I’m Just One Woman
I am just one woman. One mixed-race, White British and Black Carribean, able-bodied, cis-gendered woman.
A woman who was angry, relieved, sad, confused and frustrated at what she was seeing on social media after the death of George Floyd. Angry that the world thought that posting black squares on “Black Out Tuesday” was enough. Relieved that people were finally acknowledging the injustices that Black people, and other People of Colour, experience every single day. Sad that another innocent man had to die for the world to recognise the views and behaviours that are entrenched in our society. Confused by my own disparate emotions, and frustrated that it had taken so long for people to stand up and take notice of the unjust world we had all been complicit in maintaining. I was just one woman who didn’t know what to do with those emotions, so on the 3rd June 2020 I wrote down my thoughts and published them in a blog post.
Actions speak louder than words
Action is the single most important thing right now. It is the one thing we should all be doing to create a fairer and just society. There are plenty of actions you can take to be more anti-racist. I named a few in my last blog post. But, what effect can those actions have?
One small step…
One of the actions I took to be more anti-racist was to write that first blog post, providing others with practical suggestions for how to educate, challenge and change themselves and others. I published it on my work’s intranet pages and the response was overwhelming. The blog post received 290 likes and 109 comments, from individuals committing to do more, learn and to listen. Some of those comments were from People of Colour sharing their own experiences of racism. Others were from staff in the organisation thanking me for introducing the topic and letting me know they’d shared the content with their family members. I was incredibly humbled by the response and was glad to see that what I wrote resonated with so many people.
As a result of publishing that blog post, I was invited to attend a virtual meeting for senior leaders. I was given a platform to share my personal experiences and rather than keeping the opportunity to myself, I brought along a few Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) colleagues so they also had an opportunity to share their experiences of racism and their thoughts on how the organisation could change. Around sixty senior leaders attended the event and listened attentively to the panel members’ personal accounts of feeling “other” in the country they call home. The session was incredibly powerful and emotional. Many attendees were moved to tears and even more vowed to take action both personally and in their roles as decision makers within our organisation. That session, amongst other fantastic initiatives being championed by my office’s BAME network and Diversity & Inclusion team, has led to a constructive organisation-wide conversation on race, identity and belonging. Initiatives are being started all with the intention of creating a more inclusive and supportive workplace.
I also published that same blog post here, on Medium, where it was read over 500 times in 48 hours. I shared it with my friends and family, and they share it amongst their friends, family and colleagues. People contacted me to discuss what I had written and to let me know that they’d ordered or downloaded the books I’d suggested. I was completely blown away by the responses I received. The messages of thanks, compassion and kindness really meant so much.
Imagine what we all can do
If all of that started because I, just one woman, spent 60 minutes furiously typing to try to make sense of my own emotions, then imagine what would happen if we each did one thing to be more anti-racist. What if we all took three actions, or even ten? We really could change the world. So let’s start now.
Your homework
You might start small and read a book. You might commit to making a change at work by speaking with your line manager or team about racial inequality. Maybe your first action is to watch a documentary or listen to a podcast about positive actions other people have taken. Whatever you choose, make sure you take that first step on your journey to becoming more anti-racist.
For those who have already started taking action: thank you. I have seen some fantastic efforts being made by people I know: standing up to their friends and family members who hold prejudice views; donating to charities that support Black communities; signing petitions with the aim of making school reading lists and history lessons more representative; attending peaceful protests; completing training to better understand their own micro-behaviours and unconscious bias; and amplifying the voices of Black people and other People of Colour.
Please remember that regardless of your ethnicity, fighting racism is hard. Personally, I’ve found the last few weeks very draining, and so have many allies. Playing a prolonged game of virtual Whack A Mole on social media, challenging those who believe we live in a post-racial society and explaining why “colour blindness” is a form of White privilege, is exhausting. We all need to take a break every once in a while, otherwise we’ll burn out. The only way to maintain momentum is by keeping our energy levels high. In order to do that each and every one of us needs to exercise some self-care. Switch off your phone, do some mindful breathing, go for a walk, read a novel, or take a bath. Whatever you need to do to recharge and stay strong. Then you can return to fight racism once again and take your second, third and fourth action. So, why are you still reading? Go and take the next step on your anti-racism journey! Our combined actions will speak much louder than my words alone.
