I have been reminded that all anti-racism work (Thanks to Michael @Cole_Therapy_Ed) is actually a political act, all this time I thought I was keeping my politics to myself.

This is in part a political call to arms. 

What is allyship? I have often been heard saying that when it comes to allyship labels are just box-ticking exercises. I want, no, we need actions to mirror those words or we may as well stay silent and complicit.

I have distilled these down into the 4 A’s,

Acknowledge 

Awareness

Action

Alignment 

Acknowledgement. The first thing to do is to immerse yourself into a pool of uncomfortableness, a pool of awareness, this is horrible, it feels personal, it feels like you are being attacked, it’s a bitter pill to swallow. However, remember no matter how bitter all medicines are designed to make you better.

Next comes the awareness, this can be difficult because once you notice microaggressions. You really notice. 

Why are there no people of colour in this World War 2 film? There were 5000000 soldiers of colour in world war 2.

Simultaneously you must also be humble here, it’s never the place of an ally to lecture/dictate to the oppressed. Never.

Remember you are just a tourist in someone else’s world, you’re visiting a world you cannot ever live in, your views, no matter how well researched, you come from a world with a different experience. 

To action, my advice here is to start where you are. I would say this is the crux, this is about sacrifice, e.g every job I interview for (after analysing the field) I start with a difficult question for the headteacher, i.e.

Did you have an issue with recruiting women (or women of colour) applying?

This may lower the chances of me getting that job. This is a sacrifice. On the flip side, the advantage of shortlisting from my perspective, I will not work for a leader whose values do not align with my own. 

Another example, it takes that awareness and acknowledgement to ask if you are the right person for the job? If you aren’t just another male voice on a panel, which I have been asked a few times, I would hope I would ask if a female voice would be more appropriate and if a woman of colour would be better suited and then offer them options through my network.

Yes, you are giving up paid work, but you amplifying the work of the people that deserve it.

This is redressing the balance. 

Alignment. This comes through building your network. The strategy is the key, within education, this means aligning your efforts where institutional change will come, the world is a big place. Together we are stronger.

@BAMEEDnetwork, @WomenEd, @LGBTEd and @DisabilityED are all organisations who seek to make an institutional systemic change. 

Here is a shoutout to @moffat_andrew and the no outsiders program (#NoOutsiders). http://www.equalitiesprimary.com/home.html.

References- Photo credits:

https://ccgsd-ccdgs.org/allyship/

https://croakey.org/acknowledgement-a-series-examining-the-history-of-healthcare-in-colonisation/

https://thelogicalindian.com/story-feed/awareness/

https://greggfraley.com/blog/2014/06/16/action-leads-creativity/

https://www.canva.com/learn/the-art-of-alignment/

As an equity activist, it is really easy to only concentrate on the issues that are relevant to me. That is a symptom of privilege and that is not a world I want to live in. In solidarity always.

“We are not free​ until we are all free.”

By @Emmccatt *Trigger Warning* this post discusses sexual assault and unsolicited/explicit pictures.

About a year and a half ago I received unsolicited explicit pictures on Twitter. I didn’t ask for these pictures. I didn’t want to see them and I wasn’t prepared for the long-term effect that they have had on me.

Let me start at the beginning. I received an innocuous DM from a male teacher at a similar point in his career to me. We began to share resources and tips and became, in my eyes, professional friends on Twitter.

One day that all changed. On that day I opened my DMs to receive multiple explicit pictures. My initial reaction was one of horror. I immediately deleted the pictures. I can’t exactly explain why. I think perhaps I thought if I deleted them it would be like it hadn’t happened.

What I couldn’t shake was the feeling of shame and that I must be in some way responsible for those pictures being sent to me. I remember later going back to all of the previous messages and desperately scanning everything I had written to see if I had inadvertently given some sort of sign. With hindsight, I know I didn’t, but it’s taken me a long time to reach that conclusion.

When the teacher in question got no reaction from me, he began to send me multiple messages. He told me to relax, I wanted to see them, it was no big deal and then he sent me another. This time I saved it. I’m forever thankful that I did. I’ve since learned that there will always be some people out there that will be disbelieving.

What I really want to discuss is the aftermath. This teacher was a ‘big name’ on Twitter. He had written for blogs and publications. He had thousands of followers and he was extremely active. People seemed to love him. I kept quiet because I didn’t think anyone would believe me. I told a couple of my close friends on and offline but that was it.

One day I felt brave enough to tell the right person and I found out this teacher had done this to other women, over 10. As more women have come forward the number is closer to 20. All of us felt too scared to say anything publicly. All of us felt like we wouldn’t be believed. There is a reason for that. Those who have experienced sexual assault (and this is a form of sexual assault) feel powerless. The act of the assault takes away any agency the recipient has and the attacker holds all of the power.

I don’t want to delve deeply into the psychology of sending unsolicited explicit pictures to women but I’d hazard a guess that it all comes down to power and control. Over a year and a half later and I still have awful anxiety about what happened. If I receive a DM from someone who is unfamiliar to me I can feel my hands start to shake and my heart rate quicken. Sometimes I get the same reaction if I receive a DM from a known person. Sometimes it even happens if it is a friend. I am working hard to control that reaction and remember that most people are good but I’m not there yet.

The reason I’m sharing this now is that this year I’ve decided to be braver. I’m going to speak out about injustices. I don’t want to just be the ‘victim’. I only received a picture. I can’t begin to imagine how a physical attack would feel. I want any person who has experienced sexual assault to know that I will believe them.

I also want those who keep doing this to women on Twitter/social media that their time is up. It doesn’t matter how many followers you have or how big a name you are, you will no longer get away with this. And for any person out there who has experienced this, my DMs are always open to you.

@Emmccatt

As a person of colour, I am always astounded with the lack of representation in schools on all levels. BAME teachers make up 10% of the workforce but less than 3% of Headteachers nationally.

What is the business case for diversity? Well, the McKinsey report delivering through diversity 2018 states,

‘The relationship between diversity and business performance persists.

The statistically significant correlation between a more diverse leadership team and financial outperformance demonstrated three years ago continues to hold true on an updated, enlarged, and global data set.’

The report goes on to state that gender diversity in leadership roles matter. Companies in the top-quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 21% to outperform on PROFITABILITY. This is the kicker, Teams which were ethnically diverse had a 33%more likely to have industry-leading profitability.

Women in leadership moderate extreme behaviour and improve risk awareness (Grant Thornton 2017) and are more questioning (Liswood, L (2015);

Diversity and inclusion are not about being nice, or actually, only about even being fair, there is a business case which directly impacts on profitability.

Companies with the most ethnically diverse executive teams are 33% more likely to outperform their peers on profitability (Hunt et al (2018); Companies with inclusive talent practices in hiring, promotion, development, leadership, and team management generate up to 30% higher revenue per employee. (Stacia Sherman Garr et al 2015); 

What is the impact on our pupils?

If we can’t see it, we can’t be it.

Lenny Henry

Gershenson et al examine the impact of black pupils having black teachers during their schooling, they found that there is a correlation with those pupils enrolling for college/university education.

Black students who’d had just one black teacher by third grade were 13% more likely to enrol in college – and those who’d had two were 32% more likely. The finding, led by Johns Hopkins University and American University researchers, was circulated in a working paper today by the National Bureau of Economic Research.

If all examples of success you see are different to yourself. Can you really see yourself in that position? If pupils look at the structures within their own schools and see leaders in their ivory tower, with the emphasis on the ivory, who don’t look like them or act like them, will they aspire to these positions or even success?

Thank you

This blog coupled with the ethnocentric curriculum (see the previous blog) really doesn’t bode well for pupils of any of the protected characteristics. However, sometimes all of us need to take our wins, sometimes we need to a step back and concentrate on the micro progressions (magpied from @samsmethers). Those small wins, the fact people hesitate and think before they make a microaggression is a win.

This is a message those of us who own those protected characteristics. Our very existence is an act of rebellion, it is a political act whether you like it or not. You buck the trend, you show all the pupils that we can, and we will. 

Yes, this can be and is exhausting. Guess what? It’s awesome and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  All of you. Thank you. 

References

https://www.nber.org/papers/w25254

https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/mckinsey/business%20functions/organization/our%20insights/delivering%20through%20diversity/delivering-through-diversity_full-report.ashx

Photo creidt: https://birminghameastside.com/you-cant-be-what-you-cant-see-bcu-chancellor-sir-lenny-henry-delivers-words-of-wisdom-to-school-of-media-students/

In my own experience as a child, I was laughed at for my chanlo (ceremonial dot place on the forehead during rituals also known as a bindi), my numerous neck threads, my parent’s accent, my first language, the type of food I ate, it goes on. This leads to othering.

To these people; the othered, the day to day becomes a game of balancing survival and proud resistance. Playing the field from proudly displaying my religion/culture through multicoloured rakhi (wrist bands) or some of the other artefacts, to changing my accent, anglicising my name, to denying my heritage and culture.

I kept those thoughts in my mind of being ridiculed so much that to survive I denied a part of my identity; a part of myself. Please don’t judge at this point, yes people have a choice, remember but so does wider society.

As always we are not looking at colour or even culture, but as always, power. Get your power lens and goggles on people. Remember people of colour for centuries have been othered, ridiculed and assaulted for their ‘differences’.

That is a part of life.

Now people who seek to hold others back, by bullying and beating down the othered, or even the people who indirectly benefit from the oppression, think they can appropriate this culture for themselves.

Pran, That wasn’t the people of today though? That wasn’t me?

I agree that this may be correct but the people who have benefited and still do benefit from that oppression need to be aware of the legacy and connatation of their day to day acts, in the same way that the n-word should never be used by a white person (A future blog is coming).

I’m all for cultural sharing, respectfully learning through the experience, but remember these symbols are artefacts of resistance and rebellion. From the power lens again I reiterate that the very same people who benefit are now appropriating them as a fashion symbol, fad or for profitable gain.

Examples

1. Yoga, for all the people partaking in yoga for health benefits. Props, go, enjoy yourself. However, without the slightest recognition that yoga is essentially prayer, a part of a Hindu system which leads to spiritual and physical liberation (Moksha) this is cultural appropriation. Each position has a spiritual meaning linked to scripture. When a non-Hindu teaches yoga for monetary gain, without cultural regard it becomes a fad. Yoga is not a fad. Well, it is. It should not be. Still not convinced then think about that when you sign up or see adverts for beer yoga, etc.

2. Gucci and their turbans. You read that correctly. Turbans for Sikhs are an inherent part of them, enshrined in their culture to exploit this for gain is cringeworthy. I have had Sikh brothers attacked and their turbans removed and in some cases, and their hair cut. This was more than physical attack but an attack on what it means to be Sikh. I’ve also been present when Sikhs have been discriminated against in the workplace (been called rag heads, etc). Now Gucci has the Gaul to profit from a symbol resistance (for more information please google ‘Anandpur 1699, Guru Govind Singh Ji’).

3. Dreadlocks – Many black people to this day are oppressed because of their hair. Natural black is not professional, sigh. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-36279845.

4. Indigenous Native American headdresses. Think this through, your ancestors (or people who look like you) stole their land and nearly wiped all of the native people from the continent, never let alone the culture. Now with that power lens, is it right to parade around in cultural artefacts as a fickle fashion accessory.

5. Food. “This is how you eat authentic [insert culture] the way you cook it is wrong” but the chef is not from that culture.

Are you listening to yourself?

(https://news.sky.com/story/malaysia-pm-enters-masterchef-crispy-chicken-rendang-controversy-11315233)

How do we avoid these in our lessons? Step one is always about awareness. Schools should be places of sharing and learning, without teaching our pupils to critically analyse the power structures we set them up.to cause more damage and hurt.

As a Hindu, growing up I went to school every September with multiple coloured bands (rakhi) around my wrist. The result of a tradition where sisters tie bands around the wrists of their brothers to signify their love and the bond between them (we get bands she gets gifts or money).

Every so often I get a message from a teacher that a school leader has looked at these bands, the colour/existence of a turban, a burka, a hijab, etc. and have made comments such as,

‘That’s not business wear’

‘Why do some pupils get away with wearing bands/hats?’

‘We need to be more equal’

‘Beads are not allowed in school’

‘That hair is too short’

‘That hair style is not professional’

As a child, when a teacher asked me to cut off the bands, I thought long and hard about it. I’m talking as a compliant 11-year-old, I had already explained what they were and the personal meaning they had for me. She was insistent and I was compliant, I escaped (I have no idea how) went home and decided that I would wear my blazer, to cover them up for the rest of the term.

I (and some of your students) see these artefacts as more than just things, they hold deep cultural meaning, more than that they form part of our being and more importantly our identity. Yes, you could argue that all pupils reach for artefacts when defining and building their identity. This may be different, some pupils have had their identity squashed, ridiculed and ignored, where some pupils have and do not.

For example, some pupils will have to anglicize their names, some will even have to accept a completely different name, this is not uncommon. Some names are difficult to say for those whose speech has been trained exclusively through an English lexicon. Although isn’t funny that certain different names are often learned i.e. Mendeleev, Kirchoff, Ptolemy, Tchaikovsky and from education Piaget and Vygotsky.

Accepting this is not a choice, this is a question of survival.

P1: Hi my names Pranav Patel?

P2: What?

P1: Pranav Patel

P2: That’s difficult

P1: Pran-av Patel

P2: Erm

P1: You can call me Pran

P2:…

P2: That’s too difficult can I call you Pete?

My grandfather often said that we should be proud of our culture but to remember we are guests in this country, although he was born a British subject with the same rights as any other. He knew that acting in any other way was to risk the verbal abuse, the destruction of property and the P*** bashing/public beatings (including some by the police). In a society where the people in power see you as an ‘other’, the risk of verbal and physical abuse is still very real.

I do not judge my grandfather for those words, as aforementioned that was survival. Saying that it is now 2019 and I will stand up and claim my birthright and I will stand for the others. I was born a British citizen and afforded those rights, I stand where my grandfather’s and my parent’s generation could not.

Those coloured bands the rakhi, the colour of turbans and all of the other symbols that define the culture of the ‘others’. Attempting to take them away takes away a part of them, a part of us. Whether you like it or not, those actions say that we will be seen as outsiders if we do not assimilate. Similarly as not even attempting to pronounce our names says you do not respect and value me enough to even try.

Come at me, for my rakhi, that child’s turban, hijab or how professional hair is.

I dare you.

I am ready.

My name is Pranav, in fact, my name is પ્રણવ. Learn it. We both know what time it is, know that I’m coming for you.

Let me start by pointing out that racism is about power. Systemic and institutionalised but that critique is for another day. White supremacy, this is a term that also illicit fragility. However, I will use it here to highlight the lines of oppression, which can only flow from those in a position of systemic privilege.

Recently Danny Baker tweeted this,

This was met with outrage, it was also meet with a lot of white solidarity. What is it?

The scene: A group of friends hang around and one person tells a racist joke. (This act reinforces the systemic discrimination that PoC experience).

A person/ally/PoC stands up and challenges it.

What happens next?

Who is normally ostracised? In my experience it’s often the person doing the standing up and calling out;

I’ve personally heard,

1. It was only a joke. (Can’t you take a joke? You’re so sensitive)
2. He didn’t mean it like that. Chill out.
3. He said a flippant thing and he has now apologised. Get over it.

Sound familiar?

This act of staying quiet or attacking the act of calling out is referred to as white solidarity. All of these responses restore the power to the person who made the original micro-aggression/racist joke. Even more dangerous this restores the racial equilibrium back to the systemic oppression of PoC, back to white supremacy.

It takes away from the act of calling out oppression (the resistance), and firmly supports the propagation of the societal norm (white supremacist systems and institutions).

If you are white you are afforded certain privileges that people of colour are not; I’m not having that conversation with you.

When challenged about race, the last thing on your mind should be,

I’m being called a terrible person,

I’m not a racist…

The reality is that neither are relevant,

1. The racist good bad binary serves no one well. We are better served in seeing ourselves on a spectrum of racist to anti racist. This dynamic spectrum is a result of an epistemological process that has been indoctrinated through an educational system and society’s day to day.

2. Hence the ‘I’m not a racist…’, is a lazy, pompous statement. You have been challenged and invited to look at your actions through the lens of a PoC or more accurately to remove your own lens of whiteness. The statement reneges that invitation and shuts the door.

3. At this point, some people would place the blame for the apparent shutdown (white fragility) / offence at the door of the victim. It is not the responsibility of people of colour to provide pillows for those who seek to oppress willingly or unwittingly.

4. Here is what a better response would look like.

P1: That was racist/your actions make you a racist

P2: As a white person it is not my place to deny or refute that. I will reflect on my actions and get back to you.
Go away, Interrogate your actions through looking at the situation through the goggles of power.

Example.

Reference to a group of people that you dislike/disagree with you as a Dothraki Horde.

It was a …

A throwaway comment.

I meant it as ‘lots of people’.

Etc.

Let’s look at this critically.

You are using the term in a negative context. Accept this. Even if you aren’t it may be perceived this way, yes this is your responsibility.

Let’s look at the context. The Dothraki are portrayed as a savage uncivilised horde and importantly they are some of the only people of colour in the Game of Thrones TV show. They are also subjected to the white saviour trope (another blog on that will be coming).

Evoking their name in an attempt to describe anybody negatively is on the scale of racism.

People may think it just a show and the descriptive comments you are thinking too much into this. Without thinking, we escalate across the scale towards murder. This is a cumulative process which leads to physical violence and genocide (an example below).