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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/02/bias-in-britain-racial-bias-ethnic-minorities
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| This is a vital study of racial bias. Now will Britain take heed? | This is a vital study of racial bias. Now will Britain take heed? |
| (about 2 months later) | |
| What does racial prejudice mean in Britain today? Is it, as one woman told me as I toured the UK to talk about my book Brit(ish), something we no longer fight against, distracted by other, seemingly modern ideas? “Diversity,” she told me, “has killed anti-racism.” | What does racial prejudice mean in Britain today? Is it, as one woman told me as I toured the UK to talk about my book Brit(ish), something we no longer fight against, distracted by other, seemingly modern ideas? “Diversity,” she told me, “has killed anti-racism.” |
| Is it, as the academic Paul Gilroy has said, a drama with which we have on some profound level become obsessed and dependent upon? “The nation’s intermittent racial tragedies,” he wrote in an updated edition of his seminal book Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack, “punctuate the chronic boredom of national decline with a functional anguish.” | Is it, as the academic Paul Gilroy has said, a drama with which we have on some profound level become obsessed and dependent upon? “The nation’s intermittent racial tragedies,” he wrote in an updated edition of his seminal book Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack, “punctuate the chronic boredom of national decline with a functional anguish.” |
| London clubs and racism: ‘The West End is a hostile environment’ | London clubs and racism: ‘The West End is a hostile environment’ |
| Has it evolved into something hidden by the politeness of well-meaning British behaviour? What I call “the question”, for example: the constant singling out of people of colour in order to ask: “Where are you from?” And to keep on asking, until information about some supposedly exotic country of origin is delivered. The kindly claim by a friend that you are fine, because “we don’t really see you as black”, or the patient explanation delivered by a colleague: “I’m not being racist, you just can’t get a job around here any more if you’re white.” Even the “hostile environment” immigration policy that leaves you helpless as black British people you love are deported to a country they don’t know doesn’t actually say racism on the sticker. | Has it evolved into something hidden by the politeness of well-meaning British behaviour? What I call “the question”, for example: the constant singling out of people of colour in order to ask: “Where are you from?” And to keep on asking, until information about some supposedly exotic country of origin is delivered. The kindly claim by a friend that you are fine, because “we don’t really see you as black”, or the patient explanation delivered by a colleague: “I’m not being racist, you just can’t get a job around here any more if you’re white.” Even the “hostile environment” immigration policy that leaves you helpless as black British people you love are deported to a country they don’t know doesn’t actually say racism on the sticker. |
| There is still plenty that does say racism on the sticker, of course. In my book, I recall going into a high-end shop on my local high street, for example, only to be told I wasn’t welcome because “the black girls steal”. And the moment I realised my partner refused point-blank to enter shops of that nature in the first place, exhausted by the inevitable suspicion and hostility. | There is still plenty that does say racism on the sticker, of course. In my book, I recall going into a high-end shop on my local high street, for example, only to be told I wasn’t welcome because “the black girls steal”. And the moment I realised my partner refused point-blank to enter shops of that nature in the first place, exhausted by the inevitable suspicion and hostility. |
| The launch on Sunday of the Guardian’s Bias in Britain reporting reveals, in many cases for the first time, these experiences as more than just anecdote. | The launch on Sunday of the Guardian’s Bias in Britain reporting reveals, in many cases for the first time, these experiences as more than just anecdote. |
| I now know for example, that, from a representative sample of 1,000 black and minority ethnic (BAME) people across Britain, 38% have been wrongly suspected of shoplifting in the past five years, compared with 14% of white people. I can tell you that 12% of BAME people have had racist language directed at them in the past month, rising to 43% in the past five years. | I now know for example, that, from a representative sample of 1,000 black and minority ethnic (BAME) people across Britain, 38% have been wrongly suspected of shoplifting in the past five years, compared with 14% of white people. I can tell you that 12% of BAME people have had racist language directed at them in the past month, rising to 43% in the past five years. |
| We can now look properly at the practical effects of bias on life in the workplace. Contrary to the perception that being a member of an ethnic minority is an advantage in companies seeking to prove their diversity credentials, the data reveals that 43% of BAME people feel that they been overlooked for a job or promotion in a manner that felt unfair in the past five years, more than double the proportion of white British people. | We can now look properly at the practical effects of bias on life in the workplace. Contrary to the perception that being a member of an ethnic minority is an advantage in companies seeking to prove their diversity credentials, the data reveals that 43% of BAME people feel that they been overlooked for a job or promotion in a manner that felt unfair in the past five years, more than double the proportion of white British people. |
| And we can analyse some of the emotional effects of bias – sometimes conscious, often unconscious – including the daily assumption that we are not actually British. Now my experience of “the question” is laid bare in the data: within the last month alone, one in five BAME people has had someone assume they aren’t British on the basis of their ethnicity. | And we can analyse some of the emotional effects of bias – sometimes conscious, often unconscious – including the daily assumption that we are not actually British. Now my experience of “the question” is laid bare in the data: within the last month alone, one in five BAME people has had someone assume they aren’t British on the basis of their ethnicity. |
| This research is important because, as well as these remarkable headline figures, it also examines experiences distinctive to different groups. Feeling overlooked at work affects black or mixed-race people more than those of Asian heritage. Muslims report having more negative experiences than BAME people of other religious backgrounds. Men are significantly more likely to have been stopped by the police, while women are more likely to have felt the need to alter their appearance because of their ethnicity. | This research is important because, as well as these remarkable headline figures, it also examines experiences distinctive to different groups. Feeling overlooked at work affects black or mixed-race people more than those of Asian heritage. Muslims report having more negative experiences than BAME people of other religious backgrounds. Men are significantly more likely to have been stopped by the police, while women are more likely to have felt the need to alter their appearance because of their ethnicity. |
| Revealed: the stark evidence of everyday racial bias in Britain | Revealed: the stark evidence of everyday racial bias in Britain |
| My hope is that knowing how widespread these experiences are might have effects that are more direct than the pollsters could have imagined. That a little black girl trying to scrub her skin lighter would know that many other girls face the same shaming pressures. That the person unsettled by being constantly mistaken for someone else at work – in my case, alleged doppelgangers include Michelle Obama and Clara Amfo, which is hardly unflattering, except that I don’t remotely resemble any of them – will know that three-quarters of black people have had the same experience. | My hope is that knowing how widespread these experiences are might have effects that are more direct than the pollsters could have imagined. That a little black girl trying to scrub her skin lighter would know that many other girls face the same shaming pressures. That the person unsettled by being constantly mistaken for someone else at work – in my case, alleged doppelgangers include Michelle Obama and Clara Amfo, which is hardly unflattering, except that I don’t remotely resemble any of them – will know that three-quarters of black people have had the same experience. |
| As part of the Guardian's Bias in Britain series we want to hear from readers and find out more about your experiences and perspectives. | As part of the Guardian's Bias in Britain series we want to hear from readers and find out more about your experiences and perspectives. |
| You can get in touch by filling in this encrypted form or contact the via WhatsApp by adding the contact +44(0)7867825056. | You can get in touch by filling in this encrypted form or contact the via WhatsApp by adding the contact +44(0)7867825056. |
| Your responses will only be seen by the Guardian and we’ll be in touch if we are considering your response as part of our reporting. You can read terms of service here. | Your responses will only be seen by the Guardian and we’ll be in touch if we are considering your response as part of our reporting. You can read terms of service here. |
| Bias in Britain is a welcome addition to a badly neglected field of inquiry. But here are a few things it can’t do. It can’t quantify the psychological strain of feeling invisible, overlooked or treated with disdain; of feeling – in the mantra many of us know so well – like you have to do twice as much to succeed. It can’t measure the pressure of being too visible – of having to do half as much to fail. It can’t diagnose how many of our relationships crumble because a partner is too broken and angered by racism to be able to love, or how many of us lose our sense of identity under the burden of racism, allowing it to engulf and overwhelm us. | Bias in Britain is a welcome addition to a badly neglected field of inquiry. But here are a few things it can’t do. It can’t quantify the psychological strain of feeling invisible, overlooked or treated with disdain; of feeling – in the mantra many of us know so well – like you have to do twice as much to succeed. It can’t measure the pressure of being too visible – of having to do half as much to fail. It can’t diagnose how many of our relationships crumble because a partner is too broken and angered by racism to be able to love, or how many of us lose our sense of identity under the burden of racism, allowing it to engulf and overwhelm us. |
| Because racism does have the power to overwhelm. I was struck by the story recently of a white theatre director who described himself as “born-again African”, in part because of the racism he had experienced as a consequence of being mistaken for somebody black. Racism, I was reminded, has come to be such an integral part of the ethnic minority experience, it is confused with the entirely separate question of who we actually are. This is nothing new – it’s the reason Marcus Garvey felt compelled to point out, almost a century ago, that blackness is not about shame but about greatness. The way to overcome this confusion is not to stop talking about racism, it’s to understand it better. And to understand it, you have to ask the right questions, and listen – really listen – to the answers. | Because racism does have the power to overwhelm. I was struck by the story recently of a white theatre director who described himself as “born-again African”, in part because of the racism he had experienced as a consequence of being mistaken for somebody black. Racism, I was reminded, has come to be such an integral part of the ethnic minority experience, it is confused with the entirely separate question of who we actually are. This is nothing new – it’s the reason Marcus Garvey felt compelled to point out, almost a century ago, that blackness is not about shame but about greatness. The way to overcome this confusion is not to stop talking about racism, it’s to understand it better. And to understand it, you have to ask the right questions, and listen – really listen – to the answers. |
| • Afua Hirsch is a Guardian columnist | • Afua Hirsch is a Guardian columnist |
| Race | Race |
| Opinion | Opinion |
| Inequality | Inequality |
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