5 Racism as Legal Pandemic: Thoughts on Critical Legal Pedagogies
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Foluke Adebisi
Abstract
George Floyd’s last words were ‘I cannot breathe’. But, the truth is that it is we who cannot breathe amid all the ongoing hatred and racism. It is devastating to see that many people survive the global pandemic (COVID-19) only for their lives to end by another human. Hence, it is important to end this evil cycle before it puts an end to us.1
Quite soon after the COVID-19 pandemic reached the UK, its disproportionate impact on Black and other people of colour in our communities and among NHS staff became apparent. We watched the viscerally arresting pictures of the first NHS deaths displaying Black and Brown faces on our news screens. We waited desperately for answers and solutions in the subsequent official reports (PHE, 2020) with the banal ministerial claims that the ‘virus does not discriminate’ ringing in our ears. However, we knew, as Omar Khan, the former Director of the UK’s leading race think tank, the Runnymede Trust, was quick to remind those of us that needed reminding: ‘racism is a matter of life and death’2 which the pandemic has merely served cruelly to expose and exacerbate. ‘Racism is the real pandemic’ – as the banners of Black Lives Matters (BLM) protesters (shown in Figure 5.1) proclaimed – because COVID-19 does discriminate through inequalities in health, education, housing and employment, impacting and determining ‘the lives of BAME groups from cradle to grave’. In November 2020, the American Medical Association, recognized racism – systemic, cultural and interpersonal – as a ‘public health threat’3.
Abstract
George Floyd’s last words were ‘I cannot breathe’. But, the truth is that it is we who cannot breathe amid all the ongoing hatred and racism. It is devastating to see that many people survive the global pandemic (COVID-19) only for their lives to end by another human. Hence, it is important to end this evil cycle before it puts an end to us.1
Quite soon after the COVID-19 pandemic reached the UK, its disproportionate impact on Black and other people of colour in our communities and among NHS staff became apparent. We watched the viscerally arresting pictures of the first NHS deaths displaying Black and Brown faces on our news screens. We waited desperately for answers and solutions in the subsequent official reports (PHE, 2020) with the banal ministerial claims that the ‘virus does not discriminate’ ringing in our ears. However, we knew, as Omar Khan, the former Director of the UK’s leading race think tank, the Runnymede Trust, was quick to remind those of us that needed reminding: ‘racism is a matter of life and death’2 which the pandemic has merely served cruelly to expose and exacerbate. ‘Racism is the real pandemic’ – as the banners of Black Lives Matters (BLM) protesters (shown in Figure 5.1) proclaimed – because COVID-19 does discriminate through inequalities in health, education, housing and employment, impacting and determining ‘the lives of BAME groups from cradle to grave’. In November 2020, the American Medical Association, recognized racism – systemic, cultural and interpersonal – as a ‘public health threat’3.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents vii
- List of Figures and Tables ix
- Notes on Contributors xi
- Preface xiii
- Series Editor’s Preface xv
- Introduction 1
-
Justice
- Ruling the Pandemic 15
- Remote Justice and Vulnerable Litigants: The Case of Asylum 27
- Virtual Poverty? What Happens When Criminal Trials Go Online? 41
- Genera-Relational Justice in the COVID-19 Recovery Period: Children in the Criminal Justice System 53
- Racism as Legal Pandemic: Thoughts on Critical Legal Pedagogies 65
- Rights and Solidarity during COVID-19 79
- COVID-19 PPE Extremely Urgent Procurement in England: A Cautionary Tale for an Overheating Public Governance 93
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The Social
- Accountability for Health and the NHS under COVID-19: The ‘Left behind’ and the Rule of Law in Post-Brexit UK 107
- COVID-19 in Adult Social Care: Futures, Funding and Fairness 119
- Housing, Homelessness and COVID-19 131
- Education, Austerity and the COVID-19 Generation 143
- What Have We Learned about the Corporate Sector in COVID-19? 155
- Social Security under and after COVID-19 171
- Maintaining the Divide: Labour Law and COVID-19 187
- From Loss to (Capital) Gains: Reflections on Tax and Spending in the Pandemic Aftermath 199
- Index 209
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents vii
- List of Figures and Tables ix
- Notes on Contributors xi
- Preface xiii
- Series Editor’s Preface xv
- Introduction 1
-
Justice
- Ruling the Pandemic 15
- Remote Justice and Vulnerable Litigants: The Case of Asylum 27
- Virtual Poverty? What Happens When Criminal Trials Go Online? 41
- Genera-Relational Justice in the COVID-19 Recovery Period: Children in the Criminal Justice System 53
- Racism as Legal Pandemic: Thoughts on Critical Legal Pedagogies 65
- Rights and Solidarity during COVID-19 79
- COVID-19 PPE Extremely Urgent Procurement in England: A Cautionary Tale for an Overheating Public Governance 93
-
The Social
- Accountability for Health and the NHS under COVID-19: The ‘Left behind’ and the Rule of Law in Post-Brexit UK 107
- COVID-19 in Adult Social Care: Futures, Funding and Fairness 119
- Housing, Homelessness and COVID-19 131
- Education, Austerity and the COVID-19 Generation 143
- What Have We Learned about the Corporate Sector in COVID-19? 155
- Social Security under and after COVID-19 171
- Maintaining the Divide: Labour Law and COVID-19 187
- From Loss to (Capital) Gains: Reflections on Tax and Spending in the Pandemic Aftermath 199
- Index 209
