Natsayi Sithole, Head of Business Development & Strategy for UK Impact, and co-founder of the BAME Staff Network asks: how can charities tackle racism from within?
The events of the last week have shone a lurid light on the relentless assault on the lives of black people in the United States. Some have the privilege of being blind to such realities, or the capacity to un-see and compartmentalise their impact. But to many of us, George Floyd’s killing at the hands of the police is as unsurprising as it is deeply traumatising. We say the names of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmad Arbery and Tony McDade. We mourn their lives. But how little has changed in the United States over the past four hundred years? Racism has transformed, adapted, mutated - but it has never left.
Standing in solidarity
As we stand in solidarity with black people in America experiencing mass degradation and dehumanisation, we must also turn ourselves to face the heat of racism here at home in the UK. As a black woman working in the charity sector, I know that this means taking a long, critical look at how our organisation and our peers challenge racism, both internally and with the communities we serve. And this process starts with a clear understanding that structural racism represents a violent, pernicious, often invisible threat to human rights - and to children’s rights. Dismantling it should be central to our vision for the future.
Racism and coronavirus
We must recognise and understand the ways that structural racism has compounded the horrors of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Public Health England report released this week confirms the disproportionate impact on marginalised communities in the UK, who are twice as likely to die from the virus. These same patterns of race-based disadvantage are familiar when we look at housing inequalities, health outcomes, and education in the UK too. It follows that a child’s rights commitment is meaningless without an anti-racist and intersectional lens applied.
What is the vision of the future if black parents continue to die at the hands of racist violence here in the UK – parents and grandparents like Belly Mujinga, Trevor Belle, and many others before them?
What does the future look like for children of colour when they are more likely to feel the impact of health inequalities, or are between 22% (black children) and 29% (Bangladeshi children) more likely to experience both material deprivation and poverty than their white peers (10%)?
What good is a charity sector charged with transforming society if that transformation is not focussed on dismantling the systems of oppression that create such inequities?
For whom do we truly work for and with whom do we stand?
While protesters in America today are putting their lives on the line, risking the ultimate price for their liberation, we too can make a difference. We are powerful agents of change, capable of shifting narratives, influencing government priorities and spending strategies. But we must confront ourselves as a sector if we are to truly lend our voice and platform to show solidarity. We must take this moment – both the flashpoint of racist violence and the global pandemic – to engage in deep introspection and sustained action to root out racism within our organisations, our approaches and practices.
Today’s movements for racial justice such as Black Lives Matter have enabled staff like me to have bolder, more urgent conversations about race in spaces where such debates were previously considered too political, divisive, or irrelevant to our work. At Save the Children UK, the employee-founded and led BME Staff Network is at the forefront of shifting discriminatory practices and mindsets for the benefit of all staff and for the good of our mission for children.
These are our top five ways organisations can work towards anti-racism within the workplace
· Prioritise having candid, difficult conversations about racism and the specific challenges within your organisation, and prioritise resources for eliminating it
· Secure commitment from senior leadership to act as visible and proactive champions for racial diversity, and hold middle leadership teams accountable for promoting and demonstrating inclusion within their teams
· Improve Human Resources monitoring and reporting systems to increase awareness of the progression barriers faced by BME staff and develop new initiatives to support them
· Actively work to improve the retention and progression of BME staff – understand and measure what is driving them to leave and stifling their progress
· Invest in comprehensive anti-racist education and training for all staff on racial discrimination within the workplace
The time has come for the sector to invest in antiracist, decolonial, intersectional praxis as the cornerstone for conceiving the world anew. A just and equitable world where all children thrive is a world without racism.
To get there, our institutions, NGOs and all charities must do the internal work to actualise our external proclamations.
