The various commemorations of the Magna Carta emphasise its importance in the Britain’s development as a liberal democratic society. The main idea is that the Magna Carta established key principles that we – and indeed other countries – continue to build on even as the various articles of the document have been superseded.
That most of the Magna Carta’s articles have been superseded suggests a further point: that lofty principles require further elaboration to become a social reality, including in legislation, policy implementation, and indeed in terms of social attitudes. Runnymede recently hosted an event to jointly commemorate the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta and the 50th anniversary of the Race Relations Act to remind us of the importance of liberal democratic ideals, but also the inability to deliver on those ideals for Black and minority ethnic people in Britain. We reflected on the historical importance and lessons of these commemorations, but further asked what more is needed to make equal rights a reality for Black and minority ethnic people – whether in terms of legislation, policy, or social change and activism.
The Runnymede Trust was so named in 1968 to characterise the extension of rights and equality to BME people as a natural or perhaps inevitable development of the principles first sealed in Magna Carta. This naming is a challenge to those who read the Magna Carta in nativist terms as a document expressing the unique genius of the English people, and the first in a line of acts passed by enlightened white male legislators in the development of English (and latterly, British) liberal democracy and culture. So while at Runnymede we continue to assert the fundamental centrality of BME people within Britain’s national story, and seek to ensure they are equal participants in British democracy and society, our current focus should be on how we best implement these ideals so that racial inequalities are eliminated in Britain in the 21st century.
