Tony Sewell needs to be removed as Chair of the Government Inquiry into racism, for one reason and one reason alone, and that's because he doesn't believe that systemic, institutional racism in a real thing.
Tony Sewell shows a remarkable consistency in dismissing the realities of racism. Such a perspective makes him entirely unsuitable for an inquiry into racism.
That Prime Minister Boris Johnson has chosen someone like Tony Sewell is a deliberate, calculated provocation and a slap in the face for the vast majority of BAME people,
Tony's views on issues of racism are not representative of BAME communities as confirmed the largest poll survey on this issue in recent times, and conducted by ITV that demonstrated that BAME communities believe structural racism is real and increasing.
Another poll conducted by YouGov in June confirmed 84% of BAME Brits the racism still exists in Britain today with only 12% agreeing with the statement that there was very little racism in Britain.
So Tony's appointment, given his perspectives on racism is entirely at odds with the vast majority of views of BAME communities.
Here are some of Tony's headline views that further reinforce why he is not the right person to chair the Race Equality Commission.
He claimed, "Structural racism doesn't explain why black people are more likely to die from Covid."
The apparent answer? "Genetics is the 'bad boy' of science, but it may give us part of the answer" [7.5.20 The Telegraph]
He further claimed, "A culture of low aspiration wrecks the hope of both white and black working-class kids" [6.1.20 The Telegraph]
"Teach the young to respect authority to end the chaos and
violence on our streets" [20.8.20 The Telegraph]
Suggests that 'disparities between races aren't necessarily down to racism' [20.7.20 The Times]
Last year he suggested that his 'mate' Rod Liddle was right in thinking absent fathers are responsible for youth killing. He states racism and poverty are not people must stop blaming gang violence on and poverty and embrace middle‑class values [19.1.20 The Times]
In 2006 he suggested that schools were failing black boys because lessons had become too "feminised". He told the NASUWT union in a conference in London that Schools focused too much on "feminine" qualities such as organisation and attentiveness….
Further back in 2000 he suggested that anti-intellectual Afro-Caribbean youth culture was one of the reasons girls performed better than boys in school.
In 2010, when writing for Prospect magazine regarding the academic performance of Afro-Caribbean boys, he suggested that "much of the supposed evidence of institutional racism is flimsy".
In 2008 Warwick University published findings pointing toward institutional racism holding back Black Caribbean pupils. It found that they were subject to institutional racism in English schools, which dramatically undermined their chances of academic success. This included a significant proportion of Black Caribbean pupils being excluded from taking harder papers with no theoretical justification.
Tony Sewell responded by suggesting that 'racism was not the problem.' Instead, he concluded, "it was more likely to do with the inability or unwillingness of these students to break away from an anti-education peer group that loves the street more than the classroom."
He has been consistent in his stance that Black African & Caribbean children's educational attainment gap is nothing to do with institutional racism and simply a reflection of 'poor parenting, peer-group pressure and an inability to be responsible for their own behaviour.'
In the aftermath of the 2011 riots, he pointed toward an "ethos of materialism — or 'bling' to use the street term — that pervades urban black youth" as having played "a major part in the widespread criminality perpetrated by rioters of all races." This is despite the r300% increase in place stop and searches recorded at the time during Boris Johnson London Mayoralty and the shooting of Mark Duggan.
He added:
"What motivated the troublemakers was not genuine poverty but rather a raw acquisitiveness that is fuelled by so much in this black-led youth culture, from the imagery in rap videos to the lyrics of hip-hop music. The twin central themes of this world are sex and material possessions.
He claimed that the Governments Race Disparity Unit that
records rates of racial inequality, across Government departments, made black people look like 'pathetic losers'.
Further, in response to a 2017 Government report urging public services to "explain or change" to the disparities in how people from different ethnic and racial backgrounds are treated, he took issue with the terminology used suggesting that labels like 'racial injustice' do more harm than good.
More recently, he questioned the authenticity/integrity of Black Lives Matter protesters. "I wonder really whether most of those young people on that Black Lives Matter demonstration really had experienced any racism at all."
Conclusion.
Tony's appointment makes no sense. What is required of such an enquiry is someone who can be led by the evidence, whose views are reflective of the consensus opinion of British BAME communities. His appointment is akin to appointing Brer Fox as chair of an inquiry into the disproportionate deaths of chickens.
