Photo credit: “Met police helmet” by Matt Brown is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
So the latest report by Baroness Louise Casey into the Metropolitan Police (Met) has concluded that the organization is institutionally “racist, misogynistic, [and] homophobic” (p.14). Stop the presses! BREAKING NEWS! The police force that has been subject to complaints of racism for at least seventy years, whose relationship with the Black community is so bad that it sparked urban rebellions in 1981, 1985, 1995, and 2011—has a problem with racism! Who knew? It is almost as if the Scarman Enquiry (Report) of 1981 or the McPherson Report of 1999 never happened. But they were all in the years BGF (Before George Floyd) when the scales were firmly entrenched over the eyes of most of the population. In the year 3 AGF (After George Floyd), we should be thankful that the Whitestream media are awake to the nature of the problem. Sadly, there is as much chance of the change we need arriving as there was of the bus turning up when I dropped my daughter at the stop during the strike.
It should be demoralizing how similar the Casey report is to the largely discredited one written by Scarman after the 1981 rebellions. Scarman noted the problem of racism but blamed “a few bad apples” who were spoiling the batch. Casey focuses on the problem officers who bully and harass and recommends stronger vetting processes and misconduct procedures. There is a tired suggestion to take another look at stop and search, which was already tried and failed by Theresa “Hostile Environment” May. On racism, the report is not just flawed it is backward. It is framed by the killing of Sarah Everard and if you ever want an example of how not to work at the intersection of race and gender then the report is at least useful for this. Framing the issue around horrendous police misconduct means completely avoiding the wider problems of the organization. The problem is not bad officers, it is the Met itself.
“Framing the issue around horrendous police misconduct means completely avoiding the wider problems of the organization”
It should not come as a surprise that the report misses the point. Its author is the same Baroness Casey who did the review on social integration and opportunity in 2016. That report also sparked headlines, which included The S*n writing: “GHETTO BLASTER: Mass Immigration to Britain has changed Britain beyond recognition and turned communities into ghettoes, reveals damning report.” Casey was alarmed that there were 24 wards in 12 local authority areas where forty percent of the population identified as Muslim and 20 wards with the same proportion of Indians. God forbid! The report neglected to mention the hundreds of council wards in the country where more than 90% of the population is White. The truth about Britain is that most of the country is highly segregated in White neighborhoods. But that is fine because it assumed that White people have the correct values to ensure their kids do not become terrorists and women are allowed to work. Casey recommended the teaching of so-called British values in schools to make sure that the Darkie kids get the messages their communities could never teach them. Her credentials to carry out this review were even shakier than the author of my favorite government report of all time, Tony “Uncle Ruckus” Sewell.
Let me be clear the Sewell Sewage Report was a rotten stinking mess, but a bit like mold, it grows on you over time, and at least the accompanying coon show was entertaining. More importantly, the report was so ludicrous with its top line that institutional racism no longer exists that everyone got mad. There was no better report for stimulating the energy that we need to take to the government over the problem of racism. Scarman, McPherson and now Casey make it seem like they get it and lull too many of us into the delusion that the recommendations from them are a step in the right direction. McPherson actually admitted institutional racism existed and was followed up by legislation placing the burden on the public sector to be anti-racist. But I, like too many others, have direct experience of an employer quoting McPherson back to me to justify the institution’s racism. It is perhaps no surprise then that nothing has improved since the report or the change in the law. These liberal reports are dangerous because they seem like progress whilst actually cementing inequality. Sewell was perfect because it made no attempt to hide the naked racism of the state. I miss the honesty, it’s the fuel we desperately need.
“These liberal reports are dangerous because they seem like progress whilst actually cementing inequality”
So please do not be seduced by the Casey Review, it is the same White liberal garbage we have been sold for decades. The problem with the Met is not misconduct or vetting procedures but that discrimination is at the core of the police force’s values. In fact, the same is true of the nation where any honest curriculum of British values would be split into the topic areas of racism, misogyny, and homophobia. So I never thought I would say this but please go read the Sewage report to see the state for what it is, get angry, and resist.