Page 7 - Race Awareness Pocket Book

What was the Race Relations Act?

The first Race Relations Act came into force on 8
th
December 1965. It was the first law in the UK to deal

with racial discrimination.

The Race Relations Acts were introduced to provide

clear laws that said that everyone in Britain had a legal

right to be treated fairly and equally, and that

everyone had a responsibility to make sure that people

abided by these rules

At the time it was passed, there were nearly one

million immigrants living in the UK - and it was not

illegal to treat those who were not white differently to

those who were.

Anyone whose name sounded 'foreign' might have had

an application for something rejected because of their

name, or sometimes discrimination happened to a

person's face by being told 'people like you, don't fit in

here'."

The 1965 law made it an offence to discriminate

against somebody because of the colour of their skin,

race, or ethnic or national background in public places,

like hotels, restaurants or the cinema.

Acts of discrimination included refusing to serve a

person, taking an unreasonable amount of time to do

so, or charging them too much money.

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