Diversify
TV presenter June Sarpong issues a call to arms
Filming a TV show in Las Vegas nearly a decade ago, June Sarpong was joined on set by a young sound assistant covered head to toe in tattoos. It made her feel uncomfortable — scared, even. But it was also a lightbulb moment that made her think deeply about how it feels to be judged and stereotyped purely on the basis of a trivial factor such as appearance.
That moment, and the realisation that the young man had simply needed a break in life to flourish, led to the creation of Sarpong’s new book, Diversify — a call to arms to Britain’s public and private institutions to prioritise diversity for the benefit of society and the economy.
Best known for her TV appearances on shows including T4 and Loose Women, Sarpong has turned her focus to charity work and campaigning, particularly on issues around diversity and social mobility. Drawing on statistics compiled by academics from the Centre for Social Investigation at Nuffield College, Oxford, Diversify makes a passionate argument for increased diversity — of race, gender, social background and belief — in our workplaces and universities.
The book begins with a quotation from one of Sarpong’s heroes, the American civil rights campaigner and clergyman William Sloane Coffin: ‘Diversity may be the hardest thing for a society to live with, and perhaps the most dangerous thing for a society to be without.’
Speaking during a visit to Oxford University in which she met with admissions and access staff and spoke to students from a range of backgrounds, Sarpong explained how the quotation provides a perfect summation of her argument. ‘I love that quote,’ she says. ‘I think that quote sums up the issues that we have around diversity in the sense that change is not easy — human beings, most of the time, are fearful of change. But at the same time, to grow you have to be willing to change, and that’s why diversity is so important. Diversity allows for a richness of ideas and abilities, and a cultural mix that benefits society. For me it’s a no-brainer, but I understand why people find it difficult.’
If the quotation neatly sums up Sarpong’s thoughts on diversity, it was her encounter with the sound assistant in Las Vegas that provided the catalyst for writing the book. ‘I was intimidated by him,’ she says. ‘This was a young kid, and really if I’m honest I was scared. He hadn’t behaved aggressively towards me in any way, shape or form, but he was just not the type of person I was used to seeing on set. I grew up on a council estate in east London, so it’s not as if I wasn’t used to men like him — just not in that context.
Diversity may be the hardest thing for a society to live with, and perhaps the most dangerous thing for a society to be without
‘In that moment I realised “Oh, my goodness! That’s what ‘Otherizing’ is.” It’s what happens when you see someone who’s different and you behave differently towards them as a result. And I thought that if I, as a woman of colour, was feeling this way around him, what hope did this kid have? It made me think of how many young people we throw away just because they don’t meet our idea of safety.’
The statistics on equality and diversity presented in the book — from the number of women in senior positions to rates of incarceration among different ethnic groups — make ‘grim reading’, admits Sarpong. ‘We have to be honest about what the statistics show’, she says. ‘But what the book does offer is solutions. To me there’s no point in spreading all this doom and gloom if you don’t have solutions, and there are clear solutions. When you look at the progression pipeline available to those from privileged backgrounds, we know what works and we know what the road to success looks like. Now what we need to do is more of that for everyone else.’
She adds: ‘We can’t afford to waste any more talent in this country. What I would say to Oxford students is they are the leaders of tomorrow — they are the ones who will be going into our workplaces, running our industries and running our country. I urge them to be diversity-focused in terms of how they employ, how they train and how they source talent.’
Sarpong has been working closely with the Oxford University Development Office’s access campaign, and during her visit to the city she spoke at the inaugural equality and diversity dinner held by St Peter’s College. She has clear views on what leading universities need to be doing to improve their social and ethnic diversity.
She says: ‘For universities in general, and particularly Russell Group universities, the first thing you need to do is let students from these backgrounds know that you are open for business and that they are welcome, because the perception is — in part rightly — that the institutions are elitist, and that these students will not fit in. So I think the first thing is to actually go out into these communities and inform young people that they are welcome and that you actively want them. That’s the most important bit.
‘And it’s also working with the schools. I know this is something Oxford is putting together, but it’s working with state schools to find those gifted kids who have the grades and actually work with them while they’re doing their GCSEs to prepare them for Oxford and to make sure they apply to Oxford. Then obviously once they’re here it’s working on inclusion so that they feel welcome. But you have to be really proactive in how you go about it.’
Another topic hitting the headlines in recent weeks and months has been the issue of ‘safe spaces’ and freedom of speech at universities. Diversify includes a chapter exploring the divisions caused by opposing political opinions and the need, as Sarpong sees it, to be open to differing views. ‘I, personally, am all for freedom of speech. People who are promoting violence, then no, but by and large I think everybody should be given the opportunity to voice their views, and actually that’s how we debate them. I use an example in the book of Nick Griffin. I’m of the generation where I remember when the BNP started taking over councils, and it was at a time when a lot of Nick Griffin’s speeches were banned on mainstream television, so he almost had this mythical status. Once that was reversed and he was able to go on TV, and people with progressive views were able to debate him, it was quite clear his ideas didn’t stack up and the mythology sort of wasted away. And where are they now?
‘So for me I think it’s really important that we don’t allow these ideas to be hidden in the shadows, because that’s when they have the chance to fester, and that’s when they have the chance to poison vulnerable minds. At places like Oxford I think it’s really important that students bring these leaders here, and these sorts of views here, and debate them — tear them apart as they should be. I don’t believe in censorship.’
Diversify ends with a number: £127 billion. That’s the figure, calculated by researchers at the London School of Economics, of how much people are losing out on each year as a result of income disparities between men and women, and between different ethnic groups. Sarpong says: ‘That figure is disgusting — it’s unacceptable in 2017. The idea that ethnic minorities and women are being paid so much less than white men is not only a disservice to the groups that are being paid less, but actually society as a whole misses out, because this is lost as consumer spending, taxation and so many other elements. For me, it’s about creating a society where everybody, regardless of their background, is able to contribute to the best of their ability and is compensated accordingly.’
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