David Lammy caller: People who think the UK isn't racist are 'having a laugh'

31 March 2021, 15:08 | Updated: 31 March 2021, 15:10

'Being in the UK for a few years has destroyed my view of humanity'

This is the moment a caller, who came to the UK from Africa, told LBC that people who don't think the country is racist are "having a laugh".

Jane in Surrey made the remark to LBC's David Lammy after a landmark report has found that Britain is a model to other countries for diversity because of successes in areas like education and a shrinking ethnicity pay gap.

The 264-page report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities found overt racism persists in the country but its foreword by chair Dr Tony Sewell CBE states that Britain is no longer a place "where the system is deliberately rigged against ethnic minorities".

Jane told LBC about how at university she was treated unfairly by lecturers in her final year despite putting her "heart and soul" into her work.

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She went on to say that even right now she is "dealing with [her] workplace because of discrimination".

Speaking more broadly of her experience since arriving to the UK from Africa, she said: "I always used to think we are all one. People are just who they are.

"But honestly being in this country for a few years, it has completely destroyed [and] decimated my view of humanity.

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"And people...who say that this country isn't racist are having a laugh."

The report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities also states: "We found that most of the disparities we examined, which some attribute to racial discrimination, often do not have their origins in racism."

In addition, it recommends that the acronym BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) should no longer be used and also calls for organisations to stop funding unconscious bias training.

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