AS quickly as protesters in the UK took to the streets in solidarity with George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement, almost instinctively, the country tried to separate itself from events in the US. 

On racial tensions, Newsnight’s Emily Maitlis suggested America and the UK weren’t on the same footing. “Our police aren’t armed, they don’t have guns, the legacy of slavery is not the same,” she said.

Is that true? OK, our police are not as heavily armed as those spraying peaceful protesters with teargas and rubber bullets across the Atlantic, but there are plenty of parallels, including our own troubling list of custody deaths. 

And, with the backdrop of a global pandemic that is disproportionately killing BAME people, it is not hard to understand why the protests have resonated here.

But it has also exposed just how reluctant we are to acknowledge inherently racist systems. Especially when we unwittingly benefit from them. 

Glasgow, we know, has a deep connection to the slave trade. The city’s tobacco lords remain celebrated for their entrepreneurship, the city’s streets are adorned with their names.

A 2018 report revealed that University of Glasgow benefited directly from the 18th and 19th century slave trade in Africa and the Caribbean to the tune of almost £200m in today’s money.

And still, as academic Dr Stephen Mullen puts it, modern Scotland has a largely “it wisnae us” approach to our country’s problematic history; a trait that society at large has adopted now.

Because, for those of us who do not experience it, modern-day systemic racism is harder to pin down. We know it exists, in theory, but we struggle to see past the statistics and often refuse to confront it in everyday life. 

Of course, people and institutions are quick to declare that they aren’t racist. But not actively being racist and being actively anti-racist are two different things, and it is high time that we owned up to our repeated failure to be the latter.

It may be uncomfortable to admit our role in all of this. That our good intentions have, more often than not, fallen way short of what is needed. But isn't the bruising of our egos such a pathetically small price to pay?

Talking about racism, late author Toni Morrison said: “My feeling is that white people have a very, very serious problem and they should start thinking about what they can do about it”. She wasn’t addressing other people: she was talking to you and me.

We must ensure we are never so complacent again. 

blacklivesmatter.com