Abstract
The chapter begins by discussing the failure of the hopes for the elimination of racism, voiced after the end of the Second World War, to live up to expectations. It goes on to discuss how the mental health system is part of controlling racialised groups in various settings; and how racism operates in employment in the National Health Service and in the Department of Health. It draws on personal experience in discussing the position of black people in a racist mental health system and how black people can try to influence policy in institutions although these are essentially dominated by white people. It ends by considering the issues of power and privilege associated with racism; and the restrictions that result from academic disciplines, including clinical psychology and psychiatry, being informed by limited sources—what is called white knowledge.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Anwar, M., & Ali, A. (1987). Overseas doctors: Experience and expectations. A research study. London: Commission for Racial Equality.
Berman, G., & Dar, A. (2013). Prison population statistics. London: House of Commons. Retrieved March 10, 2015 from http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/research/briefing-papers/SN04334/prison-population-statistics.
Bhattacharyya, G., Gabriel, J., & Small, S. (2002). Race and power: Global racism in the twenty-first century. London: Routledge.
DOE (Department of Education). (2012). A profile of pupil exclusions in England (Research Report DFE-RR190). London: DOE. Retrieved March 10, 2015 from https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/183498/DFE-RR190.pdf.
EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission) & Runnymede Trust. (2015). From local voices to global audience: Engaging with the international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (2nd ed.). Retrieved on August 19, 2016 from http://runnymedetrust.org/projects-and-publications/europe/cerd.html.
EHRC (Equality and Human Rights Commission). (2016). Race rights in the UK. Submission to the UN committee on the elimination of racial discrimination in advance of the public examination of ICERD. London: EHRC. Retrieved August 19, 2016 from https://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/our-human-rights-work/monitoring-and-promoting-un-treaties/international-convention-elimination-all.
El Magd, N. A. (2016). Why is my curriculum white? Decolonising the Academy. (Blog in NUS Connect, 9 February). Retrieved on April 10, 2017 from http://www.nusconnect.org.uk/articles/why-is-my-curriculum-white-decolonising-the-academy.
Fanon, F. (1952). Peau noire, masques blancs. (Editions de Seuil, Paris). Black Skin, White Masks (C. L. Markmann, Trans.). New York: Grove Press, 1967.
Fanon, F. (1967). Racism and culture (text of Franz Fanon’s speech before the first Congress of Negro Writers and Artists in Paris, September 1965, and published in the special issue of Présence Africaine, June–November, 1956). In F. Maspero (Ed.), Toward the African revolution: Political essays (H. Chevalier, Trans.), (pp. 31–44). New York: Grove Press.
Fearon, P., Kirkbride, J. B., Morgan, C., Dazzan, P., Morgan, K., Lloyd, T., et al. (2006). Incidence of schizophrenia and other psychosis in ethnic minority groups: Results from the MRC AESOP Study, Psychological Medicine, 26, 1541–1550.
Fernando, S. (1996). Black people working in white institutions: Lessons from personal experience. Human Systems: The Journal of Systemic Consultation and Management, 7(2–3), 143–154.
Fernando, S. (1998 November/December). Open letter to Frank Dobson. Openmind, 94, 15.
Fernando, S. (2014). Mental health worldwide: Culture, globalization and development. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Gabriel, J. (1998). Whitewash: Racialized politics and the media. London: Routledge.
Howitt, D. (1991). Concerning psychology: Psychology applied to social issues. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Howitt, D., & Owusu-Bempah, J. (1994). The racism of psychology: Time for a change. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester-Wheatsheaf.
Inyama, C. (2009). Race relations, mental health and human rights—The legal framework. In S. Fernando & F. Keating (Eds.), Mental health in a multi-ethnic society (pp. 27–41). London: Routledge.
Jolliff, T. (2016). The NHS is moving backwards on race equality. The Guardian, 31 May. Retrieved on August 22, 2016 from https://www.theguardian.com/healthcare-network/2016/may/31/nhs-moving-backwards-race-equality.
Kline, R. (2014). The ‘Snowy White Peaks’ of the NHS: A Survey of Discrimination in Governance and Leadership and the Potential Impact on Patient Care in London and England. (Report held at Middlesex University Research Repository). Retrieved March 26, 2017 from http://eprints.mdx.ac.uk/13201/.
NIMHE (National Institute for Mental Health in England). (2003). Inside outside: Improving mental health services for black and minority ethnic communities in England. London: Department of Health. Retrieved October 10, 2016 from http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/+/www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_4084558.
Race Relations Act. (1976). London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office.
Sashidharan, S. P. (2006). Personal communication to author.
Stop Watch. (2017). Metropolitan police: How many searches do the police do? Retrieved April 1, 2017 from http://www.stop-watch.org/your-area/area/metropolitan.
Taylor, R. (2014). Section 60: A most draconian stop-and-search law that plays to police prejudice, The Guardian, 6 February. Retrieved February 16, 2017 from https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/06/section-60-draconian-stop-and-search-police-prejudice.
The National Archives. (1994). Powers of police to stop and search—Section 60. Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994. (The official home of UK legislation). Retrieved February 9, 2017 from http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1994/33/section/60.
TSO (The Stationery Office). (2010). Equality Act (2010). Norwich: TSO. Retrieved November 20, 2016 from http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/contents.
UCL (University College London). (2015). Why is my curriculum white? YouTube. Retrieved September 28, 2016 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dscx4h2l-Pk.
UN (United Nations). (1965). United nations international convention on the elimination of all forms of racial discrimination (CERD). Geneva Office of the High Commissioner, United Nations Human Rights. Retrieved February 10, 2017 from http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CERD.aspx.
Vittachi, T. (1962). The Brown Sahib. London: Andre Deutsch.
Weigel, M. (2016). Political correctness: How the right invented a phantom enemy. The Guardian, 30 November 2016. Retrieved December 10, 2016 from https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/nov/30/political-correctness-how-the-right-invented-phantom-enemy-donald-trump.
Willinsky, J. (1998). Learning to divide the world: Education at empire’s end. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Fernando, S. (2017). Persistence of Racism Through White Power. In: Institutional Racism in Psychiatry and Clinical Psychology. Contemporary Black History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62728-1_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-62728-1_7
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-62727-4
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-62728-1
eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)