Book Review: Violent Racism: Victimisation, Policing and Social Context
| Date | 01 May 1999 |
| Published date | 01 May 1999 |
| DOI | 10.1177/026975809900600306 |
| Author | Karen Chouhan |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
International
Review
ofVictimology,
1999,
Vol.
6,
pp.
253-259
0269-7580/99
$10
©
1999
A B
Academic
Publishers-
Printed
in
Great
Britain
BOOK
REVIEWS
VIOLENT
RACISM:
VICTIMISATION,
POLICING
AND
SOCIAL
CONTEXT.
Benjamin
Bowling,
Clarendon
Press;
Oxford,
1998.
ISBN
019
8262523.£40.
1998
was
the
50th
anniversary of
the
Universal
Declaration of
Human
Rights
and
the
Human
Rights
Act
1998
will
soon
be
active
in
Britain
so
it
was
particularly
heartening that
Bowling
grounded
this
book
with
a
human
rights
starting
point:
as
he
says,
the
book
is
for
those
'who
hold
human
rights
paramount'.
With
impeccable
timing
the
book
emerged
during
the
Macpherson Inquiry
into
the
racist murder of
Stephen
Lawrence.
The
advisors
to
Macpherson,
in
particu-
lar Bishop
John
Sentamu,
quoted
from
the
book
during
inquiry
hearings
and
the
final
report included Bowling's
comments
on
institutional
racism.
Whilst writing
an
independent report of
the
Macpherson
Inquiry
for
the
1990
Trust
(a
national Black
networking
and
policy
forming
organisation) I
too
found
the
book
an
invaluable
reference
for
the
history
of racial
attacks
in
Britain.
Bowling deals
with
this
history
in
part 1 of
the
book
by
examining
the
founda-
tions
of racial hostility
from
Elizabeth I
right
through
to
the
20th
century
including
the
pernicious Powellite
and
Thatcher
eras
to
the
present.
What
is
particularly
good
about
this
history
is
that
it
demonstrates
the
role
of
the
state
in
laying
the
foundations
for
racism
and
racial
violence
to
flourish.
And
although
he
does
not
use
the
term explicitly
he
also
exposes
the
culture of denial of racial
violence against Black
people.
He
cites
figures
to
show
that
in
1980
and
1981
racial
murders
rose
dramatically
to
32
compared
with
a
total
of
26
in
the
previous
nine
years.
This
together
with
the
inner
city
riots
of
the
early
80s
prompted
some
Home
Office
action
via
special
committees
and
the
Scarman
Inquiry.
Although
Scarman brought a
semblance
of
action,
the
police
strategies
and
responses
to
racial
attacks
continued
to
be
heavily
criticised
by
Black communities
for
failing
to
take
the
issue
seriously
enough.
Bowling
could
have
made
more
here of the
connections between
the
culture of
denial,
the
criminalisation of Black people
and
policy responses
to
examine
how
they
feed
into
and
breed institutional
racism.
Bowling
consistently demonstrates
the
police
inertia
and
general
lack
of
understanding of
the
issues
not
just
around
racial
attacks
but
issues
of
race
and
racism
generally.
For
example
he
quotes
the
Metropolitan police submission
to
the
Home
Affairs
Committee
on
racial
attacks
in
1981:
'Although
the
[Home
Office]
report
highlights
the
impact
of racial
attacks
on
the
ethnic
minority
communities,
it
should
be
remembered that
racial
attacks
affect
all
parts
of
the
community
and
the
impact
of street
crime
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