit his role as a special adviser to the Prime Minister on civil society but will stay in post until May to continue work on improving vaccine uptake in minority groups, Politico reported.
The timing of Mr Kasumu’s departure comes after the landmark report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities (Cred) faced heavy criticism over its findings, with claims that it is culturally deaf, out of step with public opinion, and “steeped in denial”.
Now Alex Stevens, Professor in Criminal Justice at University of Kent has written a thread slamming the report.
1.
“The #SewellReport really is a verbose, sloppy and intellectually dishonest piece of work. In the bits I know about (drugs and crime), there is a pattern of misleading readers by mischaracterising the sources it cites. Here are some examples.”
2.
“To back a claim that cannabis is a ‘gateway’ drug, it cites a 2002 ACMD report. Here’s what a later (2008) ACMD report says on the issue.”
3.
“To support the idea that stop and search works, they rely on a study in the BJC . While this study found a small association with lower recorded drug crime, it conclude, ‘claims that this is an effective way to control and deter offending seem misplaced’.”
4.
“In discussing the link between race, crime and violent victimisation, the Commission write that age and deprivation explains much of the difference between ethnic groups. The cited report actually shows the disparity is not washed away by deprivation.”
5.
“Perhaps most egregiously, they misrepresent the words of Dame Angiolini in her report on deaths in custody (a report which repeatedly mentions the institutional racism of which Sewell’s Commission denies the existence). Here is their quote of her words…”
6.
“Here are her own words. Judge for yourself if the quote was deliberately cut to change its meaning.”
7.
“To be fair, there are also citations that check out (e.g. to this study of the lack of racial bias in jury decisions).”
8.
“But there are lots of other relevant research which they did not include in their blizzard of references, presumably because it did not fit their argument. E.g. this report on the lack of effectiveness of increased stop and search.”
In another Tweet on the report Matteo Tiratelli wrote: “Just found out that I am cited in a *highly misleading* way in the #SewellReport. It uses my research to try to argue that stop and search is an effective way of reducing drug-related crime. I hope our abstract speaks for itself… The intellectual dishonesty is astonishing.”
Related: Britain not yet a model for racial equality, Church of England’s first black female bishop has said
