Action for Race Equality unveils new campaign film ‘Roots’

A powerful new campaign film has called on the public to abolish the structures which prop up racial inequality.

Roots offers a window into over 35 years of multicultural Britain, highlighting Action for Race Equality’s (ARE) role in challenging racial inequality across education, employment and criminal justice, the systems that most shape a young person’s future.

Supported by the City Bridge Foundation through its long-running Telling Your Story partnership with Media Trust, the new film explores how inequality stretches back decades and why many communities are still playing catch-up today.

Not because of a lack of effort or ambition, but because systems were never built with them in mind.

It was against this backdrop that ARE first emerged, to ensure that race inequality did not continue unchecked across generations, by turning frustration into progress and hope into positive action.

At a recent BFI screening of the film, ARE Chief Executive, Jeremy Crook OBE, said:

We want to, in these very serious, difficult times, reach a wider audience and mobilise more people to be active in tackling racism.

What this film shows is that we’ve been here before, and many young people have never seen this history or how these cycles repeat. 

Young people want to be part of something. They want to belong, to be active in their communities, and to feel they can make a difference.”

The film’s unveiling comes during Race Equality Week, whose theme #ChangeNeedsAllOfUs mirrors ARE’s call for collective action toBe Part of the Change. https://actionforraceequality.org.uk/we-are/our-history/

To learn more about Action for Race Equality, please visit www.actionforraceequality.org.uk.

– Action for Race Equality

Black, Asian, and Mixed Heritage people are over-represented throughout the criminal justice system. The greatest disparity appears at the point of stop and search, custodial remands and prison population. Statistics on Ethnicity and the Criminal Justice System, 2024 (HTML) – GOV.UK

In the year ending March 2025, Black children were involved in 18% of stop and searches (where ethnicity was known). This was 12 percentage points higher than the proportion of Black 10 to 17-year-olds in the 2021 population and the only ethnic group to be over-represented compared with the population. Almost three quarters (74%) of stop and searches of children resulted in No Further Action.

Black, Asian, and Mixed Heritage young people experience the broadest disparities in employment. In the year ending March 2023, 39% of 16- to 24- year old young people from an ‘ethnic minority’ were in employment, compared to 58% of White young people. 

Data from 2023 found that by the end of secondary school, most ethnic groups achieved higher GCSE grades than white British pupils. Pupils with Black Caribbean heritage and pupils with Gypsy/Roma and Irish Traveller backgrounds are more likely to have poor attainment than White British pupils.

In every ethnic group, pupils eligible for free school meals had a lower average score than those not eligible

Pupils with Black Caribbean heritage are more likely to be excluded than their peers, even once disadvantage been controlled for. 

School exclusions disproportionately affect Black children and their families, with Black Caribbean students facing exclusion rates up to six times higher than their white peers in some local authorities.

For media queries, please contact us via hello@actionforraceequality.org.uk

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