#Coronavirusuk BAME death rate - Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Trevor Phillips

Stating the obvious - many people have contacted the Coronavirus in the UK and to date over 25000 have died.

While it is still early days in statistical analysis, it appears a disproportionately higher % of people with a BAME (Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic) background have been affected by the corona virus.

The Guardian - While black and minority ethnic people make up only 14% of the UK’s population, they account for 35% of all coronavirus patients in intensive care

London, which has the most diverse population in the UK in both absolute and percentage terms, has had the highest number of coronavirus deaths. The West Midlands, with the second most diverse population, has been another hotspot for coronavirus deaths, with Birmingham recording the most cases after London.

It is a concern for everyone including the Government, NHS, Public Health England and of course the major political parties, pressure groups and media.

Here are some recent headlines :

Telegraph - Why are so many black and ethnic minority people dying from coronavirus?

Guardian - BAME groups hit harder by Covid-19 than white people, UK study suggests.
It would be surprising if anyone would argue the statistics and the reasons for them do not require a thorough examination and an explanation sought.

Serious commentary acknowledges the reasons may be complex. There could be a multitude of factors all contributing including : 

• % in urban living
• cultural and lifestyle differences
• specific ethnic health issues
• cultural attitude to exercise
• obesity
• housing
• dietary differences
• relative poverty
• A medical consultant from a Midlands hospital - “We need to ensure that every individual, including the BAME population, are following social distancing instructions.“We have anecdotal information that it might not be happening in certain BAME groups.”

However some have been quick to make judgements and assertions :

Metro - High number of BAME coronavirus deaths ‘magnifies UK’s institutional racism’

London Mayor Sadiq Khan calls the BAME death rate an "injustice."

It is clear this is going to be a very contentious subject because some have already made their mind up that the figures are evidence of racism and/or inequality.

The Labour Party have appointed Baroness Doreen Lawrence to head their enquiry into the subject. Doreen Lawrence as you will recall is the mother of Stephen Lawrence the young black boy tragically murdered some years ago. His parents fought a courageous battle to evidence the Metropolitan Police were racist in the way they approached the investigation into their sons death - and subsequently this brought an apology from the Met Police and they changed they way they operated.

Doreen Lawrence has become symbolic in the fight against racism. She was recently criticised by many however for stating "  "Had Grenfell Tower been a block full of white people, they’d (London Fire Brigade) have done everything to get them out as fast as possible and make sure that they did what they needed to do," she said, in an interview with Channel 4 News last week.

Trevor Phillips on the other hand has been appointed by the gov't as part of the team of Public Health England (PHE) to look into the disproportionate death rates among BAME communities. Some have reacted very badly to his appointment including the Muslim Council of Britain. Trevor Phillips is a former head of The Equalities & Human Rights Commission. He has a stellar record in exposing racism and inequality and fighting for justice in BAME communities. However Trevor Phillips is nobody's patsy and many in the BAME communities regard him as an Uncle Tom because he has not been slow in finding fault with them too in a genuine attempt to bring about equality and stamp out racism. He is currently suspended from membership of the Labour Party because of accusations of  Islamophobia. In the past Phillips has said :-

Grooming scandal 

In a 2016 pamphlet, Mr Phillips wrote: 'The most sensitive cause of conflict in recent years has been the collision between majority norms and the behaviours of some Muslim groups.

'In particular, the exposure of systematic and longstanding abuse by men, mostly of Pakistani Muslim origin in the north of England.'

'Nation within a nation' 

In 2016 Mr Phillips was quoted in a Times story on a survey of values, referring to 'the unacknowledged creation of a nation within the nation, with its own geography, its own values and its own very separate future'.

Most of the other charges refer to Phillips's views on Muslim integration. At various points he has said Muslims "see the world differently from the rest of us" and cited "the unacknowledged creation of a nation within the nation". He's said the integration of Muslims would "probably be the hardest task we've ever faced" and urged a "more muscular approach". He's noted that few attendees at a conference of Muslim scholars which he attended wore poppies.

He's also been picked up for criticising the official reluctance to link child grooming scandals to regressive social norms within some Muslim communities. This is a sensitive area of public discussion, particularly because the 'grooming gangs' phenomenon is used by far rightists against Muslims in general. It's no trivial detail that the Christchurch attacker, who carried out his massacre of Muslims almost a year ago to the day, had 'For Rotherham' written on the side of his gun. But it's also a source of understandable public anger that those in positions of power have failed to deal with the sexual abuse of thousands of girls out of fear of being accused of racism. And walling off discussion about it has not helped blameless British Muslims; quite the opposite.

The point I am trying to make - and I know I have not been succinct, is there is clear need to investigate why there have been proportionately so many BAME deaths. However some seem to have decided the reasons for the outcome already. Doreen Lawrence's appointment demonstrates where the Labour Party thinks the explanation lies.

There have been many who argue that some Muslims (for instance) have put worship ahead of social distancing and BAME communities have been slow to follow the rules. Some feel the white community are the ones now suffering overt racism from the BAME communities and are under siege. They are concerned this important issue will be used as yet another stick to beat them with even though fault does not lie with them. They feel white racism towards BAME communities is overplayed to gain both social and economic advantage by BAME communities in a pre meditated way. 

With someone like Trevor Phillips we are much more likely to get a nuanced and well researched report - feeding back how things actually were and are rather than a report that represents the pre conceived agenda and partisan battles of minds and communities. This could prove very important because this issue is enormous in our society and the report conclusions will have wide reaching impact.

Baroness Doreen Lawrence with Sir Keir Starmer Labour Party leader

Trevor Phillips - appointed as part of the PHE review team