Ten Important Principles When Addressing Racism
by Rev Canon Dr Chigor Chike- August 2021
The Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow, ‘Took The Knee’ outside Leicester Cathedral to mark the anniversary of the death of American George Floyd and to highlight injustice in our own society.
Chigor Chike offers a practical checklist for churches and other groups attempting to examine the issue of racism in their midst.
The killing of George Floyd by a white policeman in full view of the general public opened the eyes of many to the racism that many Black and other Minority Ethnic people have lived with for centuries. As horrific as the act was, the impunity with which the perpetrators acted was shocking. As part of the reaction against that act and the systems that enabled it, many institutions have started to examine themselves to see how they may be enabling racism. This usually involves putting a process in place or setting up a body to examine the issue. In this short paper, I will describe some key considerations to bear in mind when undertaking such a process.
1 Focus on the Systemic
It is very common for people to think of racism in terms of particular, isolated acts. Whilst individual acts of racism or incidents of racial discrimination can be traumatic for the person concerned, experience shows that thinking of racism in those terms misses the big picture and hardly ever succeeds in tackling the problem. It’s better to maintain the focus on systemic racism and avoid being distracted by ideas of “racist behaviour” in interpersonal relations. The systemic approach would enable you to dig into processes, structures and cultures to detect the biases that can hide there for a very long time. The acts and incidents should not be ignored but understanding racism in those terms would be like understanding a disease in terms of its symptoms rather than the underlying cause.
2 Consultation
Black and other Minority Ethnic people sometimes have to deal with a situation where a white person considers himself or herself so knowledgeable on the issue of racism that they can on their own decide what to do. You probably won’t get that with other disadvantaged groups: like deciding what to do about disability without checking with disabled people or about gender or sexism without checking with women and men. So a good practice for any organisation is to as much as it is possible, consult people of BAME heritage on the different aspects of the work, including the process and the substance of the work and who should undertake it. This would enable people of BAME heritage to own the journey in a significant way.
3 Participation
Related to the issue of consultation is participation. In addition to checking the direction of travel with a wide group of people of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic heritage, it is wise to seek the active participation of some people of BAME heritage in the actual work. Their involvement is vital, not only for symbolic reasons but for the effectiveness of the work. They can contribute from the perspective of their lived experience. In cases where racism is being addressed, they should make up a significant number of the team and chair or co-chair the body. This would be vital for the credibility of the work. The situation where one or two people of Minority Ethnic heritage are included in such a group should be avoided, because the dynamic that situation creates tends to disable them and distort their contribution.
4 Speed
There is a long history of unfulfilled promises by various organisations to fight racism. This has led to some suspicion from people of Minority Ethnic heritage about the genuineness of utterances about changing things. Are such utterances really genuine, they wonder? For this reason there is much to be gained by acting quickly. The work should be done with as little delay as possible. any delay risks gravely damaging the confidence of people of BAME heritage about the genuineness of the intention even further. There can sometimes be the feeling that taking things gently gives one time to get it right, but this should not be so slow that it risks losing the confidence of those involved.
5 Concrete results
Work in the area of racial justice and inclusion has often been characterized by many words and not enough action. It can be said that for a long time many people have settled for proclamation on racism and the making of promises as representing progress on the issue! But the reality is that down the line, anyone who looks back would see that not much changed on the ground. So, seek to produce concrete results not mere words or more promises. The following question can be asked over time as a simple test of how tangible your outcomes are: “what has changed?”.
6 Diversity
For the same reason given above for consulting and involving Minority Ethnic people, it is also important to have as much diversity as possible. A more diverse group of people is likely to give a wider range of perspectives to the issue. A diverse range of perspectives from the start would amount to a wider and so stronger foundation from which to reach a conclusion. So, aim to have as much diversity as possible in terms of geographical spread, age (multi-generational), ethnicity (white and different BAME backgrounds) and gender.
7 Transparency
The long history of discrimination due to racism that Black and Minority Ethnic people have endured, the reality of power imbalance they live with and the years of broken promises of action hang over any process no matter how genuine. The shadow of that history makes it necessary to show your hands at every stage in order to carry people along with you and reduce suspicion. Let people, especially those of BAME heritage, know how the work is progressing. This might entail having a strategy for putting out information on what is going on and how people can be part of it.
8 Accountability
It is quite easy within an organisation to see oneself as accountable to those above one in the structure. In a situation where an organisation is devising a process for addressing racism, such hierarchical accountability would probably still exist. But in this process, another kind of accountability should also be borne in mind, and that is accountability to Black and other Minority Ethnic people. These are the people who have borne the brunt of racial oppression for years. In this work, see yourself as accountable to people of BAME heritage. This would entail identifying a BAME group within and/or outside your organisation to act as a “critical friend”.
9 Bracing for discomfort
Racism maintains its hold on society by making itself an uncomfortable subject. So any significant work to tackle racism will be uncomfortable for those involved. But avoiding the discussion because of the discomfort would mean that racism continues to thrive, creating division among people and maintaining injustice and oppression. The best solution is to expect the discomfort and prepare oneself and others for it. In an organizational process, see that people are warned about the discomfort to come and helped to prepare for it. This would make everyone better able to cope with it when it occurs. It is worth bearing in mind how much the discomfort of a discussion pales in comparison to the actual experience of racism that Black and other Minority Ethnic people continue to endure.
10 Independent voices
The reality of where power lies, which person or group has it and which do not, can make it difficult to tackle racism. Quite often, the main beneficiaries tend to also be in the most powerful positions and those suffering the most usually cannot speak because of the power bearing down on them. The solution is to bring in voices from the outside into the process. Ensure you have some independent voices in your midst, that is people who are not constrained by the power dynamics in your context.
These principles should help the process to function in a way that is empowering for all concerned, facilitate trust, and lead to a useful outcome. To be sure, this is not meant as principles to put in place right across an organisation, even though some of them might be helpful. It is for the specific occasion where an organisation is setting up a body or putting a process in place to review how its work is being affected by racism.
It is sad that lies about our human species, some of which were made up hundreds of years ago, continue to do so much harm to all our lives. But one can be encouraged by the progress that is being made in debunking and exposing those lies for what they are. We thank God that more and more people are beginning to see all human beings as he sees them – his children, equal in his sight and made in his image.
Rev Canon Dr Chigor Chike is a parish priest, theological educator and social justice activist. He has set up projects for homeless people and refugees in Birmingham and London. He currently leads a number of social justice and religious organisations in the UK, which includes the Anglican Minority Ethnic Network, Rights and Equalities in Newham and an interfaith organisation called Faithful Friends. He holds a PhD in theology from the University of Birmingham, an MTh in Applied Theology from Oxford University and an MA in Islamic Studies from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. He is a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Roehampton where he teaches Christian Mission, Pentecostalism and World Religions. He has published several books and articles on religion and social justice issues. One of this is Voices from Slavery, which is based on the lives of four enslaved Africans, African Christianity in Britain, which examines the faith of African Christians, and A Common Humanity which explores the values that motivate Muslims who engage in interfaith work.
Rev Canon Dr Chike is the vicar of Emmanuel Church, Forest Gate, London – an inner-city Church of England church serving a vibrant, diverse community in East London.