Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities report overlooked ‘30 or 40 years of evidence’ about inequalities

As scandal is mentioned twice in 258 pages, some of those affected question government’s understanding of it

Dal Babu, who was one of UK’s most senior British-Asian officers, regrets taking part in racial disparity report

This report comes at a pivotal moment for our nation’s race debate. We need to place that debate on objective and democratic foundations – ones that include people of goodwill, of all races and ethnicities. The purpose of this report is to lay the ground for a country built on the full participation and trust of all communities. We envisage a country more at ease with itself because it can recognise where progress has been made. One that is confident that, where unequal access to opportunity persists, whether among inner city ethnic minorities or the left-behind from the ethnic majority, it is being addressed.

Objective To quantify rates of organ specific dysfunction in individuals with covid-19 after discharge from hospital compared with a matched control group from the general population. Design Retrospective cohort study. Setting NHS hospitals in England. Participants 47 780 individuals (mean age 65, 55% men) in hospital with covid-19 and discharged alive by 31 August 2020, exactly matched to controls from a pool of about 50 million people in England for personal and clinical characteristics from 10 years of electronic health records. Main outcome measures Rates of hospital readmission (or any admission for controls), all cause mortality, and diagnoses of respiratory, cardiovascular, metabolic, kidney, and liver diseases until 30 September 2020. Variations in rate ratios by age, sex, and ethnicity. Results Over a mean follow-up of 140 days, nearly a third of individuals who were discharged from hospital after acute covid-19 were readmitted (14 060 of 47 780) and more than 1 in 10 (5875) died after discharge, with these events occurring at rates four and eight times greater, respectively, than in the matched control group. Rates of respiratory disease (P

This was a wasted opportunity. But last year’s protests created a move for change the government won’t be able to hold back, says Simon Woolley, director of Operation Black Vote

In the face of adversity, allies come together. It's clear this Commission wants to set race relations back by 20 years - we're not going to let that happen. Stay mobilised, stay engaged, stay positive. In case you missed our event, catch it here.

A government who doesn't like it when people say institutional racism exists appointed a panel of people who don't believe institutional racism exists, and they've produced a report which argues that institutional racism doesn't exist.— Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) March 31, 2021

What the Commission on Race & Ethnic Disparity said about why ethnic minority people are more likely to die from covid-19 (left).What the ONS report they cite to support this claim actually says (right). pic.twitter.com/TjhLIJPUze— Jonathan Portes (@jdportes) March 31, 2021

Jonathan Portes @jdportes - I & others have pointed to errors/misrepresentations in the report of the Commission on Race and Ethnic Diversities. To be fair, there is plenty of good or uncontentious stuff. But leaving aside the specific empirical analysis, a short thread on the conceptual framework.

Monish joined us to outline the history and contemporary use of electron monitoring (tagging) for criminal sentencing and punishment which was extended under the Asylum and Immigration Act s36 to ‘immigration controls’ of ‘high risk’ individuals. This is a special five part series in collaboration with the official journal of the Institute of Race Relations (IRR), Race & Class. The series begins with an introduction to the history of IRR with Director Liz Fekete & follows with four episodes about the latest special issue: Race Mental Health, State Violence with editors Eddie Bruce-Jones & Monish Bhatia and contributors Tarek Younis and Vanessa E Thompson. With special thanks to Sophia Siddiqui.

We have published a rapid review that calls for further action on racial bias in pulse oximetry. A series of recommendations for national healthcare, regulatory and research bodies have been outlined: https://t.co/yyOEJnq9Pl https://t.co/TMpGOnh0qH

Campaigners raise concerns about scope of commission after claims one of its key proposals focuses on term

Boris Johnson’s race equality advisers are expected to suggest change after study of employment market

Gender equality can seem like one big homogeneous bowl of intentions demonstrating that we care about women. A better structure for change centers on the perspective, needs and experience of Black women. Today’s common trickle-down approach is not working; a “trickle up” or “follow up” paradigm would be more effective.

Some thoughts on the legal and ethical implications of ‘vaccine passports’ (thread)— Adam Wagner (@AdamWagner1) March 4, 2021

Social media influencers of African origin have banded together, using ‘fun activism’ to make their voice heard. “Things have got better, but still today it is difficult to find work, as prejudices still exist. But we don’t want to play the victims of racism – we are self-deprecating, and the idea is to try to bring about change.”

High levels of deprivation and job insecurity, vast income inequality, housing discrimination and medical disparities have long had a severe impact on the tangle of communities and ethnic minority populations that live in these boroughs. But when combined with the necessity to go to work, to take public transport and to share space in densely packed housing, they also provided the perfect breeding ground for a deadly virus. The domino effect would prove catastrophic.

Algorithms are meaningless without good data. The public can exploit that to demand change.

Interviews with diversity managers and internal data obtained by Recode indicate that Black Amazon employees are promoted less frequently and are rated more harshly than non-Black peers.

“As a queer Black woman living in a white supremacist world, the traumas I endure and the impacts on my health are never-ending.”

Actor David Harewood's BBC documentary explores why people of colour are more likely to die from Covid-19.

Clearview AI's latest patent application reveals the firm's ongoing plans to use surveillance against vulnerable individuals. According to BuzzFeed News, a patent was filed in August which describes in detail how the applications of facial recognition can range from governmental to social — like dating and professional networking. Clearview AI's patent claims that people will be able to identify individuals who are unhoused and are drug users by simply accessing the company's face-matching system.

Francisca Rockey is passionate about expanding diversity, equity and inclusion in the geography field—and she says elevating Black stories and voices is key.

Article about the (unpaid) role that Black doctors are playing on Clubhouse in order to combat misinformation about the Covid vaccine. The fact that this platform isn't bothering to even try to address the negative externality of misinformation is a perfect example of a negative impact of data and tech. Black people are already at higher risk of being infected by Covid and of dying from it so the impact of misinformation is disproportionate.

Machine learning programs trained with patients’ own reports find problems that doctors miss—especially in Black people. Full study here: https://go.nature.com/3pnOwWP