Priti Patel, if you’re serious about tackling racism in Britain then put offenders on a hate crime register

If the government is now looking at itself, ministers should be ashamed at what they see. So many promises made with little or nothing to show for it, says Thom Brooks

A woman paints a ‘Black Lives Matter’ mural on a street in Brooklyn, New York (Reuters)

Nearly one month ago, George Floyd’s on-camera killing by a white police officer in the United States gave new impetus to the Black Lives Matter campaign, and helped to spread support for the cause in this country, too. As Will Smith observed, racism isn’t getting worse, it’s getting filmed. A moral stain such as this cannot so easily be ignored when it’s circulating across social media.

The problem with racism in the structures and institutions of our society is well documented. There are reviews aplenty confirming racial bias in the criminal justice system (exposed by the Lammy Review), in the workplace and on the underachievement of white working class children in schools. While these reports pile up, the injustices continue. The need for action is now visible on the streets of our towns and cities as the public demand change.

We’ve seen Theresa May’s “race disparity audit” providing further evidence of a shameful inequalities from access to health care to housing and beyond. She described this work as “holding a mirror up to our society”.