If you listen to Parm Sandhu’s interview with Channel 4 presenter, Cathy Newman, where she talks about her 30 year distinguished career in the Metropolitan Police Force, and how racism forced her out of the job that she loved, you will be disheartened and discouraged at the lack of progress within Britain’s police force. You will also be equally disgusted that cold, corporate values are being championed by organisations and the government as the standard for tackling racism.
I have to admit that I found it very difficult to watch Parm Sandhu’s interview with Channel 4 presenter, Cathy Newman. Parm was discussing her forthcoming memoir, Black and Blue, which is due to be published next week. She talks about her 30 year career within the Metropolitan Police Force and how racism and sexism forced her prematurely out of the job that she loved. Parm became the most senior woman of colour in the force, becoming chief superintendent, but her journey to the top was riddled with racist obstacles and barriers.
Racism Has Gone Worse In The Police Force
She described one incident when a member of the public racially abused her and the relief that she felt when her colleague came to her defence, only to be shocked when the same colleague said that only police officers were allowed to racially abuse her.
Parm also described how when she applied for the chief superintendent position she was asked to discuss her Indian heritage as part of the vetting process. Parm was born and bred in Birmingham but that did not matter to the Met, as far as they were concerned she was a potential national security threat.
Parm boldly stated that racism has gone worse in the police force since the Macpherson inquiry following the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence. She cited examples of senior officers of colour who were disproportionately represented in being investigated by the Met. Minority Perspective has covered stories before of police corruption and racism New website exposes police corruption and racism and Police force rocked again after senior black officer claims racism.
Corporate Racial Equality: The Illusion Of Diversity
Let’s be honest, Parm is right, nothing has changed and things have even probably got worse. We have more political correctness than ever in history, we have more emphasis on racial equality than ever in history, especially since the murder of George Floyd, yet if we were to be honest with ourselves the stubborn face of racism continues to grow and stand steadfast. If people are really changing surely there would be sweeping changes throughout society?
This leads me on to what I believe is a crucial turning point in race relations and the fight for genuine racial equality. Racism has been rebranded to accommodate a new corporate-led vision for global consumerism. (The Corporate Commodification of the Black Civil Rights Movement) This vision has been adopted by organisations like the Metropolitan Police Force and the government to push numerical representation rather than genuine racial equality. For example, the police force can boast record numbers of recruiting officers of colour, they can also boast of people of colour in senior positions within their organisation and this is seen as racial equality when in reality it is an illusion and does not represent real racial equality for each individual.
This is the fallacy that is now being pushed by the mainstream media so that even far-right parties could claim racial diversity if they had members of ethnic heritage.
Parm’s experiences is a perfect example of how the new corporate race relations industry works, the Metropolitan Police can say that they have changed because they have recruited more officers of colour. It does not matter if these officers are racially abused in the workplace, if they are victimised and denied promotion because of the colour of their skin. What really matters is that the Metropolitan Police can say that they have changed because they have recruited more officers of colour. Welcome to corporate racial equality, where numerical representation is paramount over genuine change.
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