5 November 2020 — Institute of Race Relations

In the current mainstream discussion about racism in political parties, the history of state racism – through the passing of implicitly racist immigration controls – doesn’t even merit a mention. It is as though politicians and media pundits have no memory, beyond the immediate moment, let alone a conception that the British state, like any other state in the world, can embed racism in its laws and policies. Racism in immigration controls started with the Conservatives’ passing of the 1905 Aliens Act to control Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe. And, if we want to talk about more recent shame, one of the most shameful acts of any post-war Labour government came in 1968 when it enacted the Commonwealth Immigrants Act – specifically designed to decitizenise and deny entry to East African Asians who were British citizens, having been taken by the coloniser, Britain, to Africa.

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