According to a report released by the Department of Education in July 2022, 53 per cent of black African boys on free school meals progressed to higher education by the age of nineteen in the year 2020–21. The figure for black Caribbean boys, by contrast, was 25 per cent. The majority of black African boys on free school meals go to university. Only a quarter of black Caribbean boys do. Taiwo is more than twice as likely to go to university as Tyler.

If we focus on girls, the difference between black African and black Caribbean kids is still significant: 48 per cent of black Caribbean girls on free school meals, for example, progress to higher education. This is much better than black Caribbean boys, but the figure for black African girls is 69 per cent. And for those who are not eligible for free school meals, 80 per cent of black African girls progress to higher education compared to 60 per cent of black Caribbean girls. For boys it is 64 per cent of black African boys compared to 37 per cent of black Caribbean boys.

The facts with respect to education are significant, but all too often these distinctions are not taken into consideration. In terms of exclusion rates, for instance, the Guardian published a headline in September 2021 that stated: ‘Black girls in England are twice as likely to be excluded from schools as white girls.’ It later amended the title to accurately reflect the finding of the report: black Caribbean girls (not black girls in general) are twice as likely to be excluded from school as white girls. Black African girls are in fact less likely to be excluded than white girls.

If we care about social justice, then specificity matters more than generalization.

Tomiwa Owolade, This is Not America: Why Black Lives in Britain Matter (2023)