18 JAN year. And the latest figures for homicides show 25 percent more black people were killed in the period 1998-2001 than the previous 3 year period. This compares to an increase in white victims of only 5 percent.
The number of black people arrested is also significantly up, but they are proportionately less likely to receive a caution and more likely to be remanded in custody than
Prison numbers are at an all time high of 72, 522, of which a wholly disproportionate and growing number are black - 21 percent of men and 26 percent of women. Since Stephen Lawrence's murder the number of black people in prison has almost doubled.
Is with prison places, there is no shortage of government commit ment when it comes to boosting police numbers - up by over 3 percent in the past 18 months to an all time high of over 130,000. In February, staff at a Birmingham store came face to face with what this means when a beat bobby threatened them with prison if they didn't pull down an anti-war poster, claiming that it was spreading "racial hatred".
What this all adds up to is a dramatic increase in the racism of the criminal justice system since the MacPherson Report. This is against a background of a governmentfuelled campaign of xenophobia and racism against asylum seekers and the witch-hunting of the muslim community in the socalled "war against terrorism". The results have included a resurgence in support for the far right - with the BNP winning five council seats and fighting a record number
Given this history of Labour betrayal, the black community will want to look elsewhere for solidarity and support in its strug gle for equality, rights and justice.
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10 soclansti Socialist Alliance campaigning * May 2003 meeting in Anfield. The Lib-Dem coun