Thursday, May 15, 2014.

A Government minister has admitted racism still exists in all facets of life in Britain.

Speaking recently at a conference organised to tackle racism in today’s Britain, Stephen Williams who is the Minister for Communities says racism and racist behaviour is still common in modern British society.

The minister, whose remit covers race equality, says strategies are being developed by the coalition government to encourage all ethnic groups to play an active part in society.

Sandra Osborne MP, who is Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Equalities also expresses dismay at the way in which institutional racism still permeates every aspect of the society. She points out that too many people are still held back by deliberate or unwitting discrimination, whether in employment, in education or in communities.

She said: “We must find ways to change the situation in which, for example, young black men are still seven times more likely than their white peers to be stopped by the police.”

The conference, which had as its agenda the theme ‘Look How Far We’ve Come: Getting Racism Back On The Agenda’, took place last week in London. It was organised by London community organisations BTWSC and African Histories Revisited, as a result of the discovery of the regularly reference that was made to racism during a research of book on African British history to be published in October

The organisers say that finding ways to deal with racism was the task of delegates who attended the conference and that participants were drawn from policy makers to victimised groups.

Contributors at the conference included former Runnymede Trust director Dr. Rob Berkeley, ecumenist/broadcaster Dr. Joe Aldred, Harrow Mayor Cllr Nana Asante, veteran trade unionist Jim Thakoordin, and former leader of Lambeth Council and equalities advocate Linda Bellos.