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KusminderChahal (1999) 'The Stephen Lawrence Inquiry Report, RacistHarassment and Racist Incidents: Changing Definitions, ClarifyingMeaning?'
Sociological Research Online, vol. 4,no. 1, To cite articles published in Sociological Research Online,please reference the above information and include paragraph numbers ifnecessaryReceived: 21/03/99 Accepted:23/03/99 Published:31/3/99AbstractThe attempt by Macpherson to clarify the definintion of aracist incident has further highlighted how racism and racist harassmentare misunderstood and not effectively debated. This paper highlights someof the issues which emerge from the Stephen Lawrence Inquiry's definitionof of a racist incident and whether it will be a useful tool.Keywords:Definitions; Lawrence Inquiry; Racist Harassment and Incidents What is a RacistIncident?1.1There has been a debateregarding how to define racist harassment and racist incident since atleast 1981, and this debate is central to how the problem is understoodor more often than not how it is misunderstood. The Macpherson Report (1999) into the death ofStephen Lawrence and the subsequent events after this tragic event havealso hinged on how a 'racist incident' is defined. What is interestingabout the current debate is how newspapers have reacted to Macpherson'srecommendation that the existing definition of a racist incident shouldchange. It is the intention of this brief commentary to criticallyevaluate the new Macpherson definition of a racist incident and itswider implications.
1.3If Carole Malone doesindeed treat all people the same then she has very little to worryabout. However, she implies that the 'blank cheque' could be misused byblack people. For a number of years it has been argued that existingdefinitions used by agencies fail to adequately explain what racistharassment is. Macpherson had the opportunity to clarify the meaning ofa racist incident and racist harassment, but this has not been actedupon and clarity provided. Instead we are left with a definition whichcontinues to imply that white people are just as likely to be victimsof racist harassment as black people.
1.4Carole Malone probablyechoes the feelings of a number of white people - that black peoplewill misuse the opportunity provided by the definition to brand allactions taken by white people as racist. Certainly, the DailyTelegraph's concern was that the Macpherson definition would inreality be unworkable and that any person could be branded a racistwhich would mean that the reported figures would increase quitedramatically (Daily Telegraph, 2 March 1999). However, giventhat versions of the Macpherson definition have been in existence fornearly twenty years and there has been no surge of black peoplecomplaining about white actions as racist is ignored by suchscaremongering. The very fact that black and minority ethnic people donot report every experienced racist incident is because there is anaccepted level of apparently routine forms of white racism (Blackburn REC, 1997).
1.6It will not be a greatsurprise if the police adopt the new definition because, ultimately, ithas not changed the emphasis of how a racist incident is perceived orclarified who are the prime targets for such incidents. The Macphersondefinition is 'business as usual' in its misunderstanding of whatracist harassment is and why racist incidents occur, and a definitionwhich cannot adequately locate the motivation behind a racist incidentis of little practical use to clarifying meaning. The paradox is thatthe Macpherson Report openly discusses "racism" and "institutionalracism" particularly with regard to it disadvantaging minority ethnicpeople, and yet locating racism as a motivation for suffering a racistincident and its prime target being black and minority ethnic people isgenerally ignored by the Inquiry Report. In attempting to clarify whatinstitutional racism is, the Inquiry should have also attempted toclarify what a 'racist incident' is, who it is aimed at and why. Theconsequence is that Macpherson's recommendation that 'this definitionbe universally adopted by the police, local government and otherrelevant agencies' (my emphasis) is politically naive and doomed tofailure with regard to those community based agencies, for their frameof reference in understanding racist harassment is racism and theiroverwhelming case load is of black and minority ethnic people andoccasionally their white partners experiencing racism. Moreover, forthe critics of diversity and anti anti-racism, the Macphersondefinition of a racist incident should be seen as a victory because nowwhite people can claim that they are also the victims not just blackand minority ethnic people - even they can see the absurdity in adefinition which proposes that anyone can make a complaint aboutanother person and apply a racist label.
1.7If the Macphersondefinition is to be the standard that police and other official bodiesoperate with, we need to ask whether there is there any useful purposein continuing to monitor by racial origin just who it is who reportsracist incidents and just who it is who experiences them, given thatanybody and everybody can. And if we are to continue to monitor racistincidents by racial origin, we also need to ask what the purpose is, ifthe experience of racism plays no part in the racist incident. Indeed,in my view the whole debate needs to centre on whether there is anyutility at all in having a definition if it does not radically alterthe service that people are trying to access.
1.8Stephen Lawrence wasmurdered by racists. An Inquiry established to uncover the facts failedto relate the murder to what black and minority ethnic peopleexperience on a routine basis. The routine nature of racist abuse,insults and threats is the key to British society accepting that theblack experience is fantastically different from the white experience.The Policy Studies Institute estimated that in a 12 month periodcovering 1993 and 1994 there were nearly 300,000 racist incidentsexperienced by black and minority ethnic people in England and Wales.80% of these incidents were racist abuse and insults (Virdee 1997). Such experiences have beendocumented elsewhere (Chahal 1992; Hesse et al 1991). But such everyday experiencesare rarely reported for a variety of reasons, including fear ofretaliation, concern that a complaint will not be taken seriously, orthat such events are too numerous to report and are managed as part ofthe lived experience.
1.9Current definitionsobscure the fact that black and minority ethnic people are more likelyto experience racist incidents than white people, whether as adults orchildren. If all the research evidence suggests this, then why do wepersist in having operational definitions which continue to fail torecognise who are the targets of racist harassment and attacks?
2.2Clearly the Group had alimited understanding of the operation of racism. However, thestatement also begs the question of how they know this. Why are whitepeople afraid of being harassed or worse by black people - is it fromexperience of black racism or is it their own racism or paranoiafuelled by stereotypes? Bonnerjea and Lawton(1988) argue that white people cannot be the victims of racistharassment:
2.3Thus the statement 'pakisgo home' or 'nigger' and 'wog' have a resonance. They make a clearstatement about black and minority ethnic people's position in Britishsociety. If a black person retaliates with a similar remark -'snowflake go home' - there is no context of power. However, the wholelife experience of racism which black and minority ethnic peopleexperience is actively ignored and discounted. The development and useof definitions is just one means that this is achieved.
2.4Definitions about anysocial phenomena communicate to society what is important and what isrelevant. All mainstream attempts at explaining racistharassment/incidents have been flawed but have highlight that they arethe product and a symptom of a racialised society which clearly knowswho is the dominant group. No society is likely to declare itselfracist 'by definition'. Thus anti social/racist behaviour isrationalised as a universal phenomena - in other words, it can happento anyone. This denies the racist element of an action. Further thisgives legitimacy to the claims that white people also experience andsuffer the indignity of racist harassment. It is therefore likely thatall definitions used and constructed will continue to confuseinter-racial incidents with racist incidents and reduce the latter tothe former (see for example, CRE 1987, Home Office 1981).
2.6A racist incident is anact which is a power relation of domination between a majority(superordinate) group and a minority (subordinate) group. It is adoctrine and action of superiority regardless of whether a geographicalarea is pre-dominantly white or Asian or black. The teenage murderer ofAhmad Iqbal Ullah in a Manchester school playground in 1986 was heardshouting 'I've killed a paki'. Similarly, prior to Stephen Lawrencebeing brutally stabbed he was referred to as a 'nigger'.
2.7It is difficult, given theoverwhelming weight of evidence of who experiences racism, to continueto define racist incidents or harassment as a two-way process andignore unequal power relations and the general climate in whichminority groups are perceived and represented as different. Althoughfirmly locating the victim as the key decision maker, the Macphersondefinition fails to take into account the reality of who has power inthe investigating process. It is nave to develop definitions of what aracist incident is which is based on singular events and ignores theinter-connectedness of black and minority ethnic people's experiencesof multiple victimisation and ultimately of having their experiencesdenied as part of a general social phenomenon. Perhaps the key questionto ask is whether the Macpherson definition would have made anydifference to Stephen Lawrence, Ricky Reel, Imran Khan, Manish Patel,Mohan Singh Kullar .....
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