The Role Race Plays In Modern Political Engagement

What happens when nearly half of 30% of the UK population feels underrepresented and misrepresented in politics? Well, a rise in distrust in politicians and lower voter turnouts. How is it that in a country as culturally diverse as England, we are failing to hear the voices of millions?

Nearly 50% of people of colour in the UK say that their distrust of politicians is the cause of political disengagement (Abraham and Raven, 2022). They also widely reported that they do not feel like the issues that are important to them are not represented in mainstream politics, which one can understand that you don’t trust the system or the people running it when their main job is to be the voice and leader of a people and they fail to do so.

Figure 1, graph showing reasons for why BME people are not engaging in politics, YouGOv (Abraham and Raven, 2022).

The Labour Party has held the votes of the majority of black and ethnic minority people for a long time, however with the change of leadership from Jeremy Corbyn to Keir Starmer that seemed to change. When a report commissioned by Keir Starmer himself in 2022 concluded that the party has become “an unwelcoming place for people of colour” (Young, 2022), it is easy to imagine the disheartening effect on BME people’s voices and engagement. Black labour MP Kate Osamor also criticized the Labour Party after the release of this report saying: “The report concluded that the party has failed to tackle anti-Black racism and Islamophobia. The leadership of this party needs to respond to that now” (Merrick, 2022). If no party represents their struggles and their struggles as individual groups and not clumping all people of colour together as if all of their experiences are the same, then who are they supposed to vote for?

In 2021 a survey was carried out that determined that BME (black and ethnic minority people) are more likely to be interested in politics than white British people (University of Manchester 2023). This contradicts the narrative that BME people are less politically engaged than white British people. This is also a highly dangerous and damaging narrative that continues to undermine and discredit the experience of BME people in traditional political participation, especially when it is proved that BME people on a large scale feel like British MPs are not representative of the wider population they are supposed to be the voice for (Abraham and Raven, 2022).

BME people are also reported to participate in less mainstream acts of political participation such as protesting and boycotting (Manning, 2015), however, the 8% between the turnout for votes between BME and white British people is running the narrative around political engagement and race (Uberoi and Johnston, 2022).

Figure 2, turnout among people in white versus ethnic minority groups, UK Parliament (Uberoi, Johnston and UK Parliament, 2022).

Academic Theresa O’Toole describes this saying; ”(she) contested the crisis narratives of political disengagement among ethnic minority and Muslim young people, showing that the evidence base for such claims is rather weak. She calls for a broader notion of politics that reflects engagement both within and outside mainstream and electoral politics” (Manning, 2015). As mentioned earlier, the first step to make BME people feel represented and inclined to participate politically is so stop the narratives that demonise them and reject how they use their voices.

The media and the governments, both Tory and Labour must take responsibility for fuelling hateful language and discrimination. The contradictions in the treatment of white versus non-white protesters, criminals and victims are creating and fuelling dangerous biases that can and will result in violence, like the recent riots against specifically black and Muslim people.

With police brutality and discrimination being a big topic of conversation as well as with the recent violent riots by white British people, it is now more important than ever for the politicians and for the general white population to help raise BME people’s voices and make them feel heard and seen in a country where a lot of them currently feel unsafe and attacked. Ethnic and religious minorities have consistently reported “widespread racism, and unacceptable inequalities in health, housing and employment” (University of Manchester, 2023).

This is a great discussion video to watch to understand how politicians, media and racism have fuelled political turmoil and how the lack of action taken by politicians to listen to the peoples needs has caused chaos and violence:

Intersectionality is an important factor to take into consideration, as mentioned earlier there are concerns about the way politicians treat BME people as one group with the same struggles and needs. Intersectionality requires that you take gender, socioeconomic background, religion, ability etc. into consideration as all these things need to be considered together because there are “meaningful differences between each of these communities, which need to be fully understood” (BBC, 2014).

To conclude, there are significant challenges that black and ethnic minority people face when it comes to political engagement. BME people continue to face racism, and their struggles are not validated or taken seriously by the government even now that there is more diversity within the cabinet as well. Politicians are failing to perform at the most fundamental part of their job, and BME people feel as if they get scrutinized for not participating enough and doing their part. Many BME people don’t trust politicians and believe that their voice and vote will not create change or change their circumstances. Therefore everyone must use their influence and their platforms to promote their voices, to hold politicians and media accountable for the narratives they push and for the lack of representation in political discussion. The underrepresentation of black and ethnic minority people in politics both formal and informal is an issue that we are all, and specifically white people who are more or less represented, responsible for. Therefore, we mustn’t let these narratives and our cultural or religious differences separate us but rather unite us as what most people want is to feel safe and heard in the country in which they reside.

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