ABSTRACT
At the very heart of the Commission for Racial Equality’s (CRE) philosophy is the notion that racial prejudice and the discrimination it can give rise to can be controlled and, ultimately, eradicated only by legalistic and bureaucratic measures. And, in order to make its case, the CRE feels compelled to paint the blackest possible picture of race relations in Britain. The CRE uses the word "racism" in a cavalier way, so as to conceal the important difference between the concept of prejudice—which refers, essentially, to an attitude, and the concept of discrimination—which refers to actual behaviour. As a general proposition it needs to be accepted that race relations is a matter for society rather than the state. The patronising and controversial notion of "special needs", whereby there is additional public help for the ethnic minorities, must give way to the doctrine of "human capital" as described in that great book The Economics and Politics of Race by Thomas Sowell.
