The British governments Commission for Racial Equality (CRE) reports that a sharp division between whites and ethnic minorities in Britain has formed, with the two groups leading separate lives with no social or cultural contact and no sense of belonging to the same nation. These new reports come from a government-commissioned inquiry in response to the race riots that rocked northern England this summer. The first report,
Building Cohesive Communities: A Report of the Ministerial Group on Public Order and Community Cohesion, aims to identify the underlying causes which made these areas prone to the violence and suggest ways to prevent further disturbances while building more cohesive communities. Some of the causes cited are as follows: lack of a strong civic identity or shared social values; economic, geographical, racial and cultural fragmentation of communities ("on a scale which amounts to segregation"); inter-generational tensions; inadequate provision of youth facilities and services; high levels of unemployment; weaknesses of police response to racial incidents; and irresponsible coverage of race stories by sections of the local media.
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