Letter: After Lawrence

Alex Woolf
Thursday 04 March 1999 00:02 GMT
Comments

After Lawrence

Sir: Kate Watson-Smyth attributes to me the statement that "the people living there were of the same race". ("Celts were `really just a Scotch myth' ", 27 February). I did not in fact use the word "race" and I clarified my position by saying, "No, I am not talking about biological race but about shared cultural features, language etc."

Ms Watson-Smyth seems fairly typical amongst journalists, both print and broadcast, in being unable to distinguish between "race" and "ethnicity". The media, as much as anyone must bear the responsibility for crimes such as the killing of Stephen Lawrence.

ALEX WOOLF

Lecturer in Celtic and Early Scottish History and Culture

University of Edinburgh

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