Four London landmarks were lit up with stark statistics from Professor Keon West’s research, forcing Britain to confront the scientific evidence of racism many still try to ignore
Londoners were stopped in their tracks as stark, glowing sentences pulsed across the sides of landmark buildings. From the National Theatre to city offices, giant projections declared uncomfortable truths.
They weren’t opinions, slogans or political statements – they were scientific findings drawn directly from Professor Keon West’s new book The Science of Racism.
One outside the National Justice Building read: “Black people are 25% more likely to be found guilty than White people for the same evidence”. While another near the Courts of Justice said: “Black students are given 15% worse grades than White students for identical work”.
The adverts are the creation of Professor Keon West, a social psychologist who wanted Britain to see racism factually – not as a debate but rather as data. The aim of the projections were to equip people with the facts to tackle the rising tide of misinformation and anti-immigration sentiments across the country.
“We’re in a position now where we’re having a very serious conversation about racism and in which society on a whole is shifting away from believing that racism is real and away from believing that it’s a real problem,” Professor West told the Mirror.
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When writing his book The Science of Racism, Professor West noticed how often people claimed racism isn’t an issue in Britain. He saw the conversation shifting away from evidence towards political arguments and realised many people simply didn’t believe racism was a factor today.
And while there are plenty of books on racism, he noticed they mostly reach people who already believe racism is a problem. He wanted to write a book that would cut through to the people who don’t believe its a problem.
“It’s not really an evidence-based argument, it’s more a political argument, I didn’t like the fact that was what was out there, I wanted there to be more out there,” he explained.
The Science of Racism is his attempt to fix that. It’s built entirely on studies, something Professor Keon believes is long overdue.
“Especially since scientifically the research on racism is incredibly clear,” Professor West added. “That racism definitely exists, it’s definitely pervasive, it definitely affects every area of our lives. We can test it, we can measure it, we can track it, we can quantify it we have science for a reason and we should use it.”
Just last year, it was revealed that Black women in the UK are up to three times more likely to die in pregnancy, childbirth or postnatal period compared with their white counterparts. Professor West says this statistic reflects only one part of a much bigger, measurable pattern and he used his book to show other areas of systematic racism to be presented.
Outside St Thomas’ Hospital a projected statistic echoed this point. It read: “Black patients wait 42% longer for medical appointments than equally ill White patients.”
“The part that people don’t know or don’t want to talk about or that makes [people] very uncomfortable, but is still very true is that these numbers persist,” Professor West said, reflecting on the stark realities behind his own findings.
He also highlights another stark finding – that was projected near the Courts of Justice – that, “Black students are given 15% worse grades than White students for identical work.”
He explained: “When we talk about Black students get 15% lower grades for the same work, we mean that we run experiments in which we send exactly the same work to hundreds or thousands of instructors. We just change the name to make it look like it’s a white student or a black student, and the black students will get lower grades.”
When he saw those same results projected across London, it hit him harder than he expected. He said: “I’ve known these things for a long time, so these are facts I’ve been very familiar with for a while but I have to admit that when I saw them, it made me very sad, I have to be honest.”
While Professor West notices there have evidently been improvements with racism, he understands that many people tend to frame racism as something that ended decades ago – however, from he’s research he knows Racism is still alive in the UK.
“It’s easy to displace racism to the past. It’s easy to pretend that racism is a problem of our grandparents or of someone far away or someone from another country – but that’s a different conversation and a much more swampy one,” he said.
“We should get the same money for the same work, we should get the same jobs for the same experience. We should go to jail on the basis of the same evidence. But that’s not true,” he added.
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But Professor Keon believes facing current racism requires honesty many prefer to avoid after been told multiple times that people find science harder to digest than lived experiences. “We are deeply ignorant about the reality of racism in our world and it is shocking how ignorant we are and how many decisions we make based on that ignorance,” he said.
Prior to writing the book, he was met with people saying “why don’t you just talk about the time someone called you the n word” as they believe scientific studies were boring. But he wanted science to lead the book, and though he understands the impact of people sharing their lived experiences, he refuses to let it replace the undeniable statistics.
He explained: “Stories can be easy, but in some ways, while they can make an immediate emotional connection, they don’t necessarily prove things that we’re trying to prove.”
While the book is set to spread awareness, he wants this to ignite conversations and give everyone an understanding how his findings shape the lives of many.
The projections were designed to force Britain to look up, while the science they displayed forced the public to understand. Together, one thing is impossible to ignore – the data shows Britain can’t look away from the truth any longer.
Professor Keon West’s book ‘The Science of Racism’ is available to buy now.
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