Is Britain Racist?

This programme contains some strong language and some scenes which some viewers may find upsetting.

-We don't want

-BLEEP.

Is Britain a racist country?

Many people were horrified by these Chelsea fans.

But are they just saying what lots of people are thinking?

-Oh, all

-BLEEP

-foreign

-BLEEP.

My name is Mona Chalabi,

and I want to find out how racist Britain really is.

-You ain't

-BLEEP

-British!

-BLEEP

-off!

You ain't British, you're black!

You're black, you ain't British.

You're black.

Go back to where you come from.

-Go back to

-BLEEP

-Nic...Nicaragua,

or wherever you come from.

So, Britain is being put to the test.

Your data suggests you have a strong preference for white individuals...

-He looked really uncomfortable.

-Yeah!

People are going undercover to find out how widespread racism is.

I'll be putting myself to the test to find out about my own prejudices...

-As you can see...

-Yeah! I did well.

-Yes.

..and I'll confront people

who feel I'm not really as British as they are,

even though I was born here.

But I am English.

All people have a native homeland.

-My native homeland is here.

-No, it's not.

-I was born here.

I'm a data journalist.

I normally rely on numbers to get to the truth behind complicated stories.

But when it comes to racism,

I don't think numbers alone are enough.

I need to find out what's happening first-hand for myself.

ALL SHOUT

When you say the word racist,

this is what lots of people might imagine...

People have accused the English Defence League of racism

since they were created back in 2009.

Is that fair?

Do THEY think they're racists?

I'm joining the EDL today for a demonstration -

which is a sentence that I never thought I'd say -

and I'm waiting to meet some of the people in the pub there

before we kind of head off.

THEY SHOUT AND SING

We're coming! We're coming!

How come your face is covered?

Because that stigma that's attached.

And what's the stigma?

We get called racist, we get called far right...

Do you think that's fair, or...?

No, not at all. I'm half Greek Cypriot,

so I'm not racist -

my family are immigrants, so...not a chance.

But a lot of people won't accept that I'm just here

to fight radical Islam.

The trouble is, with this country, you can't tell the truth.

I have to cover my face because... otherwise I could lose my job.

In a survey, almost 70% of Brits

said they have no racial prejudices at all

and everyone I spoke to here has said they're not racist.

Whoa, whoa, don't film that, bruv.

Lots of people are keen to talk, but some really don't want us here.

What are you filming for? Don't film it!

I said don't film it, you little prick!

You're a BBC left-wing mug...

ALL CHANT

About 500 people from across Britain have come to today's demonstration.

-THEY CHANT:

-Whose streets? Our streets.

Whose streets? Our streets.

Free the EDL. Free the EDL.

They say they're not racist,

but as someone who isn't white and who comes from a Muslim family,

I feel really uncomfortable here.

THEY SING

-Scum, scum!

-Scum!

Stick your Islam up your arse!

Stick your Islam up your arse!

-MAN:

-I'd like to thank you all for turning up here, to West Midlands,

the heart of England.

This is our England, will stay our England,

and while ever Midlands, Yorkshire, North East exists,

and all the rest down south,

England will be loud, proud and always defended

-by the English Defence League...

-CROWD CHEERS

..to fight this problem, this virus, and this disease of Islam.

All of them can kiss my little white arse.

THEY CHEER

Just after the speeches begin,

one of the crowd singles me out and starts hassling me.

-..details since 2009.

-..do you know what I mean?

That is six years of hiding the facts of what is going on.

Things quickly get out of hand.

-No, here I come.

-Why don't you go and watch the march?

No, here I come. Because...

INDISTINCT

Do you know what? Tom...

Hey, hey...

Up until now, it was just what people were saying

that made me feel uncomfortable,

but that now it's getting physical, I feel like it's time to leave.

Oh, it's, like, as soon as you walk out of there

you feel a little bit of tension leave your chest.

I feel animosity - they can say what they like

about, you know, being open-minded and stuff -

you can feel animosity, you can feel,

when the camera is off looking at something else,

someone eyeing you up and down.

I felt completely uncomfortable from start to finish.

Some of the people at that EDL event did seem racist to me,

but they don't see themselves that way,

so they wouldn't show up on any survey about prejudice -

and that's just one of the problems

when it comes to figures on racism in Britain.

For example, the number of us who say we aren't prejudiced

has stayed pretty much the same over the past decade,

but reports of hate attacks motivated by race, religion or both

have risen dramatically against some communities.

-Do you play music?

-..you in the fucking country, you black bastard?

Whatever. Yeah, man.

That's bang out.

Sorry... What?

So, it looks like the numbers aren't giving us a proper picture

of what's happening on the streets.

Is aggressive racism common in Britain?

Three people are going undercover to find out.

The common assumption of Muslims at the moment

is that they're all terrorists -

that all the men are terrorists

and that all the wives are at home, feeding the terrorists.

I think that Britain as a nation

is conservative about its racial prejudice,

in the sense it's not going to tell you to your face

that they're racist.

As part of my faith, I wear a kippa, or yarmulke,

which is a head covering

acknowledging that there is a greater presence out there,

respect for God,

and it obviously means that I am more identifiably Jewish.

I might occasionally get a stare or someone holding my eye-line

a bit longer when I'm in the street than I'm comfortable with.

Richard, Hanna and Deji will film for a day

with hidden cameras as they walk around minding their own business.

They're going to places where there have been some racial tensions,

but if the police figures are right, then it's really unlikely

that anything will happen to any one of them in a single day,

because while there were 39,000 hate crimes

motivated by race or religion recorded last year,

that was spread across a population of 64 million people.

This is Dudley.

About 1 in 25 people that live here are Muslim -

just over the national average.

Plans for a new mosque have inflamed tensions,

and there have been reports of problems

between the white and Muslim people in this community.

This is where Hanna will be spending a day.

I'm feeling nervous, I'm not sure what to expect.

THEY CHATTER

Hi.

Um, is there anywhere where I could sit down and eat around here?

Er, you've got the McDonalds at the top of the road...

-OK.

-..and then turn right to the lights -

-just over, and you'll see it.

-OK, that's fine.

That's the nearest thing, I think.

-There you go, love. Sorry about your wait.

-Thank you.

-Can I have a barbecue dip, please?

-Yeah.

-And ketchup.

-WOMAN:

-Can I be rude and come and sit here with you?

-Yeah, that's fine.

-Thank you.

-That's all right.

-I'll be leaving soon, anyway, so it's fine.

-Oh, don't worry.

THEY CHATTER

How was the morning?

Well, this morning, I was quite surprised.

I was, um...

..expecting some sort of reaction, or a lot of stares.

I did get quite a few stares

compared to, you know, London, for example,

where I wouldn't get any stares,

so people did look at me and things like that,

but no-one said anything.

But according to community groups,

it is women wearing full face veils

that are targeted most aggressively in attacks.

So, Hanna will spend the rest of the day wearing the niqab

to see if it changes how she is treated.

Within 10 or 15 minutes of walking around in the niqab,

a car drove past with two guys in it,

and one of them shouted something at me from the window.

HORN HONKS

It was very intimidating, and it was quite scary,

because I was walking by myself and I'm not familiar with the area.

I have no idea who they are and they don't know who I am.

An anti-hate crime group found that 60% of attacks against Muslims

are perpetrated against women.

10 to 15 minutes after that incident,

another car drove by with one guy in it.

It was just quite scary that someone could be so fearless,

as if nothing stops them from scaring you.

I felt quite powerless and intimidated.

It makes me feel quite sad.

You know, it's not like these men were children,

that they, you know, are just...

..sort of young children who don't know much, they are adults,

so the fact that they have chosen to hurl abuse at a random stranger

just makes you feel quite hopeless.

I mean, what...what can you do about that?

This is Somerset.

Only two in a thousand people that live here are black.

We've been told by antiracism groups that there are issues here.

This is where Deji will be spending his day.

I'm hoping it's going to be a positive and pleasant experience,

but you just never know, so, um...let's see what happens.

I've been really pleased, actually, because a couple of times,

people have seen me and said "hello", and "how are you?",

which was great, and then I've just come from a pub, now,

where I was standing outside,

and the three blokes that were there offered me a seat to sit down.

I thought I'd get a bit of sun before...

before it's all gone for the summer, you know?

-It's gone, mate.

-It's gone, innit? Yeah.

-This is our summer.

-Yeah.

They noticed that I'm not from around here,

and they was just talking to me and getting me involved,

which was nice, cos it's quite a small pub,

and I'm always quite conscious of small pubs,

cos they tend to be quite local,

you know, tends to be the same people going there.

So, the fact that they could tell I was new,

but I wasn't made to feel uncomfortable

in terms of those three guys -

but what I have also noticed

is that there is the ones who are not speaking.

I do get the look,

so, they're just giving me, you know, just little...

They're staring at me, or there's a little look there.

You know, I try and acknowledge them,

I try and smile, and, you know, whatever,

but, yeah, I do feel that there's a couple of looks,

but nothing to make me feel so awkward

that I have to leave or get out the area.

So, I go home happy.

This is Bradford.

Nearly a quarter of the 500,000 people that live here are Muslims

and just 300 Jewish people live here.

It's been said that wars in the Middle East have created tensions

between these two communities here in Britain, including Bradford.

This is where Richard is going to spend his day.

Hopefully, as we walk the streets, the people of Bradford will pay me

as little attention as everyone else does back at home.

My gut instinct, I suppose, being an optimist,

is that nothing at all will happen.

Potentially people might see I am wearing a kippa,

might want to ask a few questions about what does that mean,

or..."are you Jewish?"

Within about 60 seconds of getting out of the station,

I was walking past a small group of people

who were having a drink outside a pub.

'It was certainly bizarre,

'I'm not quite sure what they meant by that.

'But for most of the day, it was very pleasant.'

-Excuse me, do you know where Centenary Square is?

-Aye, yeah.

If you go up from here...

'Everybody was lovely.

'When I looked lost, a number of people came up to me.'

-It's straight down.

-Yeah.

-That's the city centre down there.

Amazing. Thanks very much. Have a good day.

'Unfortunately, in the last hour or so,

'we actually took a wrong direction down a dodgy alley.'

-Sorry.

-No?

'Two white guys saw me and said, "Oh, can I just borrow your phone?

'"I just need to make one phone call."

'And I politely declined

'And as I was walking past, they shouted, "Oh, it's a Jew!"

'It's really striking that that can be a term of insult.'

Oi, pal!

Then, not long after that, I was walking along a very busy main road

and a young Asian male was driving past me.

TOOTS HORN

He knocked on his window and gave me the V-sign.

Five minutes later, a similar thing happened.

Another British Asian male was driving past

on a different stretch of the road...

HORN TOOTS

..and again bangs on his window and gestured to me.

Hello. Cheers, guys.

That was actually quite depressing. Um...I really wanted to be right.

I need to be careful not to draw huge generalisations

into what was clearly one day in one city, in one particular year,

but nevertheless, it happened, and I can't pretend it didn't.

It's just wrong, it's just not right.

It's just not right to behave that way.

It looks like aggressive racism is alive and well in Britain.

The undercover experiment reflects the increase in reports

of religiously motivated hate crime.

Sources suggest 50% more attacks on Jewish people across Britain

in the first half of this year

and 70% more against Muslims in London last year.

The abuse that was hurled at Hanna

would technically have been recorded as a race hate crime.

But she says that she wouldn't have reported it.

And I know that for me, personally, when I've received verbal abuse

or even been punched, I didn't go to the police,

so the official statistics probably don't capture the full extent

of what's happening on the streets of Britain.

But what about more subtle ways we might treat people differently

because of their race or religion?

Is it possible to detect them?

Let's start with a simple test.

Richard, Deji,

Hanna...

and Hanna in a niqab will hand out a dozen doughnuts to the public

as quickly as possible.

This test clearly is not scientific, but will people on the street

be less likely to take food from any of them?

Free doughnut?

It's always good to diversify your career opportunities,

so, going into a bit of sales work, it's going to be fun.

Being honest with you, I'm not really feeling this flag.

It's affecting my whole swagger, I'm losing all street credibility.

I think I will get quite a bit of attention

just because I'm someone who's wearing a scarf

with a few doughnuts.

I'm quite nervous about speaking to people with a niqab on.

-Free doughnut?

-You're all right.

Hi. Free doughnut?

You're welcome.

Free doughnuts? They're free.

Free doughnuts?

-Hi, free doughnut?

-Why not? Cheers.

-No, that's yours.

-Enjoy, have a lovely day.

Free doughnut?

Some people won't even look at me.

Yeah, no worries.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-Help yourself.

-Thank you.

-You're welcome.

-All gone!

-Oh, never mind. Good luck.

-Thank you.

-Free doughnut?

-Thank you.

-Thank you kindly.

-Yeah, brilliant.

-Free doughnut?

-Oh, my days! Thank you.

Enjoy. Sorry, it's my last one.

-Is it?

-You'll have to share it.

-Thank you.

-Have a good day.

-Free doughnut?

-You're kidding!

-No, thanks.

-She just told me I'm kidding.

I don't know what that's supposed to mean.

-Is that free?

-Free doughnuts, yeah.

You're welcome.

I think someone just walked past

and muttered "scum" under their breath towards me...

..which is quite shocking

that someone would disrespect a stranger like that.

So far, it's been Hanna and Richard

that have run into problems in the tests.

But Deji has also faced racism on Britain's streets.

Had eggs chucked from a moving vehicle, just missing me,

the odd monkey chant,

I had people say, "Fuck off, go back to your own country",

you know, "Fucking get out of here!"

That's not nice.

Imagine - I've grown up in England all my life,

so when you are being told to fuck off back to your own country

I'm like, "Where do you want me to go? This is my country."

Prejudice against black people is still a serious issue across Britain.

Fresh English strawberries, two for £2.

This is Ossett, a traditional market town that's 98% white.

Martha-Renee faced abuse when she opened her cafe here.

It's been four years going to five now since I started the cafe.

It's been really tough, but I keep coming here

because that's what I like to do.

It means so much to me. I am very passionate about it.

Ossett is a beautiful place, we've got some nice people here

who've been really kind to me.

Since I came here, there have been some

who've been really horrible as well, you know -

it's both ends of the spectrum is how it's been.

They've called me "black bitch", they've called me F-ing Paki,

F-ing Nigger, they've called me those names.

As well as the name-calling, Martha was troubled by

what she believes was unspoken prejudice.

People say the food is good, then why are they not coming in?

I mean, why would someone come and put their face to the window,

like that, to stare at us?

Or maybe they would come in, "Can I have a medium breakfast?"

I'd cook the breakfast and maybe they'd eat everything on the plate

and leave a slice of toast. "I can't pay for this, it was too greasy."

What do you say to people like that?

What do you say?

I mean, I leave home and I am so excited.

I would come and cook and do everything.

I mean, you see how clean this place is.

I would clean it over and over,

but people say that place is terrible, we can't go there.

Martha decided to deal with the situation

by putting up a sign at her cafe.

It says, "Attention, everyone be aware,

"I am a black woman and always will be.

"If you are allergic to black people, don't come in,

"but if you prefer quality, wholesome meals

"in a pleasant and clean environment,

"come in. I don't bite, Thanks. Martha-Renee."

I put this sign up because we came to work one morning,

my daughter and I, and two white women walked in,

they looked at my daughter, up and down, staring at her,

turned around and said, "We are in the wrong place."

If they were in the wrong place, they'd have said,

"Oh, sorry, love, we are looking for another shop."

Their mannerisms spoke it all.

And they walked out. It really upset my daughter and myself,

so I put the sign up.

That way, when they see the sign,

if they don't like black people, they won't come in.

It's impossible to prove

whether Martha was treated differently because of her race.

The problem is unspoken racism is hard to verify.

Can a test help identify unconscious prejudice?

Richard, Hanna and Deji will trigger ten shop alarms

to see whether any one of them gets their bag searched more often.

BLEEPING

I don't feel under suspicion in the sense that someone's thinking,

this boy might nick something.

I think because I'm coded as white, as many Jews are,

I'm probably treated with any implicit assumptions

that that might bring.

BLEEPING

BLEEPING

BLEEPING

-You haven't bought anything?

-No.

-You haven't bought anything?

-No.

I didn't feel under suspicion, I didn't feel they were doubting

anything of my actions or anything I said.

BLEEPING

-Have you bought something?

-No.

People have been quite nice about it,

they'll obviously stop me and check my bag,

but they'll have a quick glance in my bag

and then it's fine and let me off.

-Can you come with me?

-Yeah, sure.

-You bought something inside?

-No.

-Can you cross the door for me, please?

-Yeah.

BLEEPING

Can I look inside the bag, please?

BLEEPING

-Have you shopped with us?

-No, I didn't.

-That's fine, no worries.

-OK.

Thank you.

I'm going to be stopped quite a few times. That one, I'm pretty sure.

BLEEPING

This way, mate.

-Open your rucksack.

-Open my bag?

-Yeah.

-It's not a problem.

-Please.

-Yeah, it's all right.

BLEEPING

BLEEPING

What's that?

Are you part of the security, are you? All right.

Do you want to open your bag up for me and I'll just, um...

It's never a nice feeling,

no-one likes to feel that they might be perceived as someone suspicious.

-Have you bought anything?

-No.

-Do you mind if I just try your bag? Is that all right?

-Yeah, sure, mate.

SECURITY SCANNERS BEEP

Let's say I'm in the shop,

then you might see the security do a little manoeuvre, you know?

They do a manoeuvre, which is,

they are... They tend to stand at the edge of the aisle

of where you are

and they kind of do a little glance here and there,

do you know what I mean? I notice that.

When it comes to crime, it's often black people

that are viewed with the most suspicion.

In some areas, you're 17 times more likely to be stopped and searched

if you're black.

Compared to white people,

black people get longer prison sentences on average,

and are nearly twice as likely to be charged if caught with drugs.

No-one said anything even remotely racist to Deji,

so it's impossible to know for sure

that his bag was searched more often just because he's black.

But there is a test that looks at

whether we subconsciously view black people differently.

I'm going to ask some people in this pub to sit the test.

Hello! Hi.

Would you be willing to do a test

but without knowing anything at all about what the test consists of?

-Yeah, sure.

-Yeah? OK.

-OK.

-Hello. Is it all right if I sit here?

-Of course. Sit down.

-All right.

I'll just set it up for you guys.

-The trick is to be as fast as you can.

-OK.

-Yeah?

All right.

'People are shown a quick succession of faces and words.

'They have to quickly classify each face as black or white,

'and each word as good or bad.'

This is ridiculous.

HE LAUGHS

'The test detects whether people unconsciously associate

'a particular race with good or bad words.'

All right. You're done! You can breathe.

SHE EXHALES

So, your data suggests a strong automatic preference

for white people compared to black people.

How do you feel about that?

Um...not great, no.

I wouldn't have said that's the way I view people or...

I'd like to think that I have the same preference for both.

You have a slight bias towards individuals who are white.

-Right.

-Does that surprise you at all?

Yeah, a little bit.

It doesn't make me feel good,

cos it's not nice to discover you have that natural instinct.

I wouldn't say that I am racist at all.

I wouldn't think that I would treat someone differently

just because of their race. Like, I wouldn't instinctively do that,

but then I suppose the test results show differently,

so it's difficult to say.

You have no automatic preference between black individuals

and white individuals, according to the test.

You're happy with the result?

-Yeah.

-Why are you happy with it?

Cos I don't think I'm a racist person and that proves it.

So, it says that your data suggests

a slight preference towards black people compared to white people.

-Mm-hm.

-Does that surprise you at all?

I don't know.

I don't think I really do have a bias, if you know what I mean.

Right, back to me now.

Thank you very much.

So, it says that your data suggests you have a strong preference

for white individuals over black individuals...

HE LAUGHS NERVOUSLY

Right. A str...?

A strong automatic preference

for white individuals over black individuals.

How do you feel about the results?

I don't think it's changed my opinion about myself much.

-You know what? He looked really uncomfortable.

-Yeah.

'This isn't a test to find racists.

'It's just about discovering the hidden prejudices

'we don't even know that we have.'

So, altogether, about 3,000 British people have sat this test,

and 80% of those who weren't black

showed some preference towards white people.

So, does that mean there's something within many of us

that makes us view black people differently?

I'm going to put myself through some tests

to find out more about my own unconscious prejudices.

Today, I've come to have my brain scanned by a scientist

who is pioneering research into our hidden attitudes on race.

-Hello.

-Mona, hi.

-Hi, Manos. Nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you too.

Welcome to the MRI Unit of Royal Holloway.

We're going to be doing a short experiment,

trying to see how your brain responds

to faces of people who belong to different races.

Can I ask which races I am going to be shown?

You're going to be seeing white and black faces.

No...anything else?

-No Arab, no Asian faces?

-No. No, just white and black.

-OK.

How are you feeling?

A little bit nervous.

I've never had someone scan my brain before.

This is going to be interesting for me.

Hi, Mona. How are you?

OK, thanks.

OK. We're going to start the experiment.

OK.

So, Mona is going to be looking at different faces

appearing on the screen for 1.5 seconds.

What we are interested in is her brain response in two key areas -

one is an area that codes fear,

it shows a fear response,

and the second area is the one that tries to control

an automatic fear response,

and we hope that we will be able to find some differences

when she's looking at black faces versus white faces.

The scanner measures the blood flowing through my brain

to reveal which areas are most active.

Hi, Mona, it's all done and it's time to come out.

Ali will come to pick you up.

OK.

So, let me take you through the results.

Now, first of all, is there any area in your brain that was more active

when you were looking at white faces?

And the answer is no.

So, now the question is,

what happens to your brain when you look at black faces

compared to white faces?

As you can see, there were three key areas that were more active.

The first is the brain area that we know is involved in fear response.

The second brain area is involved in controlling automatic responses,

such as a fear response.

And finally, the brain area that we know

is involved in resolving conflicts

between different potential responses.

So, what does this mean, then?

Does this mean that I am just afraid of black people?

This is a learned response to associate, for example,

black individuals with fear.

And even if we are not explicitly racist,

we have to be aware of the fact that we are all born and raised

in societies that may encourage different stereotypes.

But, at the same time,

you find this very positive activation

in parts of the brain that try to regulate this automatic response,

and this is quite important because, at the end of the day,

this is what we want.

We want to try and go beyond

what we have learned and we want to try and control our behaviour

so that we don't behave in a racist way.

So, do you think if Britain was a less racist society,

my brain would look different?

-Is that what you are saying?

-Yes.

I feel really disappointed.

I'm...I'm disappointed that

all of the stuff that society has fed me,

all of this negative stuff, has affected my brain.

I don't think I was born with an aversion to black people

and I don't think that I have developed that fear

through my own personal experiences,

because I don't think I have had

any more negative personal experiences of black people

that I have of any other race,

and the thing that's even quite frightening is, I'm not even...

I still see, obviously, you know, stereotypes being bandied around

but I'm not aware of the way that they are constantly affecting me.

If anything, I'm thinking, "That's not true,

"that's not true, that's not true," and yet it's somewhere in my brain.

But I think it's just quite sad how crude it is, in a way.

Like, it's just the part of your brain saying, "Be scared."

It's just so unbelievably basic.

RAP MUSIC PLAYS

You don't have to look hard to find

examples of negative stereotyping of black people.

Close to seven in ten stories in the news

about young black men relate to crime....

..while music videos and movies show black men as violent criminals

to be feared.

Islamist extremists here and abroad

have driven some to have a sense of hostility towards all Muslims.

And events in the Middle East are sometimes claimed to be

behind the rise in attacks on Jewish people here.

But there are white people who believe

they are suffering in multicultural Britain.

A Government survey in 2007 found that around one in four white people

felt they'd be treated worse than other races

by council housing departments,

and that same survey found that around one in 14 white people

felt they had been discriminated against

when trying to get a promotion, because of their race.

This sense of injustice that some feel

has coincided with the creation of small new political parties.

Unfortunately, I think there is racism in Britain,

and that comes from the top,

from the Government, the politicians.

They hate the white working class, and we know this

because they are destroying our communities,

absolutely obliterating them.

Jack is a publicity officer for the political party Liberty GB,

who argue that multiculturalism is damaging Britain.

Every nation should be culturist.

It should allow the national culture to, essentially, be supreme.

I think it's important for nations to maintain a population

which is majority indigenous.

A lot of people are going to have to be deported.

Anyone that's come here should have their citizenship scrutinised.

Anyone who actually isn't offering anything serious,

what's the point in keeping them here?

George, have you...? Is it done? OK.

Why isn't this...?

We are filming some videos for the party.

It's something we do pretty regularly.

It's basically just to keep the members updated,

and hopefully some of it goes viral,

so it's basically just an internet outreach.

Islam is probably, right now,

the primary problem with multiculturalism.

It's fascist, it's authoritarian.

I'm not saying don't believe in Allah,

don't believe you're a Muslim.

What I am saying is, don't bring the female genital mutilation,

don't bring the fascist ideas.

Nigel Farage, this is for you.

You told us that multiculturalism has failed

and then your party went out of its way

to appease multiculturalists.

Pandering to the vote of the bleeding-heart liberals

is just going to fail.

Your party even had some kind of ridiculous stunt,

where you embraced people

of a huge range of different backgrounds on stage.

Multiculturalism and Islam have torn our country apart

and created community tensions and ghettoes.

Jack fears that proposed changes in the law

could mean he'll end up in prison for speaking out.

I think more people need to just come out

and accept the consequences, accept that they might lose their job,

accept that they might go to prison, or whatever.

You've got to talk about these things and stop it.

It's like dissenting in Communist Russia - it had to be done.

I'm really proud to be British.

We essentially founded Western liberal democracy

in many respects,

and now we are just losing all of it.

Yep.

"Racism", "Islamophobia",

all these terms,

they mean nothing.

It is just a way of shutting people down

and stopping the discussion,

but I think me and a hell of a lot of other people

have gotten to the point where if you're going to call me racist,

whatever - I don't care.

I know I'm not a racist. I know I'm a culturist.

Although Jack denies it,

his disdain for multiculturalism feels racist to me.

But then we're from very different places.

I grew up in east London, one of the most diverse areas in Britain.

I've asked Jack to meet me here

to try and get a better understanding of his views.

-Hi.

-Hello. Hi, Jack. Nice to meet you.

Ow, that really hurt!

That was like a proper, strong handshake.

Anyway...

-So, we are here in Queen's Market, which is in Upton Park...

-Yeah.

..which actually isn't too far away from where I grew up,

so I have been to this market a fair few times.

-Have you ever been here before?

-No. No, I haven't.

Do you know this area at all?

-Not at all.

-OK. So, what are your first impressions of here?

-It's a completely different world.

-Really?

-Yeah.

A completely different world to what, to the world that you know?

To England.

No, no. This is definitely England. We're in England right now.

Arguably. It doesn't seem like it.

Why doesn't it seem like England?

I see very few English people.

The whole place has just been transformed.

So when you say that you look around and see very few English people,

how do you know that you might see someone like me

and you might not necessarily identify me as English

but I am English?

-Oh, course, by nationality, yeah.

-But I was born here.

-Yes.

-I'm as English as you are.

-Yes, but think about it.

-All people have a native homeland.

-My native homeland is here.

-No, it's not.

-Native means natality, it means where you were born, right?

No, my native homeland, my historic homeland, is Western Europe.

I'm not saying you're any less British, that's not what I'm saying,

but what I am saying is you're not an indigenous British person.

'It feels like Jack believes my race

'means I don't belong here as much as him,

'but I feel every bit as British as he does.'

I have British values. My parents emigrated to this country

-and they have British values.

-Yes.

-Right?

So what you want is Western European ideals, but you're saying

I'm not Western European even though I am assimilated.

Not ethnically, no, culturally...

So why do you care about my ethnicity?

-Why does it mean that me and you are different?

-No, because when...

There are two fundamental ways of describing someone who is British.

For instance, you're either a Western European ethnically,

or you're a Western European

in that you have a passport and you subscribe to the ideals.

-I'm not just living in Britain, I was born here, this is my country.

-Yeah.

We're getting past the facts here.

You're saying, "Oh, it's horrible for you to point out a fact

-"that I'm not ethnically..."

-I'm not saying it's horrible.

-Well, why not?

-I'm saying it's irrelevant and every time you do it,

it undermines my identity.

-You're saying...

-Well, that's YOUR problem.

That's not MY problem.

Fundamentally, you have different experiences to me.

I have different experiences to you.

Some people assimilate, but a significant majority do not.

Yeah, lots of Londoners were brought up in this multicultural scenario

and many of them are brainwashed into saying,

"It's brilliant, it's brilliant."

I'm sorry, the world isn't perfect, it's not.

We try and make it perfect as possible with our Western ideals

and our freedom and our liberty.

I can hear how angry you are, how frustrated you are.

-It's very visible.

-What can we do

when we're constantly bombarded as being racist and evil.

I'm sorry, I don't hate people because of their race.

I look at a real and serious threat and I want to tackle it.

So it's been an interesting day with Jack.

On the one hand, actually, I really do understand why someone

who comes from a majority white part of Britain

would arrive here and almost have a bit of a culture shock here,

to feel really, really out of place, so I can empathise with that.

When it comes to his political views,

I really, really do actually think that he probably doesn't think

he's a racist and I think he thinks all of his views

are just about culture and immigration,

but when it comes down to it, his insistence, his constant refusal

to acknowledge my Western European culture,

felt pretty racist to me.

He was more interested in the fact that I'm not white

than the fact that I was born here

and that to me is incredibly offensive.

All the people I've met on this journey, whatever their colour

or religion, have felt that racism is an issue in the UK.

But does it affect every aspect of our lives?

I'm here to find out whether race matters to these people

when they're picking a date.

You can't wait to see these pictures.

You're like, "I want to see these women." Right, we'll start off

with this woman. Is this someone who you find attractive?

-No.

-No.

-This one?

-No.

-No.

Picky. You're picky.

-What about this one?

-Oh, he's all right.

Yeah, he's got a nice beard.

-What do you think about him?

-Um...

No, I don't think so.

No, not for you?

-Him?

-No.

-No.

-What do you think about her?

-Yes, she's good.

You would, wouldn't you?

THEY LAUGH

Maybe. Maybe, like, one or two dates.

-No.

-No.

-Yeah.

-OK, so would you say there is any sort of pattern

in the sort of women that you going for there?

Yeah, particular interest towards white women, mixed race women.

There were women from different ethnicities that I found attractive.

but I'm thinking about who my friends are, what things I do.

Cos I'm from Nigeria and I'm very connected to that culture,

so I'm thinking, "Is there compatibility there?"

He's good-looking, but I don't think I'd go there, no.

For me, I've never really thought about dating anybody who's black.

It's never come across my mind and I...

-Even though you are attracted to him?

-Yeah.

You said you thought he was attractive.

Yeah, he's attractive.

I'll always appreciate someone who's attractive,

but being in a big Indian family, you have to think about

your wider extension and the network of the family as well.

I wouldn't want to bring someone home

that I know my parents would have an issue with.

Probably not. I think culturally and religiously we'd clash.

I'm not really religious, I'm not practising.

If somebody was, like, "Oh, I'm quite a strong Muslim,"

their family might not want me in their family.

-I just really don't find him attractive at all.

-All right, OK.

-What about him?

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

No.

I don't see how I could ever be accepted into that community.

Yeah, but it's like a half-hearted yeah.

-Why is it a half-hearted yeah?

-It's just cos, like, naturally...

cos she's Indian, like, subconsciously, you answer yeah.

-So subconsciously you're always attracted to Indian women?

-Yeah.

I think, like, regardless of what background you're from,

you're always going to be attracted to the same race, religion, culture.

I've actually never dated a black guy, but he is really good-looking.

Would it be fair to say that your type tends to be more white

even though you're open-minded about dating people of other races?

Well, yeah, probably, cos that's been my experience,

because my circle of friends doesn't include many black people.

I just... I don't come into contact and I think that being...

Like, attraction comes from a place that is, you know,

what you're used to coming into contact with.

Love isn't blind when it comes to race.

I looked at the behaviour of 25 million users

of an online dating site and it was very clear that race matters.

See, white men do really well.

By that I mean they're more likely to get responses to their messages

than black or Asian men.

And white women do really well too.

And out of all of the groups that I looked at, black women

were the least likely to get a response to one of their messages.

Race clearly plays a big part in the way we view each other,

but are my prejudices fixed for life?

I've come back to see Professor Manos Tsakiris.

He's got an amazing idea which he says can change the way I think.

-Hello. Hi, Manos, how are you?

-I'm good, how are you?

-Nice to see you again.

-Thanks for coming.

-Thanks for having me.

-So we're going to do an experiment that has three parts.

-Yep.

The first part you're going to do

-is known as the implicit association test.

-Mm-hm.

After that we're going to do a task which we call self-association.

Basically, what it involves

-is you imagining that you're a different person.

-I'm going to be

-a black woman, aren't I?

-You're going to be a black woman, yes.

-OK.

After that, we're going to give you one more time the IAT.

Again, we're going to measure your implicit attitudes

towards black and white people.

OK, white face - Z key, black face - M key.

'Now it's my turn to have my unconscious prejudices examined.'

Good, bad.

All right, I'm done with that bit, Manos, what's next?

Excellent. So we can move to the next task.

'So this is the part where I've got to imagine I'm a black woman.

'Manos is going to use a range of techniques to get me

'to make this leap.

'In this bizarre set-up, my real hand, which I can't see,

'is being stroked at exactly the same time as the black rubber hand

in front of me, to trick my brain into thinking

'that the black rubber hand is mine.'

So how does it feel?

Hmm. Ticklish.

'As odd as this seems, it's actually working.'

It felt like it was my own hand. Yeah.

'Another technique involves me imagining that I'm a black woman

'pictured on the computer.'

So I am the black woman,

the stranger is the white woman.

'Before the experiment continues,

'Manos has to check that I really am imagining I'm a black woman.

-Er...

-Yay, I did well!

-Yes, so your accuracy was very high

for the self-associated phase.

So your performance shows you're good at imagining

that you're this new black person.

OK, now let's have a look at the IAT.

'Manos is testing whether my negative associations

'about black people have changed.

'I'm sceptical that my deep-rooted beliefs can be shifted so easily.'

-Finished.

-Excellent, so shall we have a look at the results?

-Yes, please.

-OK.

'Did the face association work?'

So this is going to be your score

before you did the self-association task.

What you can see here is a very small preference

of white people over black.

Now the important thing is how this value changes

after you've done the self-association task,

after you've imagined you are this new black woman.

And what you find here is that basically

this eliminates the preference of white over black people.

So I'm pleased by the fact that this experiment somehow changed me

and lessened my racial biases

but now I'm like, "How long can I keep this up for?"

Does this mean that for the rest of my life

I'm not going to express any kind of preference

of white people over black people?

Um, I don't think that's right.

What about if I do the test every day?

If you do it every day, maybe. The answer is that we don't know.

Of course, it's a very important question,

but bear in mind already it is a surprising finding,

that you can so quickly associate yourself with new things.

In that case you've imagined being a black woman

and your brain very fast takes this new information into account,

and you process this information in a very special way.

It was really, really interesting. Thank you.

It's been a privilege to be able to take the test.

I'm slightly relieved that my starting point

wasn't that I was a massive racist,

in terms of having really, really strong associations.

So it was quite nice that I had a slight preference

towards white people - slight is better than a lot, I guess.

And then I was really, really relieved that the experiment

managed to sort of erase what those associations are.

That's good news, I guess, but the fact he wasn't able to answer

how long that's going to stick around for is sort of worrying.

Am I just going to wake up tomorrow morning

and be back to slightly preferring white people over black people?

That's not exactly a happy result for me, you know.

'It's amazing that our prejudices, learnt over a lifetime,

'can be shifted so quickly.

'But for the moment, this is only being done in the lab.

'It's not being used in the real world.'

Is Britain racist?

The language has changed but the sentiment hasn't.

Rather than someone coming up to you

and saying a negative word or a racist remark,

I think it's more underlying.

When you say your local area's changed,

it doesn't feel English any more, it doesn't feel British any more,

where does that come from?

I think they come from something inside -

a prejudice that people might have.

Being Jewish in Britain is generally a really positive thing.

I find that people, by and large, aren't afraid to go to synagogue

on a Saturday, they aren't afraid to wear emblems

that might mark them out as being visibly Jewish.

On the other hand, when you go into our schools, our synagogues,

and our cultural centres, you'll see that there's security,

that there's barbed wire.

And whilst I think the future for the British Jewish community

is a positive one and a strong one, I'm still nervous

because we've seen that the number of attacks are rising.

I genuinely believe British values are of tolerance, diversity

respecting everyone, but, in practice,

I don't think that's always the case.

I would love to be able to walk anywhere in my home country

and not think about how my mere existence will offend someone.

It's really upsetting when I can't do that.

Life's getting harder...to be a Muslim in Britain.

When I started out on this journey, I thought maybe the statistics

don't quite capture the full extent of racism in Britain,

and seeing the experiences of Richard, Deji and Hanna,

I think that's probably true.

Numbers don't show just how often individuals get targeted,

and they don't reflect the emotional impact of racism either.

But it's not just about outspoken racism,

it's about subconscious prejudices too,

and I include myself in that because my test results showed that

I was capable of holding racist attitudes

even though I'd never deliberately be racist against anyone.

See, society has shaped our brains in racist ways

whether we realise it or not, but if we can acknowledge that,

then we can change it and that's a reason to be hopeful.