A university lecturer who was sent vile letters telling him things like ‘go live in the Caribbean’ has said racist abuse has increased in the last four years.
Professor Christopher Jackson, a geologist at the University of Manchester, was told ‘blacks like you are a total disgrace’, ‘go live in the Caribbean’ and asked ‘If this country is so racist, why are you here?’.
But when he reported the matter to Greater Manchester Police he was initially told the force would not be taking the issue further.
‘If you read that letter out, if you shouted it at somebody outside a pub, that would be threatening,’ Prof Jackson told the Manchester Evening News.
‘But the most depressing thing for me is that it’s kind of expected’.
In a letter to Prof Jackson, GMP said they would not be investigating as the letter failed to provide any ‘reasonable lines of enquiry to establish an offender’ – despite it being signed and an email address provided.
However, after the case was initially closed, police now say they have now reopened the matter with ‘enquiries ongoing’.
In a statement, a spokesperson for GMP said the case was ‘closed due to length of time passed between the crime taking place and the report of the crime and insufficient evidence’.
‘I can confirm however that officers have since been in contact with the victim and enquiries are now ongoing,’ they said.
Statistics show less than 1%, 155 of 23,000, university professors in the UK are black.
Prof Jackson, who was asked to give the Royal Institution’s Christmas lectures last year, said the abuse he had received had increased as his profile has risen.
‘I’d say the racist abuse has increased dramatically over the last four years, ever since I had a few recorded things on YouTube and I did a TV show.
‘I think the more visible you become the easier target you become because people know you’re there.
‘The most dramatic example of all of this would be someone like Marcus Rashford.
‘Five years ago nobody was sending him death threats, but now he uses his platform for something other than earning lots of money as a footballer, and people don’t like it,’ he said.
One letter Prof Jackson received was accompanied by a book arguing that slavery was advantageous to black people.
The sender wrote they were ‘disgusted’ by Prof Jackson’s daughter saying she was glad he didn’t have to be a slave anymore.
But the dad of three said he feels it’s important to have conversations about racism with his children, aged 10, 8 and 5.
Prof Jackson said he is ‘pretty thick-skinned’ – but admitted that he does now get wary when opening emails and letters.
‘Nowadays I’m a bit more like what’s going to be in here, is this going to be something racist or not very nice, whereas five years ago I wouldn’t have thought that.
‘Nowadays I think it might be likely that it’s not very nice,’ he said.
Prof Jackson has taken to Twitter to spread awareness about the abuse black academics face on a regular basis.
He said by being open about the abuse he hoped to achieve positive outcomes.
‘One of my parents said you’re always going to p**s somebody off, just make sure it’s the right person.
‘I think in this respect this letter proves to me that I’m doing the right thing because clearly I’ve got people’s attention,’ Prof Jackson said.
A spokesperson for the University of Manchester said the university was aware of the ‘extremely unsavoury and distressing incident’.
They said: ‘The university abhors racism and discrimination in all its forms.
‘Our staff and students have the right to feel safe while living, studying and working at the university and we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that this remains the case.
‘We understand this is now a police matter, but we will continue to support Professor Jackson through that process as well as our own internal procedures.
‘If any of our staff or students feel they have been the victim of any form of discrimination we urge them to report it immediately to the relevant authorities or to the University directly.’
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