Catching up with Jesse Jackson: Being oppressed and being somebody

Current anti‐racist thinking is unable to explain events such as the Rushdie affair for it rests on a sociology which makes it difficult or impossible to connect theoretically issues of race with ethnicity. Racial minority groups thus become shadows who make no contribution to outcomes. This not only leads to inadequate explanations but works to undermine group pride, a vital motor of racial equality. The law on racial discrimination is evidence of the dialectical relationship between race and ethnicity, for the concept of indirect racial discrimination is concrete proof that culture is no less than class is a distinct dimension of race and racial discrimination, and points the way to a policy of equality through pluralism.