We are aware that there is a lot of information and discussion about terminology regarding racism, anti-racism and people who experience racism, and that language is dynamic and continuously evolving. We believe its use should be nuanced and contextualised, recognising the right and agency to self-identification.
We therefore recognise it is not our place as a council to state definitive terms that must be used. However, we do need to communicate what we understand and how we are using some words in this strategy to support delivery and creation of an anti-racist council. We are committed to continuing this conversation and evolving with language and over time.
Black & Racially Minoritised and Global Majority
This strategy aims to use specific ethnicity descriptions and terminology to speak to specific lived experiences. Where this is not possible, the strategy will use the terms ‘Black & Racially Minoritised,’ and ‘people who experience racism.’ Where these terms are used, they will be referring to people who do not identify as White British. We use ‘Racially Minoritised’ to recognise that people are not minorities by identity, but have been minoritised by racist structures, systems, and societies.
This strategy will also use words such as Community and Diaspora when describing groups of people whose ethnicity has been mentioned. To give an example of how this will be used – people from the Black Diaspora refers to people who identify as Black though they may have differing nationalities; the Sudanese community in Brighton & Hove refers to people whose heritage lies in Sudan and are residents of the city. In this example, a person may identify as both Black and Sudanese, but will be affected by our services in different ways due to these intersecting identities. These descriptive words support us to recognise the nuances and diversity within our Black & Racially Minoritised communities in Brighton & Hove.
The council is also aware that the term ‘Global Majority’ is increasing in usage throughout the city. The term refers to people from the Black diaspora, Asian communities, people of Dual-Heritage, Indigenous communities, and those in the global South. These groups currently represent approximately 80% of the world’s population. Global majority is a collective term that shifts the conversation away from proximity to whiteness and onto the human race as a global population. We recognise the appropriateness of this terminology and are committed to direct engagement about its increased usage within the council and beyond.
We recognise that the use of ‘BAME’ (Black and Asian Minority Ethnic), ‘'BME'’, and ‘Black & Minority Ethnic’ can be particularly problematic. These terms are still used widely in local and national data, so when referring to statistical evidence to support our actions, these terms may be cited within inverted commas to recognise that they are not our preferred terms.
Terms and terminology have been identified based on dialogue at meetings of the Community Advisory Group and with Black & Racially Minoritised-led organisations in the city as well as current national narratives. We understand that umbrella terms can dilute people’s lived experiences, can be dismissive, and over-simplify complex realities. We understand people are subjected to racism for their skin tone, accent, culture, ethnicity, nationality, faith, marital status, sexuality (and more) in direct, indirect, and intersecting ways. Racism may be experienced on an interpersonal, institutional, or structural level. Specific terminology will be utilised to reflect the different communities in the city and the different ways people identify themselves.
Discussions will continue to take place throughout the lifespan of this strategy to ensure language is kept up to date. Any terminology used in this strategy will be reviewed on a regular basis and updated as necessary.
‘Race’
“There is no such thing as Race. None. There is just the Human Race scientifically, anthropologically” -Toni Morrison. (Toni Morrison quotes in Toni Morrison's Most Powerful Quotes On Racism).
“Race, the idea that the human species is divided into distinct groups on the basis of inherited physical and behavioural differences. Genetic studies in the late 20th century refuted the existence of biogenetically distinct races, and scholars now argue that “races” are cultural interventions reflecting specific attitudes and beliefs that were imposed on different populations in the wake of western European conquests beginning in the 15th century. - Britannica. (See Britannica’s definition of ‘Race’).
Our understanding, in line with academically and scientifically proven research, including views of community educators, activists, and members, is that ‘Race’ is a social construct that was created and has been perpetuated for centuries by actions of colonisation, the invention of eugenics, through marginalisation, and the systemic and intentional enslavement, oppression and looting of various Black, non-White, and Indigenous cultures, who are the global majority.
As the social concept of ‘Race’ persists systemically to divide and marginalise, so must our work to continuously become anti-racist, fight anti-Blackness, colourism, and other intersecting marginalising outcomes for Black and Racially Minoritised people to ensure equity, embracing of diversity and continuous inclusion by design in how we think, act and work.
Racism
This definition of racism, agreed by us, as the council with the Community Advisory Group in 2020 is:
Racism is when a person is treated worse, excluded, disadvantaged, harassed, bullied, humiliated, victimised, segregated or degraded because of their race or ethnicity.
At an organisational level, it can also be the collective failure to provide an inclusive and professional working environment to people because of their race or ethnicity*. This is sometimes described as ‘institutional racism’, based on the definition recommended by Sir William Macpherson in the 1999 Lawrence report (UK).
*NOTE: Race or ethnicity includes people’s colour, and nationality (including citizenship) ethnic or national origins.
The definition of a racist incident is "any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person."
How racism manifests
Racism can happen anywhere, and in any context. It can be an action by an individual or a culture: ‘normal’ behaviour that underpins everyday practices. Like discrimination more broadly, racism is linked to power and is reflected in a society’s organisations and cultures. It influences people’s thinking, attitudes, prejudices, and actions. It is justified and normalised by institutions and culture. Attitudes and actions at all levels of society can be racist and decisions and policies made by individuals, organisations and institutions can be racist.
Racism can be a one-off action, random action, or subtle everyday behaviours that can add up to negatively affect a person (known as micro-aggressions and micro-incivilities). Racism can also be the deliberate or accidental outcome of an organisation’s policy or practice. It can be seen in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, and thoughtlessness. Someone may discriminate against a person or group of people without realising it or meaning to, but this is still racism. The perception of the victim or any other person is central to how a racist incident or complaint is defined regardless of the intention of the perpetrator. Intention or ignorance is not an excuse.
Based on race/ethnicity, racist behaviour in practice it can mean:
- using negative language or making ‘jokes’ about people’s race/ethnicity
- 'colour blindness’ (ignoring race and its impacts)
- assuming superiority of ‘people like me’ over ‘people like them’
- stereotyping (generalising or making assumptions about all people from a specific ethnic group, culture or religion are the same)
- making people into ‘other’ (perceiving them as different from what is ‘normal’)
- behaviours that signal that someone doesn’t belong or isn’t welcome
- directly insulting or hurting people
- not addressing allegations of racism appropriately or treating complainants as ‘trouble-makers’
- in a workplace: blocking progression, acting up or learning opportunities
- avoiding or isolating people or not inviting them to social or networking events
- Subjecting people to greater scrutiny or monitoring and changing tone of voice, style of engagement, communication, and behaviour due to perceived difference of racial, national, or ethnic heritage, accent or assumed capability based in stereotypical views of someone’s racial, national or ethnic heritage
- not providing appropriate support or not responding to cultural, faith-based, or religious requirements, and being culturally insensitive
Anti-Racist
Anti-racism goes beyond thinking of racism as an issue of individual actions, and incorporates the examination of racism in systems, structures, and institutions, and includes the role of implicit biases in attitudes, behaviours, and policies (Kendi, 2019). Anti-racist thought, practice, and approaches recognise and resolve for inequity between all racial groups, recognising White racial groups are not the norm, and inequity exists between and within different racial groups in different and disproportionate ways. Solving for long-term and root-cause issues, identifying intentionally for the most excluded, marginalised, and analysing for inequitable outcomes amongst all racial groups is central to anti-racist ways of thinking, practicing, and working.
White Privilege
The term ‘White Privilege’ was coined by a White American man, Theodore W Allen, in the 1960s during the civil rights movement and was initially used to analyse race in the labour movement. ('Why I'm no longer talking to white people about race', Renni Eddo Lodge, page 86)
White Privilege refers to the benefit that people who present as White do not experience racism in the same way as people who present as Black & Racially Minoritised. There is a privilege in the ability to walk away from conversations about racism without being personally and negatively affected by the conversation or the subject matter. There is a privilege in not experiencing daily micro-aggressions and micro-incivilities for your appearance, accent, or having negative stereotypes applied that impact on how public services and other people view and treat you.
The privilege of being unaffected by racism and the lack of lived experience of racism and inequity, can lead to obliviousness. This lack of awareness and understanding can produce unintentional harm and systems, policies and procedures that create inequity for some over others. Being actively anti-racist as a council means identifying the how White Privilege manifests in the delivery of our services and in the culture of our workplace.
We acknowledge that those who present as White may experience other forms of racism. The idea of White Privilege does not dismiss the varying impacts of racism on White communities and people. Nor does it dismiss the complex socio-economic and class-based discrimination experienced by residents of all ethnicities. Having White Privilege does not disregard or demean the discrimination or inequality that people presenting as White may experience due to their heritage, faith, culture, socio-economic circumstance. It means that their life is not made harder or as hard due to the colour of their skin.
Migratised Communities
It is important for us to recognise the impact of language in perpetuating ‘otherness’, inequity, and exclusion for those who do not belong to White UK English heritage and are audibly and visibly different, even within White-UK and White non-UK heritage communities.
The term Migratised and language of “Migratisation” was developed by Dr. Alyosxa Tudor in their article “Cross-fading of Racialisation and Migratisation: The postcolonial turn in Western European gender and migration studies”.
They “describe not only the condition of being on the move but also names and shames the border, barriers and attitudes that turn people into migrants and others”. It “considers how migrants are treated based on their existence as people on the move. It describes how some people can be assumed to be migrants, and constructed as such, without having been on the move themselves, it also highlights the conditionality of belonging of diasporic communities, especially for those who are racialised as Non-White”.
Shifting language toward “migratisation” and ‘people with lived experience of the asylum process’ is key because it specifies how migrants are treated beyond merely naming them as people on the move with some defined legal or non-legal status’.
Intersectionality
Our work on anti-racism is closely linked with accessibility and disability-inclusion principles to ensure we understand differential access requirements and build better solutions as a council to serve all our diverse residents. Intersectionality is a concept introduced and developed by Kimberley Crenshaw. It means to recognise the complexity of the many parts and identities of each person that co-exist and impact one another, particularly when experiencing inequity and exclusion, and the more diverse lived experiences a person has.
Intersectionality must be acknowledged in all equalities work because of the regular discrimination Black & Racially Minoritised people face for their ethnicity combined with their gender, faith, disability, sexuality, accent, appearance – their physical appearance and their choice of dress. Many of our residents identify intersectionally and will be impacted in varying ways by racism due to their faith, ethnicity, nationality, and culture. This is especially true for members of our community including but not limited to:
- the Jewish Community
- the Traveller Community
- Asylum Seekers and Refugees
We understand that a council policy may have different impacts for different people depending on the unique combination of protected characteristics. It is important therefore that as a council and a city, our anti-racism work speak to the disability, accessibility, gender and more, to include migratised communities and those who appear or present to be outsiders to the United Kingdom or are in socio-economically and other under-represented groups, making them more vulnerable to experiencing inequity and exclusion when also disabled, gender-diverse, neuro-diverse, or different in various ways.
