An Englishman’s home is his castle. That is if you are white and wealthy. For many of the residents of Grenfell Tower, their home was anything but their castle: it was their deathbed. Of the residents of Grenfell Tower who lost their lives on the night, 85% were people of colour. In 2018 I asked the public inquiry into the fire the – rhetorical – question: does the colour of a person’s skin matter in this country? The fact is skin colour is one of the defining facts of life in the UK. If you don’t feel compelled to think about it much, chances are you are white. If you think about it often you probably fit another demographic description. A description that unerringly affects whether you get a decent education, whether you get a job or, in the context of the Grenfell Tower, whether you live or die.
The stark reality is that the race, religion, disability status and social class of the residents of the tower determined their destiny. Let us today, of all days, not mince our words: institutional discrimination played its part in the death of 72 people and loss and suffering to many, many more. Yet, despite this obvious truth, no one in authority wants to discuss this issue, let alone tackle it.
