About 12 months ago, following a report commissioned to prove that the publishing industry is institutionally racist, Penguin Books announced a book-writing competition only open to non-white people.

Several complaints were made to the Commission for Racial Equality – including one from myself – and I received the following letter today (address incorrectly but never mind):

The Race Relations Act 1976, as amended (“the Act”):  Advertisement on Arts Council website – The Decibel Penguin Prize. I refer to previous correspondence about the above matter, and write to inform you of the outcome of the Commission’s investigation.  The complexity of this matter has resulted in the long delay in providing an update.  Please accept our sincere apologies in this regard.

Having considered all the evidence, the Commission has concluded that the advertisement was likely to be in breach of Section 29 of the Race Relations Act 1976 and hence unlawful.  However, because the advertisement was removed from publication the Commission cannot institute legal proceedings against the advertisers.

The Arts Council has also advised that they will be reviewing the Decibel programme and we will be monitoring them over the next six months to ensure that there are no further breaches of the Act.In the circumstances, the Commission does not intend to take any further action on this occasion.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention.

So there is institutional racism in the publishing industry, it’s just being perpetrated by the publishing companies against white people.  Not the result they were looking for I guess?