Equal Opportunities?

In America in 2014, the President is black. Black policemen are fairly common: so are black politicians, black mayors, black Marines, and to a lesser extent black businessmen. In Britain however, there are still many professions in which Blacks have not yet managed to make much progress. Although Blacks and Asians make up over 14% of the population of London and about 8% of the total British population, you won't often see a black policeman, or a black Royal Marine. For many reasons, Blacks have found it hard to enter a number of professions; and once in these professions, they often find it harder to get promoted than white people. In 1981 40% of Britain's Whites worked in professional, managerial or clerical jobs, only 13% of Blacks held similar jobs. Blacks do, nevertheless, hold some important positions in British life; in the media, the most trusted TV newsreader is Trevor McDonald, the former anchor of ITV's popular "News at Ten" programme; and on the BBC, Moira Stewart, also black, was one of the most popular newsreaders. Many British employers now officially label themselves "Equal Opportunities Employers"; police forces are trying hard to recruit more black officers, and the number of black doctors and lawyers is slowly but steadily rising, as a growing - though still relatively small - proportion of black teenagers go on to university, and qualify for better jobs. In 2009 there were five Black MP's in the House of Commons, including David Lammy, who was Minister for higher education, was brought up as a child in a poor quarter of London. Some people say that he is one of the brightest M.P's in the Labour Party.