NOT ANOTHER RACE TALK

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

I have been sitting on a presentation called NOT ANOTHER RACE TALK. My way of breaking down why those of us who speak out against racism do so and being able to tackle the assumptions around the subject.

I wanted to present it online as a public webinar last year, but truth be told, I just felt that having to explain what to me is obvious was going to be tiring, to say the least. Also, I didn't want to find myself boxed in as "that guy who just speaks about racism". It is but a small part of what I do.

Suffice to say, I am still pondering when to release 'Not Another Race Talk' as a public seminar or package it up as an online course. But in the meantime, I want to share some things that will help provide some basis for understanding what I, and others like me, are battling against when instigating conversations around racism.

You won't hear me using terms that trigger people in conversation other than to explain concepts. Others are comfortable with it, and that’s OK, but I know that talking about white privilege or white supremacy ends up shutting down conversations before they even start. Even with my most understanding and closest white friends, I realised I had to take a different tack in getting them to understand concepts that they had never heard of or experienced before. I also think it is important to note I don't see racism in the binary - it is not just Black and White. My travels and international work have exposed me to racism in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, South and East Asia and Australia. All slightly nuanced but stretching across all so-called race groups. I am incredibly conscious of my language there too, and not losing engagement before we even start.

Racism is so deeply interwoven into national identity and exceptionalism that challenging the fabric of that causes people to react violently. It is painful for some to reflect and reconcile how complicit they are in upholding racist ideologies and structures. Add to that, then realising it means dismantling your sense of identity.

Countries (governments), institutions, corporations have no desire to reckon with these facts. Governments are arguably the most invested in fending off this trauma because, as I said, it would otherwise mean a majority of the population coming face-to-face with a harsh, gruesome reality about their identity. So when challenged as being institutionally racist, governments will point to any example of the relative success of the minorities levelling the accusations as evidence the system works for all. And if you disagree, you are told, "if you don't like it here, go somewhere else". We see this in the US and UK, where the model minority is trotted out as an example for others as to why the country should not be considered racist. The problem with this, of course, is that no one takes the time to detail which specific hurdles these exemplar minorities have had to overcome to attain success and certain proximity to the majority racial group.

In Europe, it is less evident because no data is kept on race and ethnicity. With noble intent, the nations didn't want to be accused of discriminating again, a reminder of what spurred on the great wars, and so decided it best not to collect such data. This lack of data makes it hard to challenge the likes of France, Portugal, Spain, Netherlands, et al. on their race relations. Yet, conversations I have had with people in these territories who identify as a minority group often describe how it shows up in painful detail.

You see, when people hear the word "racist" they think of it only in terms of individual interactions. Someone calls another a paki, a nigger, a chink, a raghead, a gypo, a honkey. They tend only to see it in terms of such slurs or the simian and eggplant emoticons that dominate social media platforms. But racism is more than just the overt. These are but a small part of the more significant issue - structural racism.

When voices are raised globally against racism, the focus is structural or what is known as institutional or systemic racism. The global protests over the death of George Floyd and the localisation of such protests are examples of this.

I say structural racism because it is embedded in laws, policies, norms, and behaviours shaped by assumptions formed by the dominant racial group. Housing, healthcare, employment, education, law and order, banking and politics. It can extend even further to voting rights, media, entertainment and technology. Many would conflate this with class, but that is a separate conversation.

How does this show up for discriminated groups? When you have to change your name on a CV to get through to the first stage. When you are disproportionately profiled, arrested and charged by the police. When you struggle to get housing because of the colour of your skin. When you buy beauty products that say for normal skin or hair, which doesn't include you. When voting rights and laws are developed to suppress minority rights. When you are asked where are you really from. When you have no access to fair finance, banking or venture funding. When technology cannot distinguish skin tones and groups people incorrectly. When you are disproportionately excluded from schools. When assumptions are made around pain tolerance within the health system. When politicians suggest you are extremist because you are protesting racial inequity. When dating apps have algorithms to suppress certain racial groups. When others see your natural hair, cultural dress or speaking tones as unprofessional. When despite the constant structural pushback, you are accused of playing the race card if you speak out against it.

So when I, and others like me, begin to interrogate the nature of racism, it is not about shame, guilt or blame but a comprehensive analysis of what got us here. It is about a sense of agency to clarify what we can and need to do to move the needle forward.

People will argue until they're blue in the face that a small minority perpetrated the online racial abuse suffered by Black British football players last summer. But many of us had seen and heard that rhetoric long before when Black Lives Matter (amongst other antiracist campaigns) got a foothold in the UK. Even before that, we saw it with the BREXIT campaigns. We saw it echoed in the politics of Trump, Bolsonaro, Modi, Khan, Orban, Wilders, Salvini and others. This structural and unchecked superiority created and continues to create division supported by legislature and populism tied up in some bastardised nationalist identity.

This is the heart of the matter. Individual, overtly racist acts, problematic as they are, reflect our tolerance to institutional policies and practices. This is what many of us are fighting. It might show its ugly face now and then, like in a football stadium, but it's what lies beneath; the structure that supports that behaviour in the first place is what is most concerning.

The talk and the course will come on this in due season. The negative impact this has in the workplace and in public life still weighs heavy on my heart. For now, bookmark this as a starting point.