Why does the government believe laws are going to remove racism from society?
Even though you can’t legislate to change a state of mind, legislation can stop expressions of that state of mind thereby enabling people to avoid being subject to racism, sexism or other prejudices. And it appears that when we take positive actin to end such prejudices, the prejudices diminish. There has been a positive change in racist attitudes since the Race Relations Act. If people are not expressing their racist opinions out loud, such as crass comments about preventing immigration, other people don’t say out loud that they agree with them and thereby reinforce them. I think legislatin helps, even if it can’t cure, racism.
