Is There Anti-White Prejudice In Britain? The Henry Nowak Debate

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Okay, well, we're going to debate this.

[00:00:01]We're joined now by political commentator Faheema Muhammad and the writer and YouTube Adda Akpala. Adda, I'll start with you.

[00:00:09]Nigel Farage has compared the the final moments of Henry Novak to those of of George Floyd and talked about the difference in how the police and the rest of society have treated it saying that the decision to handcuff Henry demonstrates the rights of white people mattered less than those of ethnic minorities and that we need to end anti-white prejudice. Adda, do you believe there is anti-white prejudice in policing and even in society as a whole?

[00:00:38]>> I certainly do. I believe there's anti-white prejudice in policing institutions and beyond. And to be honest, you didn't need this Harry Novak case for for you to for us to determine that. A lot of people like myself have been raising the alarm for years. And we've been saying that if this anti-white hostility isn't nipped in the bud, first of all, if it's not even named, we can't even name it because people play semantic games saying, well, actually, racism in involves institutions and power. Well, how many more examples do we need to have where institutions from the top levels to individual instances like this where we see a young innocent boy, young man, bleeding out to death, asking for help, ask telling the police officers the situation, and he's disbelieved simply because of his his skin color. We have to be honest about that. And how do we know this? Because if the races were reversed, we know that the police action would have been more prompt because they know the consequences of not following those protocols that they've received, you know, in their various anti-racist trainings and so on. So, I certainly believe that there is anti-white prejudice, hostility, even racism because now institutions have been continuously involved when you see cover-ups and and lack of action, lack of belief, where instead white people in these situations are always seen as the aggressor, always seen as the one who might have been, you know, been in the wrong in the situation. And we must talk about it. We must call it out call it out.

[00:02:15]>> Femi, I I've covered policing issues for decades. I speak to police officers constantly. They tell me that after many, many years of suffering a reputational kicking because of, you know, racist issues in the past, that now from the top down, it's instilled in them every every aspect of just being totally alive to the race issue. So much so that they're second-guessing themselves now when they're on the scene of incidents. Do you acknowledge, Femi, that this is an issue?

[00:02:52]>> I do acknowledge, but I do feel first of all that this debate should begin with Henry Novak, not politics. An 18-year-old man that lost his life in horrific circumstances, and his family does deserve answers, accountability, and justice, especially after looking at those footage that is, you know, has emerged, which is deeply disturbing.

[00:03:12]However, where I would argue caution is jumping from a tragic individual case to claiming that Britain's entire public sector is institutionally anti-white. If evidence of prejudice exists, it should be exposed. If mistakes were made, those responsible should be held to account.

[00:03:30]And but justice requires evidence, not assumptions. And for me, the principle is simple. Every victim, regardless of race, religion, or background, deserves the same protection, the same urgency, and the same standard of care from public services. I work with police and probation officers. I have clients that are ex-offenders. I do work within the Ministry of Justice and vetted by them.

[00:03:55]So, this is not new to me either and I do not think that we should be using this as a political weapon, you know, for our own agenda. This is serious questions. Obviously, the IOPC investigation matters because it should establish what actually happened. Was this bias, incompetence, poor training, panic at the scene, or officers being misled for by false allegations? We should not replace out an investigation with political slogans.

[00:04:24]>> And what what do you think to that? That this is all being politicized and that we shouldn't be making generalizations.

[00:04:31]This is just one moment in time.

[00:04:33]>> Um it certainly isn't one moment. I think we have seen a pattern of this now and I think it is a little bit rich um from people on the other side of the of the debate saying that these things shouldn't be politicized where for the last 5 to 10 years race has been explicitly politicized. We have seen cases such as um the Chris Kaba case, you know, where it's been automatically assumed or or reinforced that this idea of institutional racism. So, race has always been weaponized. This case has to be actually in the in the in the public eye because we have to understand that this is a growing concern. We have had so many instances of cover-ups. We even saw it a little bit in this case with the family going back to the house to conceal weapons and so on. But, if you bring it larger, I know people will say don't blow that dog whistle now. We can talk about the grooming gang scandal. We can talk about these cases where white people are not believed, are not heard, are not listened to because of this culture that we've built in that they they are perpetual bullies. So, when you go into a situation, it's not to ascertain whether racism is has occurred, whether the fact the the the accusations leveled are true. No, you automatically you take that caution and this costs lives.

[00:05:54]>> Okay.

[00:05:54]>> It absolutely does to be in the political conversation.

[00:05:57]>> Let me just come back to you for a moment just for a few seconds of a rebuttal there, but you know, isn't either right here that at the end of the day, you know, Mark Duggan, Chris Kaba, George Floyd, they were always seized upon by that side of the argument and politicized. Why is there not a legitimate debate to be had here without it being shut down as it appears you were attempting to do?

[00:06:24]>> No, I wasn't attempting to do any of that. Please do not put words in my mouth. We should not dismiss anti-white prejudice if it is a a possibility. What I'm saying is let the investigation be taken seriously before jumping into conclusions and causing it. My concern is that this case could be used in two dangerous ways. One side may dismiss legitimate concerns about anti-white prejudice, which is wrong, but on the other side it may use Henry Marches Henry's case and his murder to undermine all racism claims as if it's one false allegation means racism is usually fake.

[00:06:58]>> I guess I think I just have I get >> make sure that justice has to be consistent and that's why we we should have more investigation before jumping into these kind of conclusions and having politicians >> Okay, we're going to have to Sorry to interrupt you and >> [laughter] >> we're going to have to >> question.

[00:07:13]>> I very quickly 10 seconds.

[00:07:16]>> Fahima, you keep saying we shouldn't jump into conclusions. Can I ask you a very direct question? Were it a black man or a so-called brown man who was saying nine times that he couldn't breathe and white officers said, "Well, you're not, mate. Um you you're fine, mate." Would you Should we jump into assumptions then as well or or no? Would that be a sign of outright racism? I'm just asking for the black community here.

[00:07:38]>> failure and training and And evidence has to show a serious failure when it comes to that. We have to not just make conclusions. I personally didn't make those kind of conclusions when it came to those cases either.

[00:07:50]>> Okay, you've been able to wrap up that question. Thank you very much. Faheema, we're going to have to leave it there, but thank you very much to you both.

[00:07:55]Faheema Mohammed and Ada Echepala there.

[00:07:58]A strong debate.