THE Archbishop of York, Dr Sentamu, paid tribute on Monday to Stephen Lawrence, 20 years to the day after his murder in Eltham, south London, in an unprovoked racist attack.

Writing in the Yorkshire Post, Dr Sentamu imagined Mr Lawrence as he might have been today: "a mature, intelligent man of 38, a successful architect, with a wife and children of whom he is very proud". Instead, Mr Lawrence's life was cut short by a "senseless, racist, and cruel attack", carried out by a "gang of white youths".

Dr Sentamu said that Sir William MacPherson's inquiry, for which he acted as an adviser when he was Bishop of Stepney, had shown "that the Lawrence family had been ill-served by our justice system. The 'canteen and occupational culture' of the Metropolitan Police Service had resulted in what the inquiry described as 'institutional racism', a concept which was clearly discernible in the investigation of the murder. "

Another positive outcome of the inquiry, Dr Sentamu said, was the proposal that the "'double-jeopardy' rule be set aside in the case of murder, if fresh and viable evidence, which could not have been found at the time of the trial, later came to light." This had resulted in the re- trial and conviction of Gary Dobson and David Norris ( News, 6 January 2012). "The force of justice may be slow, but it is sure," he said.

Dr Sentamu continued: "The elimination of racism remains a serious task for all of us. For racism is like an invidious and devastating cancer in society, attacking community structures and all its components.

"We may congratulate ourselves that it has been eradicated in one place and we can relax, but sadly it often turns up somewhere else, with slightly different characteristics - this time perhaps focused on asylum-seekers, or Eastern European workers. Wherever it is found, it must be fought."

A memorial service at St Martin-in-the-Fields, London, on Monday, was attended by Mr Lawrence's mother, Doreen; the Prime Minister; the Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg; and the Leader of the Opposition Ed Miliband.

Speaking at the service, Mrs Lawrence said: "The pain of losing someone never goes away; you just learn to live with it at cost. Over the years as a family, we have mourned in our separate ways, not daring to speak out loud about our feelings. My pain is raw, and that of my children."

The Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe, who also spoke at the service, said that he was determined to "catch the other people involved" in Mr Lawrence's murder. "The Met won't forget Stephen Lawrence."

At the service, the Church of England's Adviser for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns, Dr Elizabeth Henry, said that the "tireless efforts" of Mr Lawrence's parents to bring his killers to justice had forced the country to confront the "demon" of racial discrimination.
 

JUST over one in ten people think that Christians in the UK experience "a lot" of prejudice, a new poll suggests, writes Ed Thornton.

A poll of 2032 adults, carried out last month by the pollsters BritainThinks was published by the think tank British Future on Monday. The findings are published in a report, The Integration Consensus 1993-2013: How Britain changed since Stephen Lawrence.

Of those surveyed, 11 per cent said that Christians experienced "a lot" of prejudice; 26 per cent said that Christians experienced "a little" prejudice. Half of the respondents said that Christians experienced "hardly any" prejudice.

More than half (54 per cent) of re-spondents, however, believed that Muslims experienced a lot of prejudice, and 28 per cent believed that they experienced a little. Just seven per cent of respondents said that Muslims experienced "hardly any" prejudice.

Fourteen per cent of respondents said that Jews experienced a lot of prejudice, and 44 per cent said that they experienced a little. Twenty-eight per cent said that Jews experienced "hardly any" prejudice.

The director of British Future, Sunder Katwala, said: "Loud complaints about persecution [against Christians] speak to a niche minority. . . The poll captures a majority belief that it is important to remain vigilant about anti-Semitism, though it is a less common form of prejudice today than a couple of generations ago."

www.britishfuture.org