British publications from the Guardian to the Economist are rooting for Barack Obama. “A nation could be on the verge of its Mandela moment,” says the Observer.
So I wanted to know when Gordon Brown sits down with his cabinet, how many come from the ethnic minorities. And found just one: Lady Scotland. The Dominican-born attorney-general appointed by Brown. She is not a cabinet member but attends its meetings. The 23 cabinet members, five of them women, shown on the Guardian are all white.
Compare that with America where, as the Observer article notes, African Africans have been “appointed to cabinet-level posts, military commands and the Supreme Court”, have formed the Congressional Black Caucus in Congress, and serve as “mayors in all parts of the United States, including the Deep South”.
So when will have Britain its “Mandela moment”?
Or is it simply that Britain doesn’t have a large enough ethnic minority talent pool?
The 2001 UK census shows the ethnic minorities, 4.9 million strong, made up 7.9 percent of the total population of 58.7 million – of whom 49.1 million lived in England, 5 million in Scotland, 2.9 million in Wales, and 1.68 million in Northern Ireland. Now the UK population is estimated to be 60.9 million.
While the US population is now estimated to be 305.5 million by the US Census Bureau, the 2000 US census showed:
| Total population | 281,421,906 | |
| White | 216,930,975 | 77.1% |
| Black or African American | 36,419,43 | 12.9% |
| Hispanic or Latino | 35,305,818 | 12.5% |
| Asian | 11,898,828 | 4.2% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 4,119,301 | 1.5% |
| Some other race | 18,521,486 | 6.6 % |
Here is a similar table for the UK in 2001:
| Total population | 58717894 | % of total population | % of minority ethnic population |
| White | 54153898 | 92.1% | |
| Mixed | 677117 | 1.2% | |
| Asian or Asian British | |||
| Indian | 1053411 | 1.8% | 22.7% |
| Pakistani | 747285 | 1.3% | 16.1% |
| Bangladeshi | 283063 | 0.5% | 6.1% |
| Other Asian | 247664 | 0.4% | 5.3% |
| Black or Black British | 97585 | 0.2 | 2.1 |
| Black Caribbean | 565876 | 1% | 12.2% |
| Black African | 485277 | 0.8% | 10.5% |
| Black Other | |||
| Chinese | 247403 | 0.4% | 5.3% |
| Other | 230615 | 0.4% | 5% |
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