8The Roots of ExtremismNawaz A comprehensive version of my story is avail-
able in my autobiography, Radical, but I’ll sum-
marize it here. I was born and raised in Essex, in
the United Kingdom, and grew up in what I refer
to as the bad old days of racism in my country.
A case that changed the course of race relations
in the UK, the murder of Stephen Lawrence,
led to a government inquiry that produced the
Macpherson report.^2 T hat repor t coined t he phr a se
“institutional racism” and judged that it existed
in the police forces of the UK. It was a serious
indictment.
- The publication of the Macpherson report in February
1999 followed the infamous and racially motivated murder
of a young black British teenager, Stephen Lawrence: “It is
regarded by many as a defi ning moment in British race
relations... The Macpherson report delivered a damning
assessment of the ‘institutional racism’ within the Metro-
politan police and policing generally. It made 70 recom-
mendations many aimed specifi cally at improving police
attitudes to racism and stressed the importance of a rapid
increase in the numbers of black and Asian police offi cers.”
( S e e h t t p : / / n e w s. b b c. c o. u k / n e w s / v o t e 2 0 0 1 / h i / e n g l i s h / m a i n
issues / sections / facts / newsid 1190000 / 1190971. stm.)
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