Playing the race card is no more than dealing from the stacked deck we’re all playing with

In response to a tweet about the nurses pay strike, and the disproportionate racial impact of that, I received a good amount of hostility online. I also got a lot of input from peers suggesting I should be careful about seeing a ‘race aspects to everything’ lest I be accused of ‘playing the race card’.

The response from these strangers and colleagues all relate their instinct to dictate what is deemed to be racism and what is not. The problems with that analysis are multiple – but primary for me is that it implies that racism is a wild beast that is confined in certain corners of society. Whereas for me, and many black and ethnic minority people, racism is an uncaged virus that permeates society.

What is the evidence that racism runs freely through our society? Here’s an incomplete list:

·       There is a racial bias in school exclusions, such that compared to white British children, the likelihood of Gypsy and Roma children being excluded is 4 times greater, and for black Caribbean children it is 2.5 times.

·       There is an ethnicity pay gap in median hourly pay rates of 20% for Pakistani and  Bangladeshi workers and 8% for Black African workers compared to their white counterparts.

·       Housing tenure by ethnicity shows that 20% of black African and 40% of black Caribbean groups – the similar figure for the white group is 68%.

·       The likelihood of being behind with the bills is 17% for black households and 16% for Bangladeshi ones compared to 6% of white ones.

·       Black people are more than 7 times as likely to be stopped and searched by the police.

·       Asian offenders are 1.5 times more likely to receive an immediate custodial sentence  for three drug offences compared to white offenders; the odds of a black offender receiving an immediate custodial sentence are 1.4 times the size of the odds for a white one.

·       In the healthcare workforce, white applicants are 1.6 times more likely to be appointed from shortlisting across all posts compared to BME applicants.

·       Black women were 3.7 times more likely, and Asian women 1.8 times more likely, to die as a consequence of pregnancy than white women.  

So, when people talk of playing the race card it ignores that we’re actually playing with a whole racist deck of cards. If we are part of society, there is no choice but to recognise the inequality that shapes all our experience. Underpinning the data above are also the experiences of ethnic minority people in the UK – attempting to shut down their discourse by talk of playing race cards is negating their daily encounters. The corollary of this negating other people’s experience is that it reflects the privilege of the majority to not have to consider race at all when it comes to navigating daily life. Whether shaped by ignorance of the experience of minoritized people, or desire to avoid facing awkward truths, the appeal to victims not to describe their racial disadvantage is perverse – and should be ignored. For some people, avoiding the reality of other people’s experiences arises from a discomfort about hearing of personal misfortune, and for others it arises from a recognition that they have benefitted from systems that are embedded within racism. Importantly, racism is not the preserve of the white population, There is a miserable history of anti-blackness in many Asian communities. This colourism runs deep in many cultures, not just in terms of beauty standards but also in terms of indifference to the inequity faced specifically by black people.

Many of the professional colleagues who tell me in conspiratorial tones to be careful whn speaking about race, will do so in a tone which reminds me that I have a position of influence. But this privilege does not mean that racism has not touched my life. In fact, the importance of people in my fortunate position speaking out for racial equality is that it demonstrates that discrimination is faced by people throughout society, not just the least privileged. Each person’s experience of inequality is distinct, and no one experience trumps another. The qualitative experience highlighted by individuals talking about bullying, harassment and abuse (whether in the health sector, fire brigade, police force, entertainment industry, teaching, among many others) underpins the data, and argues why all those fortunate to be in such professional roles need to speak out.  Feeling guilty and awkward about listening to those experiences is not a productive way forward.

In terms of doing better going forward, the first step is to acknowledge our privilege. What this means is to recognise that some of us benefit from our race, our gender, our sexual orientation, etc – and any intersection of those privileges. In the same way we recognise the intersectionality of inequality, there is an intersectionality to privilege. The same demographic advantage that benefits some simultaneously harms others. So, talking about racism serves this further purpose of allowing those people with good intentions a chance to have that dialogue and chance to think about how we create a better society. Are you up for it?

 

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