Race hate crimes – collateral damage of Covid-19?

JVL Introduction

In this wide-ranging and disturbing interview, written up by Liz Fekete of the Institute of Race Relations, they describe how a combination of Covid-19-linked racism, the ‘Blame China’ narrative and lockdown social distancing measures, are impacting on the caseload of The Monitoring Group.

They also reflect on the weak responses from the multiple agencies that should be assisting.

In his summing up Suresh Grover remarks that ” Hate crime policies have focused on individualised definitions of racism and identity politics. The IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism for instance has contributed to the dismantling of a collective understanding of racism (both here and internationally) and a unified struggle against all forms of racism it in favour of a misconstrued interpretation of victim-centred approaches. This has led to a hollowed out understanding of racism.”

Suresh Grover is Director of The Monitoring Group and a former coordinator of the Stephen Lawrence Family Campaign. Dorothea Jones is a caseworker at The Monitoring Group, which provides advocacy, counselling and campaigning support for the victims of racism.

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This article was originally published by Institute of Race Relations on Mon 20 Apr 2020. Read the original here.