Race Relations Act 1976 Essay

When studying Race and Racism in Britain the pivotal turning point of race relations is the passing of the Race Relations Act on the 22nd of November 1976. The Race Relations Act made discrimination unlawful on the grounds of race, colour, nationality and ethnicity. For me this point in history, equality of race is formally dealt with, as it is the first law introduced to ensure that racial and ethnic discrimination is forbidden in Britain. The Race Relations Act made it unlawful to discriminate against a person on racial grounds in employment, education and in the provision of goods and services. This act was only the start of eliminating racial discrimination; however it was the foundation of it all and is the reason behind such improvement in equality today. The 1976 Act was amended, not replaced, by the Race Relations Amendment Act introduced in 2000. After the 1976 Act was presented, racial discrimination did not automatically vanish, however it made it clear to the vast majority of people within Britain that discrimination has no place in society and that changes had to be made. Making discrimination unlawful within employment coincides with the Sex Discrimination Act of 1975, where by it was illegal to discriminate women in the workplace, such as, selection for a job, training, promotion, work practices or dismissal, with the only difference being based on racial terms rather than gender. This brought equality in the workplace and introduced more rights to ethnic minority groups. The Act also makes it unlawful for public bodies to discriminate while carrying out any of their duties. Public bodies are obliged to make sure their employment procedures and service delivery do not have a disproportionate impact on particular ethnic or national groups. The Act, based upon education, forbids the discrimination of ethnic minority pupils, in terms of non-admission to the school, college or university, inequality once within the school and also abuse from other pupils and teachers due to their race or nationality. In addition, discrimination in the provision of goods, services and facilities was made unlawful. It is forbidden for anyone within the industry of providing goods or services to discriminate someone on the grounds of ethnicity or nationality. Within all these fields race relations is attempted to be improved, and by doing so equality is acknowledged and ethnicity is somewhat striving to become a factor that is non-existent in society and the workplace. Race Relations simply means the relationships between individuals from different ethnic groups. Obviously the Race Relations Act was intended to put forward a new way of thinking towards various ethnic minority groups and to look at them as equals. As I said early, that the Act introduced in 1976 was the turning point, as it were, of racial discrimination, as it was the first law opposing racial discrimination. However, the number of riots protesting against racial inequality had risen after the Law was presented. The 1980’s sparked a series of riots in mainly afro-Caribbean areas, protesting against discrimination and poverty. With the spur of the riots throughout the 1980’s, it could be said that this proved that the Race Relations Act did not perform its task, which was to eliminate racial discrimination. As we know, this act was amended in 2000 to enhance the Act by ensuring there were no exceptions, such as the police, and other public bodies, who were initial exempt from the Law. On the contrary, what can be said about the riots is that the police, due to their exemption from the Act, discriminated against black people, through the ‘sus’ law and thus performing random searches on people who they believe to be suspicious. The police would stop and search people they believed to be suspicious, however the number of black individuals against white individuals was extremely disproportionate, â€Å"In the 1960s and 1970s, the way in which the ‘sus’ laws were used by police officers created widespread resentment amongst ethnic minorities, who felt they were being unfairly targeted by the police. This led to a series of civil disturbances, including the infamous Brixton riots in 1981†[1] This shows that the police took advantage of their exemption from the 1976 Relations Act Race, by looking at ethnic minorities in a much more suspicious way than white individuals, and thus discriminating them. There is further evidence to back-up this statement, with the Notting Hill riot in August 1976. With young black tempers flaring due to the ‘sus’ law by which anyone could be stopped and searched if thought to be suspicious, inevitably riots broke out, with over 100 people, police and others, being injured. In the 1970’s and the 1980’s the police were pivotal figures of racial discrimination, which is the reason for the amendment of the act in 2000. The Race Relations Act was not automatically going to create a country free of racism. It is impossible to transform a countries view on racial discrimination through one law being passed, due to the fact that racial discrimination against ethnic minorities has been apparent for centuries, with the slave trade only being abolished in August 1834, through the Slavery Abolition Act. Before the Acts were produced racism was something that occurred all the time. Nothing was thought of it, as minorities were not seen as equals, rather as second class citizens or sometimes seen not even as citizens. With the majority of the black population being enslaved for thousands of years, no one ever thought it was wrong to discriminate an individual for their ethnicity. A lot did not change, after the introduction of the Race Relations Act as discrimination was still apparent. However, what can be said about how the Act impacted on race relations is that the minority groups had a foundation to voice their views. Prior to the Act, riots were much less than in the 1980’s, which I believe is due to the Act. Riots aren’t healthy for a country; however it shows that the minorities believed that their opinions mattered, to an extent. The creation of the law proved that the Government believed the minority groups should be treated as equals, therefore, having the support of the Government. The impact of the Act was that it formally gave ethnic minorities a place in society and as equals. The minorities had the support and sympathy of the Government, which is the main body needed to live in a country. I believe that the introduction of the Race Relations Act gave ethnic minorities the belief that these initial changes made through the act, could be pushed even further, and as we know, this eventually happened through the Race Relations Amendment Act of 2000 and further amendments up until now. You cannot judge the impact of the Law immediately after it was produced, you have look at what has been achieved today. Equality is apparent, there is no visible discrimination in the workplace, such as lower pay to ethnic minorities, or lack of promotion opportunities and racism, yet still occurring, is extremely scarce compared to twenty or thirty years ago. Huge improvements have been made in the workplace and education, as well as the reduction in racial riots in Britain. With all this in mind, evidently the Race Relations Act was successful, as the task of the Law was to ensure equality in society, and to reduce racism throughout Britain. Riots were still taking place throughout the 1990’s and the start of the twenty first century, but nothing in comparison to the amount that occurred in the 1980’s. Nevertheless, the Oldham riots in May 2001 were said to be the worst racially motivated riots in Britain for fifteen years prior to the event. Particular groups involved were white and south Asian-Muslim communities following a sustained period of racial tensions and outbreaks in Oldham. The Bradford Riots were also seen as a major intense period of rioting which began on 7 July 2001. It occurred as a result of intensified tensions between the large and expanding ethnic minority communities and the city’s white majority, fuelled by confrontation between the Anti-Nazi League and the British National Party and the British National Front. Despite the improvements in racial equality and the acceptance of different ethnicities from society and the Government, there is still an organisation within Parliament, known as the British National Party, who were involved in spurring on the Bradford riots in 2001 and openly discriminate and discredit ethnic minorities. Before February 2010 only white British citizens could join the party, as they do not consider ethnic minority groups to be British and part of the country. This shows that racial discrimination is still active, not only through individual abuse, but within Parliament and from an organised political movement. With this in mind, how successful is the Race Relations Act when this country still has an openly racist party, whose policies do not include ethnic minority communities, but also aims to separate them from society? However, the party still, from being founded as a splinter group from the National Front in 1982, does not hold any seats in Parliament, proving that their support is limited and weak, thus not having much influence on politics, at this moment in time. The Race Relations Act enhanced race relations in Britain immensely, in the long term, however the 1976 act didn’t fully ensure that every aspect of racial discrimination was abolished, which was the reason the Government amended the Act in 2000, therefore it can be said that the real influence on race relations was the Race Relations Amendment Act formed in 2000, as this was the law that dealt with every factor to eliminate racial discrimination in every field of society. Ultimately the Race Relations was pivotal in improving relations between different ethnic groups, as it was the first formal law introduced by Parliament to reform the issue of racial discrimination. This gave the ethnic minorities the belief that things could be altered and improved further to ensure an equal country, free of racism, which is, to an extent, what today’s world is becoming. Relations between ethnic groups have been non-existent throughout the centuries, with racism being something that ethnic minorities had to deal with personally, without the support and sympathy of the Government. Improvements in the workplace, education and, through the Race Relations Amendment Act, the police prove that race relations have developed, along with the reduction of riots within Britain. Without the Law being introduced this country would still believe that race equality should not happen and that ethnic minorities are second class citizens. With the Government pushing forward the law to eliminate racism and build equality, the people will most of the time support their aspirations and beliefs. Obviously the Race Relations Act of 1976 was not the only factor in building race relations and equality; however it is, in my opinion, the most important, as it built a solid foundation for Britain to develop race relations on legal grounds.