It has been almost 18 months since The Partnership launched the racial inequalities training package This is a key offer accessible to colleagues, partners and beyond at no cost to help educate and raise awareness of the ongoing racial injustice and everyday discrimination faced by ethnic minorities.
When we launched this training in May 2021, we were at what felt like a period of crisis, yet another ‘moment’ where each and every one of us were forced to confront the realities of racial discrimination and how it is expressed, whether that is through direct acts of violence or subtle unconscious bias. This was of course no revelation, many of us have seen this or even experienced discrimination which has left us feeling a range of emotions from being exhausted, upset and angry. But, during a global pandemic, something felt different. There was a sense of urgency. Whilst many of our daily routines stopped and we spent more time in our homes, we had no excuse of the distractions of our daily lives to simply ignore what we were all seeing on our screens.
From the murder of George Floyd and the international attention on the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement bringing into sharp focus the ongoing racial injustice faced by ethnic minority communities – we saw the calls for change responded to with the support and leadership of individuals and organisations across West Yorkshire and further afield.
In October 2020, The Partnership was seeking to build on the development of key initiatives like the Fellowship programme to deliver our ambitions of diversity and leadership and by engaging our senior leaders across the health and care system to hear directly the lived experiences of those who have felt discrimination in the workplace from issues such as unconscious bias to racial microaggressions. This was an offer developed together with Race Equality Network members and asked our senior leaders to make a personal pledge to lead the change and transformation necessary on this agenda, recognising this was something that required a personal investment to learn, to do better, to be better.
I wrote back in 2020 that this work can’t simply be an appraisal objective, this is a moral objective. I stand by those comments, even today. I could list some of progress we’ve made since then, and whether they are small acts of change or larger programmes and initiatives that seek to improve the experiences and opportunities of ethnic minorities, there is yet still more work to be done to deliver the tangible difference and culture shift we all need to see.
Racial inequalities still exist. The urgency we felt back in 2020, still should be with us today. There are far too many of our colleagues, our friends that feel the ever presence and weight of racial discrimination. That is not acceptable, and we owe it to all of our colleagues to be part of workplaces where they are supported to be their true authentic selves.
Yes, there are many other challenges that could be argued also requiring a relentless focus. But this is not a competition. This isn’t an ‘either’ ‘or’ position. There are people who we work with, who we see daily, that we must deliver real change for.
I want to see transformational change. Not incremental changes, that should have happened decades ago.
In 2020, we all made a commitment to act. In 2022, we need to restate that commitment and redouble our efforts to realise the change that so many desperately hope to finally see.
Thank you for reading.
Wasim