21st March 2022-United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
I’m not sure if you are aware but today the 21st March is the United Nations International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
On this day in 1960, 69 peaceful protesters against apartheid were mercilessly shot and killed by police, with many others injured. This is known as the Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa. Given the events occurring in the first quarter of this year alone, it is high time for global awareness and support for the eradication of racism in all its forms.
We seem to be seeing racism everywhere at the moment and while this may be a surprise for some, most of the Global Ethnic Majority (Black and Brown people and people of colour) have had to face this on a daily basis.
How starkly do we see racism in times of crisis such as during this appalling war on Ukraine. Racism existed in Ukraine long before this conflict, remember the racial abuse Black footballers continually received when playing Ukrainian teams. Now we hear reports such as this one, of the verbal and physical abuse received by Black and Brown refugees making their journey out of the country.
When I read the official report about Child Q on Tuesday evening I was broken. If you have not heard the story let me summarise.
A 15 year old Black school girl getting ready to take her examination was pulled aside because she supposedly smelled of cannabis. After she was searched and with nothing found by the teachers, the police were called. Two female police officers conducted a strip search of the school girl with no supervising adult present. The two officers even instructed the child to remove her sanitary towel so that they could check it. After the search where again nothing was found she was told by the school to return to her class to continue the examination. Her mother was not informed by the school or by the police.
The official report on this case states “…that racism was likely an ‘influencing factor’ in the strip search, and the girl — a Black child — was subjected to ‘adultification’ bias — where Black and global majority children are held to adult standards, but their white peers are less likely to be.”
Adultification of young Black people and Infantilisation of older Black people are common microaggressions faced by Black and Brown people especially women.
Yesterday morning I read of the harrowing sexual assault of an 18 year old Ukrainian woman allegedly by a Tunisian (previously thought to be from Iraq) man and a Nigerian man. In both the German and Swiss press, on social media and also by a Swiss government minister, all Arabic and African men are now being seen as rapists.
What I find troubling is the lack of focus and support of the young woman who was sexually assaulted, but instead on the race of the perpetrators of the assault.
Next there is the incident with Jane Campion and the Williams sisters. The whole incident laced with subtle microaggressions, that required you to be Black or Brown to identify them if you are not told what to look for. The thing about microaggressions is that when it happens to us we have two choices:
- To brush it off by smiling or laughing along, while dying a little inside.
- Or to call it out, which draws unwanted attention and the potential for gaslighting, thus resulting in dying a little inside.
The Williams sisters chose the first, you can begin to understand the rest.
What follows is a report which is of no surprise to any highly educated, highly qualified and professional Black or Brown person. Professor Robert Moyaka, the only Black chemistry professor in the UK, in 15 years has never had a research grant approved; this is a very unusual situation. However, despite this obvious racial headwind, he has been extremely successful. I share this article because for Black and Brown people we constantly face the headwinds of systemic racism that are barely perceptible to others, and it’s exhausting.
Many companies are looking at establishing equal opportunities for underrepresented ethnicities, yet fail to recognise the difficulties we face navigating the systems and institutions that constantly “other” us.
The linked report states:
“Official figures show that at undergraduate level 4.9% of students studying chemistry-related subjects identify as black, significantly higher than the national 3.0% of the UK population. But most choose not to enter research. Those who do fall away at every stage of the career ladder: 1.4% of postgraduate chemistry researchers identify as black, 1% of lecturers and 0% of professors.”
it is interesting that statistically the one Black chemistry professor is rounded down thus resulting in a 0% statistical result.
In the last few weeks the number of examples I could include are endless however this last report dispels the myth that racism is limited to the US or the UK. I began this post by sharing examples of violent racism experienced in the flight from Ukraine. This final report provides statistical evidence of racism in European Union nations.
If these examples of overt and covert racism have in some way moved you to becoming an ally, I ask you to join me in taking a stand against racism, in all its forms (race, colour, descent, national origin, ethnic origin), wherever it exists.
You can demonstrate this by downloading the “I Stand Up To Racism” frame and uploading and posting your picture in your social media communities.
