Sewell quoted from Bob Marley’s Redemption Song during his opening remarks. He said: “He [Marley] says this: ‘Old pirates, yes, they rob I/ Sold I to the merchant ships/ Minutes after they took I/ From the bottomless pit/ But my hand was made strong/ By the hand of the almighty/ We forward in this generation triumphantly/ Won’t you help me sing/ These songs of freedom?’
“He’s talking here about slavery, those pirates robbing him, how African slaves retained the powerhouse of their imagination. That was the thing that the slavers couldn’t take away from us. We had our imagination and this led to resistance and it’s led to us retaining our African culture right inside that horror of slavery.”
Last modified on Mon 12 Apr 2021 09.31 EDT
At least 20 organisations and individuals who were listed as stakeholders in the government’s race disparity commission have distanced themselves from the report and its findings.
The report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, released at the end of March, concluded that while racism and racial injustice still exist, geography, family influence, socioeconomic background, culture and religion all have a greater impact on life chances.
It was widely condemned by MPs, unions and equality campaigners as “divisive” and a missed opportunity for systematic change.
The 258-page report notes that the commission heard evidence from a number of organisations and individuals during the course of its work and it thanked them for their participation in an appendix.
Downing Street rewrote independent report on race, experts claim morningstaronline.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from morningstaronline.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Academics Listed In Government-Backed Race Review Deny Taking Part
Anger over Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report s claims about who it heard evidence from.
Authors and academics cited in the controversial government-backed review on racial disparity have dismissed the suggestion they “participated” in the report.
The analysis by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities, published on Wednesday, drew criticism for rejecting the term “institutional racism” – saying it should not be used as a “catch-all” phrase for any “micro-aggression”.
At the top of the report’s Appendix D: Stakeholders list of organisations and individuals, the commission said it had “heard evidence from many during the course of its work” and “would like to thank the following for their participation”.