I recently watched Ana DuVernay’s documentary 13th; a fascinating study into how the Thirteenth Amendment led to a process of mass incarceration in the United States, through which racial discrimination is inextricably intertwined. The documentary opens with a quotation from the amendment: “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States.” DuVernay then plunges into an exploration of the correlation between this seemingly tiny clause to the 2.2 million prisoners in the US justice system.

Recently, the Black Lives Matter movement gained new international attention due to the global protests in response to the brutal killing of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The death of George Floyd and subsequent events have made acknowledging the prevalent issues of police brutality, particularly towards black people, and the calculated and horrific state of systematic racism which plagues the US today simply unavoidable. As a UK citizen, this led me to reflect upon the role racism has played in the UK, both individually and institutionally.

Most of the UK is witnessing the events materialising in the US with abhorrence, from an imagined distance, and although most people are aware of the racism which is still rife globally, we run the risk of feeling that the UK is somehow more progressive than the US or that we have somehow conquered structural racism. This is far from the case. The myth that we live in a post-racial society in the UK is one proclaimed by politicians, and much of public opinion follows. However, in reality, whilst systematic racism takes on different forms compared to mass incarceration and police brutality on the scale we see in the US, racism is nowhere near extinguished in the UK. Indeed, the UK is far from innocent. We have a long way to go, and arguably the declaration that the UK is exempt from the systemic racism which plagues America shows that we are not moving in the right direction: How can we progress when much of the population does not acknowledge the issue of racism? Systematic racism exists at every level in the UK; from our government, to employment, to healthcare, to education.

In this article I will take a linguistic perspective, examining the language used in discussions of systematic racism in the US and the UK. I will focus in particular on the meaning and impact of two words which circulate such discussions in the UK: tolerance and anti-racism. At first glance, the two terms seem compatible, almost synonymous, but with a little examination, their disparity becomes clear.

Most of us were aware that racism continues to be perpetuated globally through practices within societies, governments and organisations, however 13th documentary makes explicit the calculated link between slavery in the US and today’s prison-industrial complex and mass incarceration, through the ‘mythology of black criminality’ in the US. The criminalisation of a group of peoples has occurred repeatedly throughout history, and it is usually inflicted by colonizers in order to ostracize and exclude certain groups whom they are attempting to control. This was explicit in colonial India under British rule in the mid-nineteenth century, when notions of hereditary criminality were developed by British colonial rulers, based on the idea that members of certain tribes were somehow inherently criminal and certain groups more likely to commit crime. This justified implementation of legislation to categorize and control native communities, which was materialised in the Criminal Tribes Act.

Whilst the process in the US is more elusive, there is a similar notion of hereditary criminality surviving; the same notion which underpins the link between the legislation of the Thirteenth Amendment in the US, and the mass incarceration of black people in the US. Such myths are not only archaic and outdated, but actively instrumental in perpetuating systematic racism in both our society and our governmental structures. Recognising the importance of language choices in legislation, sometimes disguised forms of racism and derived from racist histories, like that elusive clause in the Thirteenth Ammendment, is fundamental in dismantling the ideologies and practices that constitute systematic racism.

According to the 13th, the US is home to 5% of the world’s population but 25% of the world’s prisoners. Moreover, African Americans make up 6.5% of the American population but 40.2% of the prison populace - a statistic so extortionate that it’s almost difficult to comprehend. Between 1980 and 2015, the number of people incarcerated increased from 500,000 to 2.2 million. As explained in the Thirteenth and demonstrated in these statistics, mass incarceration is not only a by-product of, but is at the very core of a meticulously crafted economic solution to continuation of the slave trade. This ‘solution’ functions as a criminal justice system fuelled by racial disparities, which target and deconstruct BIPOC communities.

This word ‘criminal’ repeatedly appears in white letters on a black background in the film, and DuVernay discusses in an interview for ‘The Atlantic’ the nature of identification, labels, and how these things have worked against black people. She questions “Who is the criminal? Why do we think that? Do you understand the architecture around an idea that you hold in your head?” We should not underestimate the impact of language and linguistic choices; the words choose to use have the power to either resist or to reinforce racist structures which have stubbornly forced their roots throughout society, but language is never passive. Ultimately, the momental and tragic impact of such a tiny clause in the Thirteenth Amendment proves the immense power that language holds, both in legislature and in our everyday lives; we should words consciously and with awareness.

It is easy to think from our position in the UK that we have somehow overcome such structural racism. We do not experience the same rates of mass incarceration, but this is because history played out differently – although still far from innocently - in the UK after the abolition of slavery, and racist structures endure in different forms. To what do we owe this myth that the UK is a post-racial society? Well, first we can look to our government and those in positions of power. In Eliane Thoma-Stemmet’s recent article examining the prominence of systematic racism in the UK, she highlights the role of government and wider society. The health secretary Matt Hancock recently denied that the UK is racist, himself a part of the governments responsible for incidents of structural discrimination of the black population in the UK from the Windrush scandal to the lack of housing regulations facilitating the Grenfell fire. Many have responded by calling Hancock ‘ignorant’, however here we see the importance of language in this debate. To call Hancock, amongst others who deny the existence of systematic racism in the UK, simply ignorant, is misplaced. Do we really believe that such figures are unaware of these structures that they continuously reinforce? I believe that to deem this ignorance somewhat frees him of the responsibility to actively work against these systemic failures which his ‘ignorance’ perpetuates.

Britain, and its government, often prides itself on its ‘tolerance’ to minorities, expecting praise for this accomplishment. But what is tolerance? Tolerance can be defined as the ability or willingness to tolerate the existence of opinions or behaviour that one dislikes. Is it something which we should be striving for, especially as a country who played a central role in the slave trade, the implementation of a system resting upon discrimination and racism, and the subsequent reconstruction of our economy along such lines? We cannot begin to examine history without considering the impact of colonialism globally, which has penetrated almost every part of the world, and the reverberations of which are still felt today. Economically, the shrinkage of economies under colonial rule, the exploitations of power, corruption of politics, and the social mistreatment of communities. This is coupled with the lack of reparations worldwide for colonialism, as well as the controversies surrounding the relationships between aid, development, and exploitation. Tolerance is not adequate in the face of this. Being tolerant does not indicate a position of active, progressive dedication to dismantling racism. Instead, it represents a shameful passivity, a reluctance to accept certain groups, and no attempt to acknowledge injustices and create change.

This passivity is reflected most significantly in the racial wage gap, which is still prevalent in the UK; employers, consumers and the government are complicit in this. UK-born black African employees are paid on average 7% less than white British employees in the same year, and employers are all too aware that exploitation of immigrant or non-white jobseekers is possible because of the lack of government intervention. Moreover, the public continues to purchase and sustain such businesses, with sites such as Boohoo gaining popularity among young people for their cheap prices - but this comes at a cost, and a racially charged cost. Fast fashion is a key (but not the only) industry guilty in this equation of wage discrepancies. This economic discrimination extends to ethnic minority groups in the UK; in 2018 Pakistani and Bangladeshi employees were paid 20% less on average than white British employees in similar occupations, with similar educational histories.

Moreover, whilst the UK’s systematic racism does not materialise itself in the same corrupt system that is the US prison system, racism is still rife. Inequality permeates our criminal justice system, policing and law enforcement. Black individuals in the UK are almost 10 times more likely to be searched than white individuals – this statistic would not exist in a ‘post-racial’ society, and begs the question: are we going in the same direction as the US? The criminalisation of the black community exists in a more subtle and elusive way in UK policing, and when power takes such an obscure form it is difficult to identify and thus change.

Instead of operating from a position of tolerance, which is essentially one of passivity and ambivalence, we should call upon our governments to engage in an active policy of ‘anti-racism’; the practice of actively opposing racism. The first step in this must be acknowledging the existence of such historical structures - both material and ideological - in our educational system. How can we expect change, if young people are not properly educated? It is shocking and surely not accidental that the history of colonialism, in which Britain played a brutal and instrumental role, is almost entirely absent from the UK school curriculums. Tolerance is not enough. We need a government who will pledge active opposition to racism, at every level from education, to employment, to housing, to healthcare. Working towards ending racism in the UK is not only a social issue, but a political one, and it takes only a little research to see which parties aim to combat racism, and which parties seek to maintain it.

However, it is not only the government who is complicit in maintaining such structures. It is also imperative to look at our wider society, and ultimately reflect on ourselves. For all of my life I have considered myself anti-racist, a label I have worn proudly, but recently I have been asking myself: what have I actually been doing to oppose racism? I am reminded of that seemingly subtle yet transformational difference between tolerance, and anti-racism… Was I sufficiently educating myself of the issues that black people face in society today? Had I been dedicating my time to supporting and getting involved with groups supporting justice, rights and freedom for black people, and challenging systematic racism in my everyday life? Had I been observing or even joining in such dialogues? Upon reflection, I realised that I have not been doing enough, and I will admit that. In fact, like many people I had been identifying as anti-racism when in reality I was doing little to contribute to the change which we need, I had not been doing justice to the term.

Whether you are from the UK, the US, or anywhere, this is a good time to notice the difference between active anti-racism, and passive tolerance. Whilst government policy is the fire that continues to fuel systematic racism, we as a community have the choice to either maintain it through passivity, or to unite and extinguish that tired flame which has inflicted suffering for far too long. Regardless of the political climate in which we live, we as individuals have the power to reflect upon our own actions and change ourselves. We should not underestimate the impact of collective activism. Previously I was aware of the issues of racial discrimination in the UK, but moving forwards I want to continuously re-evaluate whether my actions reflect my words. We must be consistently making strong connections between our linguistic proclamations, and our material actions.

I am now making an active effort to fulfil my position, which I hold proudly, as anti-racist, and I invite you to join me. From reading documents which are being shared as educational resources detailing information about systematic racism, to dedicating time to understanding such issues and engaging with dialogues, to using my voice as a writer to bring awareness to racism, to donating and supporting organisations which support the Black Lives Matter movement and the protection of black communities, to supporting black owned businesses and artists, I hold myself accountable to being an active participant in the anti-racist movement. I urge everyone else to do the same, and this can only bring about the change that we so desperately need to move from a society of shameful tolerance, to a proudly anti-racist one.

Sources

https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-13th-review-20161001-snap-story.html

https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/10/ava-duvernay-13th-netflix/503075/

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