The murder of Stephen Lawrence and institutional racism...

[HipChick]

The death Trayvon Martin reminded me of the case of UK's Stephen Lawrence,an 18yr old A-level student was stabbed to death by a gang of white youths in a brutal and unprovoked attack as he waited at a bus stop in Eltham, south-east London. in April 1993. They had taunted him with the word "nigger". The case received little publicity until two weeks later Nelson Mandela visited Stephen's parents in London.

It was only then that three arrests were made. By that time the suspects had been able to dispose of any forensic evidence. None of the five men widely suspected (and publicly accused) of the crime has been convicted. In July the Crown Prosecution Service dropped murder charges, saying there was "insufficient evidence to provide a realistic prospect of a conviction". A new police investigation, with covert surveillance in one of the suspects' flats, did portray the gang as racists with an obsession for stabbing black people, but there were no confessions. In 1996 a private prosecution brought by Stephen's parents also collapsed.

The botched police investigation into his murder led the Lawrence family to bring a failed private prosecution against the suspects. The determination of Stephen's parents, Doreen and Neville, to bring their son's killers to justice unearthed widespread failings in the criminal justice system.

His mother said it would take a "miracle" to bring her son's killers to justice. her main source of grief was that his killers were still free to walk the streets, adding that a "confession" was her only hope of seeing them convicted. It was only in Jan 2012 , that only two men were jailed, more than a nearly 2 decades after Stephen's death...

Institutional racism is defined as "the collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture or ethnic origin", which "can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, and racist stereotyping which disadvantages minority ethnic people.

I am loathed to say, I bet we see the same result in Trayvon Martin's case..

[HipChick]

1. Update on case

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/mar/16/stephen-lawrence-inquiry-questions-remain