White Allies Matter

Aseia Rafique, Vanisha Parmar

Description

Follows the success of antiracism books. A personal and practical account of racism written from the perspective of two British Asian women.

Sujets

• Slavery
• Racism
• Jefe
• Inclusión
• Angela Yvonne Davis
• The New Jim Crow
• Ta-Nehisi Coates
• Angela Saini
• BIAS
• Akala
• Black (video game)
• Michelle Alexander
• Listed
• Equality
• Whiteness
• Institutional racism
• Stamp
• Indigenous peoples
• Superior
• White supremacy
• Colonialism
• Activism
• Blanchitude
• Audre Lorde
• Inclusion
• Angela Davis
• Black

Informations

• Publié par: Legend Press
• Date de parution: 15 mars 2022
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781915054753
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

White Allies Matter
Conversations about Racism and
How to Effect Meaningful Change
Vanisha Parmar and Aseia Rafique
HERO, AN IMPRINT OF LEGEND TIMES GROUP LTD
51 Gower Street
London WC1E 6HJ
United Kingdom
www.hero-press.com
This edition first published by Hero in 2022
Vanisha Parmar and Aseia Rafique, 2022
The right of the above authors to be identified as the authors of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data available.
Printed in Great Britain by CPI
ISBN : 978-1-91505-474-6
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise), without the prior written permission of the publisher. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be resold, lent, hired out or otherwise circulated without the express prior consent of the publisher.
Contents
Preface
Introduction
Chapter 1 : The Switching Game - Our Secret Lives
Vanisha Parmar
Chapter 2: The Blame Game
Aseia Rafique
Chapter 3: Institutional and Structural Racism - Just Say It!
Vanisha Parmar
Chapter 4: Brown Feminism
Aseia Rafique
Chapter 5: The future - Transformational or Transactional?
Vanisha Parmar
Chapter 6: Why Aren t Things Changing?
Aseia Rafique
Conclusion
Endnotes
Appendix
Acknowledgements
About the Authors
White Allies Matter
Preface
Vanisha Parmar
I am a diversity practitioner. This wasn t a role I happened to fall into or started because something else didn t work out. I made a conscious choice to go into this work because I wanted to address inequality and injustice and make a difference. The murder of Stephen Lawrence had a profound impact on me. At the age of fourteen I just couldn t get my head around why someone s life could be taken away for no other reason than the colour of their skin - what kind of world did we live in? I was deeply saddened, and as the incidents unravelled over the years before the killers finally faced justice this sadness turned into fury - how dare they? How dare they carry out such an horrific crime? What right did they have to take a son, a friend, a brother, just because he was Black? Even now, as I write this, almost thirty years later, I feel overcome with emotion - no matter how much I learn about race, racism and the reasons that it exists today not just in the UK but globally - this murder keeps it real for me. Racism is more than an academic discussion - its effects are far-reaching and fatal; we are talking about life and death, and this fuels my energy and passion. My work towards helping to create inclusive environments, to develop understanding and to address inequalities is my small contribution to making the world of work a better place. I hope, over the years, that I have helped people, organizations and - without sounding evangelical - in some small way, society.
Following the murder of Stephen Lawrence, my world view became very much focused through a racialized lens. I have been working in the diversity field for a number of years and I am conscious of how race plays out in everyday life. I have worked in a variety of organizations and over the years of meeting different people from all walks of life in the workplace, one thing that strikes me is how people interact in the world of work - particularly Black and Brown people. People of colour connect differently with one another compared to how they do with White people. I have noticed how some Black and Brown people, both at senior and junior levels, interacted with me and how they interact with White people, and this, coupled with my own experiences, started to shape some of my nuanced thoughts on racism, Whiteness and racial code-switching.
Human interaction and connection fascinate me, and I think the major factors that contribute to people enjoying a family gathering or a night out, or make the workplace an enjoyable place to be, in which people feel they belong, are authentic conversations and real connection. I personally appreciate those real conversations and feel that when these take place, people and organizations get the best experience. It is in those interactions, when people are themselves, have let their guards down and are able to share their authentic thoughts, that people feel safe. But in the workplace, I don t always see these happening. Of course, in that environment everyone needs to adopt a level of professionalism, and to some extent most don t ever really show their true selves. However, even when I take this into consideration, my observation is that there is an additional barrier that exists between some Black and Brown people and the rest of the workforce - the context is a racial one, not one of professionalism. The inability to be one s true self is detrimental to organizations and to the individual. These observations and the many informal conversations I have had over the years with Black and Brown colleagues and acquaintances led me to deepen my thinking on racial code-switching and navigating the workplace when you are Black and Brown. With the murder of George Floyd shining a brighter light on the lack of progress made on racial equity and equality in the UK, talking about these experiences is more important than ever. I feel honest conversations and action to dismantle the structures and systems of Whiteness that are pervasive play a key role in achieving genuine meritocracy. When this exists in all organizations, Black and Brown people will be able to progress towards and succeed in positions of power and influence, should they wish to do so, and be unapologetically themselves without fear of being judged. Yet, I find both the environment and culture in most organizations rarely allows the level of honesty that is required. My contributions to this book explore the reasons for the disparities that exist for Black and Brown people in the workplace are intended to provide an insight into how some Black and Brown people feel. I also hope to provide some understanding of what can be done to create an environment that is inclusive - beyond empty strategies and words - and why this is important.
I work with an enormous level of energy, commitment, positivity and passion, but this book comes from mixed emotions. It comes from frustration and fatigue on one hand, and hope and drive on the other. Frustration and fatigue because progress on achieving race equity is too slow; race inequality in the UK is not new and equity must occur at a much faster pace. Despite the volume of work organizations carry out on equality, diversity and inclusion such as events and initiatives, we are not there yet - why? I feel that the bar for measuring progress on race is often too low and focused on the wrong things. While there are some very good people and allies who are committed to creating the changes required to achieve equity, there are also others who quite enjoy the status quo. Hope and drive, because I see organizations and individuals wanting to do something; I see resources being put into the race equality agenda, and if these resources were to be directed into the right strategies, with good understanding and context of racism, change could be certain. I live in hope that we as a collective within society can make this happen. Drive because I want to live in a fair and just society, I have children - I don t want the colour of their skin and the negative assumptions and bias people hold to impact on their ability to achieve whatever they want. If I want this, then I feel I must work towards making it happen.

Aseia Rafique
Realizing I had to do more of the domestic work at home, and also manage my expectations for what I did outside of the home probably dawned on me when I consciously began to take note of the different expectations placed on boys and girls. Why did boys get to have more freedom? They were looked after better, told not to worry about cleaning up and, when unwell, were fretted over. Why were girls and women s spaces and bodies constantly hijacked by those in authority, both men and women? I remember browsing a book on engineering, not really interested in the content but just flicking through, when I was told by my father to put the book away, because that was something I wasn t going to do. Such unfairness really bothered me, and has, I am sure, led me into the work I do today. Once I started to notice, I couldn t stop noticing. I began to see why things were difficult for those of us who not only come from under-represented backgrounds but less privileged backgrounds, and who are also consistently excluded, marginalized and micro-managed by others, in the home and in the workplace. In my workplace, it was almost impossible to bring attention to data showing the lack of Black and Brown people in senior management positions. Even when a change in policy highlighted that this would cause unequal access to certain roles, the senior leader responsible for initiating the change said the equality impact assessment was not to be shared. The usual process was to publish such equality impact assessments. This one I never saw again.
I remember reading about the NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US slogan used by the Disability Rights Movement, which stated that no policy should be decided by any representative without including members of the group(s) affected by that policy. I cannot believe how much we still need to use this slogan, and across all inequalities where they manifest themselves. I feel we need to remind ourselves to use any power we may have to support (and not deny) the opportunities and choices of others, whatever they might be. After all, if they are not a criminal or out to murder someone, why worry what others are doing?
Inequality damages us all. For me, the effec