Tag: Race (Page 5 of 5)

Posts related to race

UK Black Pride: How UKBP is creating a more inclusive LGBTQ+ community for BME people.

July 8, 2019 / Sarah Mander

UK Black Pride is Europe’s largest celebration for LGBTQ+ people of African, Asian, Caribbean, Middle Eastern and Latin American descent. Whitney Robinson, co-chair of the King’s Race Equality Network, explains why it is such an important event.

Over half of Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) LGBTQ+ people in the UK have reported facing discrimination from within the LGBTQ+ community. Equality at King’s cannot be achieved until every single member of staff can experience equality within and outside of the LGBTQ+ community.

Photo by Matt Nelson (https://www.mdnphotovideo.com/)

We are proud that colleagues from Proudly King’s and the Race Equality Network stood together this Pride because, in the words of the writer, feminist and civil rights activist Audre Lorde:

There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives. Our struggles are particular, but we are not alone.” We can achieve so much more by supporting not only our own causes, but others which can affect a great number of people from our community

As a straight black woman, I’ve experienced discrimination based on my gender and, like many other ethnic minorities, racism and ridicule based on the pigmentation of my skin. However, unlike ethnic minorities of all shades and backgrounds who identify as LGBTQ+, I’ve never been a victim of prejudice and violence based on who I choose to love!

As coined in 1989 by law professor and civic rights advocate Kimberlé Crenshaw, intersectionality is the overlap between different categories of social identities such as race, class, gender, disability, religion and sexual orientation. Crenshaw argues that this overlap is key in creating interdependent streams of discrimination for those significantly marginalised within society.

Ethnic minorities often report experiencing homophobia within their cultural communities alongside racism and isolation within the LGBTQ+ community. A third of Black, Asian and minority ethnic LGBTQ+ people have experienced hate crime based on their sexual orientation and/or gender identity, compared to one in five white LGBTQ+ people. With statistics like this in mind the need for movements such as UK Black Pride are becoming increasingly apparent.

UK Black Pride is an opportunity to embrace the power of intersectionality through celebrating and embracing the heritage of LGBTQ+ ethnic minorities within a setting reflective of their experiences and culture. As the King’s community, let’s stand together in solidarity towards advancing and achieving true equality, diversity and inclusion for all!

This year we make small beginnings with our presence at UK Black Pride and a Gypsy feminism event run in collaboration with Traveller Pride. We encourage every person, regardless of their identity, to take part in staff networks at King’s. We hope we can collaborate more with the Race Equality Network in the future and work together with every single network to make King’s – and the world – a better place. – Kirsty McLaren (right) & Josh Pullen (bottom), co-chairs of Proudly King’s

Why I call myself Black.

June 26, 2019 / Sarah Mander

Last weekend saw the UK celebrate the first National Windrush day. Commemorating the day 71 years ago that several hundred people from the Caribbean arrived to start a new life in Britain. A day to celebrate the many contributions the Caribbean community has made to British society. It got me thinking about myself and my identity and specifically why I call myself ‘black’?

I get asked this a lot!

And people ask, what about BME and BAME or person of colour (POC)? What do you think of those? Why do we need these? Are they a way of erasing identity, euphemising race issues or are they empowering and necessary?

Ask anyone, and you’ll find multiple equally convincing or equally inconclusive and divergent views, all connected in some way to their identity and experience in the world with that identity.

So, to answer that question, I speak from my own identity and experience, to articulate why I call myself black.

Sarah 1.0

I was born, here in London, a child of immigrants, mixed in every way, parents from opposite sides of the world, Trinidad and Mauritius (and their respective colonial histories), of two different religions – Muslim and Catholic. I went to 3 different primary schools and was nearly always the only brown girl in the class.

In my teens, I was ‘too different’ (read: brown) for any boys to dare want to go out with me or admit to wanting to. All this created confusion and led me to not like myself very much, even if it was unconscious. I had a deep-seated, internalised sense that I wasn’t normal, I wasn’t good enough. I was ashamed and embarrassed by my home, smelling like ‘funny food’. I longed to have fish fingers like ‘everybody else’. I could never have articulated this feeling as being about skin colour but looking back from 2019, it so obviously was.

My parents were simultaneously ambitious and clear about the achievement and aspiration they expected of me, whilst at the same time carrying their own internalised perspectives on our place in the world which was impacted by how they experienced the world and were treated as immigrants. I can’t imagine what it was like having been invited and enticed to come to the UK on the promise of a new life, to find that life was damn tough and lonely. To protect me they taught me to expect to be not accepted, to expect to work twice as hard and ensured that I failed the “Tebbit test”. (Norman Tebbit, then a leading figure in the Government, said that immigrants from the Commonwealth and their children should show their patriotism by supporting the England cricket team rather than the team from their, or their parent’s birth country.)

Ms Guerra: The Second Wave

A childhood into teens, never talking about or unpacking my identity – it just wasn’t a thing we did then, and then into my 20s. It was here I met my white partner, became a stepmother and then in my 30s, birthed my biological children. A second wave starts to emerge, in which I actively learned about gender equality and the patriarchy with the help and support of the trade union movement – notably via the amazing TUC Women’s and Black Workers’ movements.

It was in this time I also read the life-changing book Windrush: The Irresistible Rise of Multi-Racial Britain by Mike and Trevor Phillips. This really helped me discover the layers of my identity and understand the many self-limiting beliefs (mine, my parent’s, those around me) that contributed to how I experienced the world and often suffered from Imposter Syndrome. Reading this helped me develop language, agency and capacity, to not only understand my own identity but to be able to talk about it and use it as a tool to make me better at my job. (This is what HR people call ‘self as instrument’. It’s a thing!)

In the meantime, I was developing my career and transforming from a tax specialist into a more generic civil servant, and then to a people and organisation specialist. Now, I knew the problem of underrepresentation was real, not just my instinct. Now, I knew that different people got to progress in their career because of their identity and experience.

Now, I had gained the ability to expose, crystallise and articulate these issues. In my trajectory towards becoming an equality practitioner, I recognised the need for data and numbers: the need to prove that issues exist in order to persuade people to act. That means we must have language to conceptualise and explain what is going on. We need to have methods that enable us to penetrate people’s defences and address their personal (un)comfortabilities.

Sarah Guerra – and the equality warrior revolutions!

In 2019, I am a Black woman, confident in her identity and skill. I call myself black because despite being brown and having straight hair, I am what Trinidadians refer to as ‘dougla’. When I say it, black, I feel comfortable and authentic. I know that being brown-skinned- rather than black – affords me more privilege, but the teachings of my parents, that people like me will never be accepted as English, runs deep. Black was a term adopted by political activists to create a movement. For me, Brown doesn’t help me to convey or develop that movement.

Similarly, I see BAME/BME as interchangeable and have taken on POC from the Americans which for me was existentially better than having to classify anything from the spectrum of global majority skin colours as ‘non-white’.

The sad fact is, for race equality to happen, we need these boxes and labels to create concepts and interventions around identity. My personal view has always been talking about the labels is a distraction if it takes energy away from recognising the underlying systemic, attitudinal aspects and from doing things that help shift the dial. That said, I know for some it is important and so am keen no one sees me as dismissive. I just want to explain my perspective.

I encourage us each to approach these discussions with sensitivity and empathy, seeking to understand and see the whole picture. To understand what is important to individuals in any given circumstance but to not get hung up on language for the sake of it.

One of the things I did this weekend to take note of Windrush Day was to listen to this very moving podcast from one of my childhood faves Baroness Floella Benjamin. It was so resonant for me! I was a ’Playschool baby’ and racism and its manifestation – once I stopped letting it win – has indeed made me resilient and given me valuable life skills as well as a pride in who I am!

On this as with everything in the D&I sphere, I am always really interested in people’s reactions and feedback, so do get in touch. You can find me on Twitter @equalitywarrior.

Be Brave.

June 14, 2019 / Sarah Mander

This week I feel inspired we reached a really significant milestone. We launched a King’s-wide staff Race Equality Network (REN). This was great for so many reasons, and it’s led me to reminisce on one of the turning points in my career, back in the dim and distant past, when I worked with three colleagues to start a HMRC BAME women’s network.

It was personally transformative: giving me access to senior people, building my personal credibility and profile, enabling me to exert influence as well as developing and practicing skills. It met many new people from across a huge organisation. I got personal support and nourishment but also provided inspiration, guidance and support through being a role model to others. I will never forget being in a room with a colleague who was relatively early in her career and her wonder that there were women of colour in senior positions (relative to her as to opposed to actually senior)! She actually said “I really didn’t know people like you existed!”

I’ve been at King’s for just over two years, as Director of Diversity & Inclusion (a unique position across the sector). My focus has been supporting an intersectional approach to enable and empower community voice, staff and students. The REN launch completes the first tranche of networks that we needed. I recruited India Jordan and Sarah Mander specifically to support community network development and they have worked tirelessly on their bespoke community network model based on the fabulous Proudly King’s approach.

The creation and success of this new Network is a key part of the delivery of King’s Race Equality Action Plan which supports the Race Equality Chartermark. It also comes along just as we are about to see the start of the newly refreshed college D&I governance structure.

As part of the event, one of the co-chairs, Precious, asked me to share something that had personally inspired me. This allowed me to reveal my TV addiction, which I am currently feeding by re-watching Grey’s Anatomy created by the ground breaking, inspirational Shonda Rhimes.

I got out Year of Yes – How To Dance It Out, Stand in the Sun and Be Your Own Person (a book I have since bought multiple times as a gift). It’s such an eye-opening book. She was the first person ever, and also the first black woman to have three top rated network TV shows in America, at one time, airing back to back on a Thursday evening. Year of Yes very entertainingly exposes her epiphanies in discovering her personal authenticity and beating back her self-limiting beliefs and behaviours.

The breadth of the book is such that I could have used it to make points about gender or race solidarity and allyship, imposter syndrome, career ambitions and success, parenthood, mental health and its impacts on everyday life, being a woman, being a black woman, being a first and the list goes on.

I chose an excerpt about what choosing to be different, choosing to change and choosing to lead feels like:

I thought saying YES would feel good. I thought it would feel freeing. Like Julie Andrews spinning around on that big mountaintop at the beginning of The Sound of Music. Like Angela Bassett when she’s Tina Turner and she walks out of the divorce court and away from Ike with nothing but her name in What’s Love Got to Do with It. Like how you feel when you have just finished baking double-fudge brownies but you have yet to shove one into your mouth, starting the sugar rush roller coaster that won’t end until you are curled up in a ball on the sofa, rocking back and forth while scraping the crumbs of the empty brownie pan into your mouth and trying to talk yourself into believing that maybe the ex-boyfriend you dumped wasn’t so bad after all.

Like that.

This YES does not feel like a post-baked, pre-eaten brownie.

I feel forced into this. I feel like I don’t have a choice. My obligation to my network to my stupid Year of Yes idea has trapped me.

My paw caught in a trap. I can try and chew it off and run away. But if you think I am whining now? Try me when I am down a paw and have just a bloody gnawed stump to deal with.

The tears.

The drama.

The wailing and moaning.

The cross I would be nailing myself to would be so pretty and brightly lit. Oh, my cross wouldn’t be missed by anyone! You’d see my cross from space.

The numbing fear is starting to creep over me. ….

This passage particularly spoke to me for the REN launch, reminding me of my own experiences leading discussions and activity aimed at championing and supporting diversity. Our REN co-chairs Precious Alabi and Whitney Robinson, and sponsors Syreeta Allen and Jonathan Grant, are choosing to step up and that takes courage. Each person that has signed up to the network and attended the launch are also saying signing up to be part of creating the change we want to achieve at King’s and in the world. This in any sphere is hard, but for race, a complex and sensitive topic, that impacts each and every one of us every day – well that is especially challenging or as Shonda might say ‘badass’!

Anyone in a leadership position can tell you that it’s tough work each and every day. It needs you to steel yourself and re-find and renew your motivation repeatedly.

I wanted the room to know that the fear and anxiety they were bound to feel over the time to come was something everyone feels. It is part of being a brave leader. It is something I feel almost daily.

This event filled me with hope and renewed energy and I am just so proud and privileged to have been able to pay a small part in the network’s birth.

Diversifying the Default

January 17, 2019 / Sarah Mander

So, as I write it is the early days of 2019. The time of year when I reflect on the year we’ve just said goodbye to and look forward and to the opportunities the new year will bring. On this horizon I see the deadline for submission of King’s Race Equality Chartermark looming large.

I recently finished Slay in Your Lane by Elizabeth Uviebinené and Yomi Adegoke and it was like somehow someone had emptied my brain and heart to concentrate so much of my everyday life experience and of other black women (or women of colour) into these few hundred pages.

I reflected that I have had a number of experiences that resonated with Uviebinené and Adegoke’s words and it brought to mind something Patrick Johnson, Head of Equality & Diversity University of Manchester, said at the Leadership Foundation HE BME summit earlier this year. He talked about ‘default man and woman’ – the first, and singular, characteristics we use to describe people that then balloons into our other assumptions about people.

Here is my picture (and my partners!) – what do you see?

I am regularly flummoxed and frustrated to be sitting in meetings, often ones set up specifically to talk about equality, diversity and inclusion. Often those meetings involve discussing data or evidence or insight…

“Yes we looked at gender”

By which they mean the representation of women (usually) but not for race. Or…

“Yes we have done a review for ethnicity… but not for gender.”

Depending on my mood I might sit and wait to see any light bulbs flash up simply by being faced with me – a person who clearly identifies and presents as a woman and who has obviously brown skin – or I might throw in something like “well people have ethnicities and genders at the same time” in a self-conscious or self-righteous tone.

I always feel simultaneously incredulous and awkward and often angry at having to point out this very basic fact. I’m also keenly aware that any such quips need to be contextualised with some good humour as the humourless feminist and angry black woman trope hang over my shoulders. At those moments I wish I could just sci fi like project a showing of Kimberley Crenshaw’s intersectionality talk.

But why does this happen? I ask myself this a lot, and sometimes I ask others. It goes back to ‘default man and woman’ and our brain’s wish to simplify and so use these singular defining characteristics.

A key element of the success of our work in delivering our action plan for the Race Equality Chartermark will be whether we can get every member of the King’s community to seriously challenge their own perceptions and assumptions. When asked to review data and consider equality ‘stuff’ what picture of a person do we have in our mind? Are they just a man or a woman? What about their race, age, sexual orientation, religion or belief or marital status? That picture, if limited, means we risk forgetting/overlooking that there are many different types of identity combinations and our job in considering equality, diversity and inclusion is to consider all of them.

So, with that I say Happy New Year I urge you in 2019 to consider intersectionality and more importantly how you learn about your own and how you learn to actively think about it in your day to day working life.

Reflections on Race Equality – Natalie Armitage

January 3, 2019 / Sarah Mander

In the lead up to our Race Equality Chartermark submission, we want to highlight some of the experiences of those working on race equality and the personal stories that take place behind the scenes. Over the coming months, we will be posting a series of guest blog posts written by those working closely on the submission which demonstrate the way race equality is a part of all of our stories. Our second blog is from HR Case Consultant, Natalie Armitage, where she reflects on her own personal journey since joining the Race Equality Charter Mark Writing Group.

If I could sum up my experience as part of the Race Equality Charter Mark Writing Group (RECMWG) in three words, I would say: positive, enlightening and inspirational.

When first asked to be a part of the RECMWG, my first reaction was excitement.

Absolutely, I really want to get stuck in and learn.

But almost immediately my next reaction was fear with a dash of imposter syndrome.

What could I possibly bring to the table? I am white, I have no real knowledge of this issue- I don’t know what I could add.

What this experience has taught me is that everyone has something to add – we all have a responsibility to learn beyond our own experience and use our voices. Every meeting I attend I learn, grow and feel more motivated to help with the success of race equality at King’s.

Learning to Use My Voice

One of the first meetings we had was a workshop which was part team-building, part action-planning. We spoke about our motivations for joining the group. I shared that my reasons were:

I have no knowledge of this area and I don’t like to be uninformed;
I wanted to have a greater impact at King’s;
I have held 3 different roles at King’s and my experience in the different areas may be useful

This exercise was absolutely essential to my journey in this group, I started to feel that my presence had meaning and that I DO have something to bring to the table. It also helped to build an invaluable sense of shared purpose amongst the team.

Reading for Further Understanding

A critical step in my journey was sharing books on Race Equality. The books I read were:

‘Why I am no longer talking to white people about race’ by Renni Eddo-Lodge
‘White Privilege: the myth of a post-racial society’ by Kalwant Bhopal.

My default setting to gain knowledge or learn is always to pick up a book, so this was perfect. Renni Eddo-Lodge opened my mind to thoughts I have never had and discussions I have never shared before. This book really gets to the heart of race equality and how this issue affects BME people, in an honest and raw way.

The second book by Kalwant Bhopal made me immensely uncomfortable, in the best possible way. White privilege is something I have never contemplated before, it was soon obvious that this is very real. To confront this has been a real eye-opener, but it gave me the information I needed to feel more confident in discussions and expanded my thinking in ways that are great for the group, but also for me professionally and personally.

Listening to Prepare for Action

The third key moment I want to share is the Dialogue to Action workshop I attended to capture the discussions between staff and students, which will eventually go on to inform King’s Race Equality action plan. This was an amazing experience because taking notes requires you to actively listen.

I moved between groups and became utterly absorbed. The passion and the real-life experiences that were shared were extremely moving. It became clear, in a way I had not seen before, that race equality at King’s is a huge topic and has an effect on so many. It became so obvious that there are voices to be heard and that people are ready for action.

The RECMWG is well-informed and considered in its pursuit of positive change and it has been a real pleasure to contribute to a group filled with passionate and enthusiastic individuals with a shared sense of purpose.

We Should All Be Cheerleaders – Sarah Guerra

December 21, 2018 / Sarah Mander

In the lead up to our Race Equality Chartermark submission, we want to highlight some of the experiences of those working on race equality and the personal stories that take place behind the scenes. Over the coming months, we will be posting a series of guest blog posts written by those working closely on the submission which demonstrate the way race equality is a part of all of our stories. Our first blog is from Director of D&I, Sarah Guerra on the importance of championing, mentoring and supporting one another.

One of the biggest D&I priorities now is renewing the King’s Bronze level Race Equality Chartermark (REC).

Its very easy to get caught up in the commotion of making the submission and forgetting what the point of it is. I was determined that our participation this time should be real and not in any way a mechanical exercise. That alongside some recent occurrences has had me in a particularly reflective mood. The truth is race equality in general and particularly in the workplace is more than a job to me – it’s a big part of who I am

I am reading Slay in Your Lane (Black Girl Bible) (SIYL) by Elizabeth Uviebinené and Yomi Adegoke. The collection of observations and insights has had me reflecting on my personal path and experiences. I often frame these negatively. My recent reflection has had me thinking about how much feeling out of place/other in much of my early career has led to me being resilient and gave me the skills and experience that led King’s to appoint me into this brilliant and brand-new role. SIYL gives names to many of my experiences. That I have often had to codeswitch, to navigate with emotional intelligence, complex environments which were not accepting of me, that I had to overcome/side step barriers often which I couldn’t see, and which were mostly there because of my heritage and background – means I expect things to be hard. I expect to have to plan and have developed a wide range of personal tools and strategies to do this. Whilst I didn’t know it, I was faced with daily challenge to my competence and relevance. I can honestly say that hasn’t been my experience at King’s. But the experience I have means that I am able to cope – more than cope, in fact, thrive in the complex environment that King’s presents.

SIYL talks about the need for sponsors, mentors, coaches and cheerleaders in professional life. I’ve realised that for much of my career, these were absent for me. I didn’t know to look for them and I didn’t automatically attract them.

There were two turning points for me, the first having children which led me to change jobs. This helped me discover much about my own identity and drivers. I got the opportunity to work on increasing Black ,Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) participation within Trade Unions. Through that, the second turning point came when I met three women Beverley Martin, Maureen Martin (no they are not related) and Vivienne Connell-Hall, we for each other, suddenly, filled all these gaps (sponsorship, mentoring, coaching and cheerleading) simultaneously. Together we started a black women’s network. We worked on multiple levels and brought about real change in our organisation and created self-belief in many women of colour. Literally one more junior woman said to us I never knew there were any people like me (of colour) in those senior grades.

Beverley died suddenly recently from cancer. She was only 7 years older than me. She, through her own self-assurance taught me to consider my value and have goals and targets, to not be fobbed off or delude myself. She asked difficult questions and didn’t accept wishy-washy answers. I knew at the time I had experienced something special. But, it is only looking back that I realise what a turning point and catalyst the combination of those relationships was. Whilst on a regular basis we have lost touch, the majority of the original ‘Bamesisters’ were at the funeral. All of us recognised what special thing we had done pooling our resources, creating solidarity, support, advocacy and challenge.

These principles are now a key part of me and something less easily articulated about the person I discovered. The power I unleashed in myself because of knowing Beverley is the core of what SIYL also captures. These for me are also the core of what the REC is about. They are why I am motivated to do the work I do and want to have an impact here at King’s and in the world! I love that I am trusted and supported to do that. Beverley, Maureen and Vivienne taught me the value of positive reinforcement. Their influence has made positive reinforcement a big part of my personal philosophy. This was missing in my early career and I know is missing for many people of colour still.

One of the things I particularly value about the REC process is that it requires us to reflect on where we are, our successes and what we still must achieve. Personally, SIYL and Beverley’s death has led me to take inventory of where I am, of the relationships that boost and support me, doing what I can to notice what my needs are and recognising how to get the professional and personal nourishment I need on a day to day basis.

King’s is full of incredible people with huge talent and such strong values. I hope through my personal brand of leadership and via the REC we can get to a point where every single member of our community you feel they get the sponsorship, mentoring, coaching and cheerleading they deserve.

Following the leader.

June 8, 2018 / Sarah Mander

I spend a lot of time thinking about and discussing the ‘solutions’ to the various diversity and inclusivity challenges we face as employers and educators. Regardless of who I’m talking to or what I’m reading, the one thing that remains consistent in these discussion is that we need great leaders to create and sustain environments that people want to work in. The kind of work environment that gets you out of bed in the morning.

For me, this means having sense of purpose and feeling as though I’m adding real value – doing real good to ‘change the world’ to make it a fairer place. Working somewhere that has that purpose and with people who share my values is important. That’s what gets me out of bed with a spring in my step.

What also keeps me going is working with leaders that I respect, and given that Diversity & Inclusion will be working closely with some senior leaders in the coming weeks. We will be briefing College Council, the governing body of King’s, on our work in race equality and disability inclusion, and engaging the Senior Management Team in Structural Inequality Training.

This level of commitment form those in such senior positions is heartening and leads me to reflect on what it takes to make a leader that I respect? What characteristics, skills and abilities make for good leadership in the book of Guerra?

Self-awareness is the cornerstone of good leadership for me. We emulate the behaviour of those we look up to. Leaders set the tone and standards of behaviour and are also role models rather than negative influences. Lessons in empathy and understanding yourself as well as your impact is one of the essential steps anyone can take in developing their leadership style.
Dealing with uncertainty whilst creating a vision – this leads people to understand how they influence and persuade others and so enable them to consistently perform well. Part of a leader’s job is to create an environment that enables and inspires people to use their energy and ability create personal, team and organisational success. That means leaders need to deal with uncertainty, find a path for themselves through complexity and a labyrinth of conflicting priorities. To do that they have to have a clear view of a future state they are aiming for and galvanise their own enthusiasm and commitment to achieve success.
Involve others – good leaders recognise they don’t know everything and know they need to work with others and ask for support , listen to answers, join the dots and giving credit generously. Leading is about fostering relationships to achieve mutual goals, which can only work when both parties are honest and transparent. That involves taking responsibility for communicating and being open with those they work with. Communication is a two-way street. It’s so important to get to ‘know your people well’ – paying attention and taking the time to listen and learn from those they are leading.
Inspire and persuade – Those who lead should inspire and persuade through their interactions, rather than relying on status. The create genuine engagement and commitment in others rather than blind acceptance.
Be honest – No one can get things right all the time and good leaders are no exception. Recognising when things go wrong and taking responsibility, being open and showing you have learnt from them is a key leadership behaviour.

You called, we came and It Stops Here

May 1, 2018 / Sarah Mander

Last week I had the privilege to go to Windrush – Movement of the People.

It was produced to celebrate the 70th anniversary of SS Empire Windrush arriving which marked the start of Caribbean migration and the growth of multiculturalism in Great Britain. It is particularly poignant as it is being performed against a background of those ‘Windrush immigrants’ facing a challenge to their status as British citizens.

I happened to see the production in the week that was also the anniversary of the racist, hateful murder of Stephen Lawrence and found myself overwhelmed with emotion, tears pouring down my face. I realised I had been studiously avoiding thinking or engaging in the Windrush Home Office fiasco and all the various media pieces on the legacy created by Stephen’s death.

The part of the performance that particularly affected me was the depiction of the boat journey itself accompanied by the spoken words:

You called, and we came

Remember you called.

Upon hearing this, I realised that many deep-seated, well-buried fears had been revived… fears that I don’t belong, that one day I might also be ‘sent back’.

I am British Born. I hold a British Passport. I have never lived anywhere else. Both my parents are immigrants. Technically, my Dad is probably one of the “Windrush people”, having come here from Trinidad in the 60’s to train as a mental health nurse. So these fears are not unfounded. My youth gave me many indicators that I didn’t belong, from friends who wouldn’t invite me over because their parents didn’t like ‘blacks’, to being called a “Paki” in the street, the soundtrack of family telling me to work hard as I would never be accepted, to the Tebbit test (which, for the record, I fail. I’m a straight out West Indies fan).

In recent years, those childhood fears have come back around with renewed force. While I don’t practice a faith, my mum is a Muslim. Yet in an increasingly Islamophobic world, who knows when being half Muslim could become a part of an identity that defines me and affects me or my family’s safety – history shows us that these are very real possibilities.

Sitting in the theatre, all of that hit me. My mum and dad, what might their parallel paths have been? Why did they choose to come to the UK? Why did they choose to endure the ‘no blacks, no Irish, no dogs’ years?

It’s 2017 and people just like my parents are facing the possibility of being “sent back”. As I look back through my life and think about my family – married to a white man and our mixed-race children – I keep asking myself, when will it end? When will the fear of the difference of my heritage and the colour of my skin stop destabilising my life? I fear the answer is never.

It’s all these thoughts, feelings, issues that makes education and efforts to tackle race and religious hatred ever more important. I am so glad that King’s stepped up to participate in the latest Office for Students efforts and that we have been awarded a £50,000 grant to expand our current work on the It Stops Here campaign to look at religious-based hate crime. This gives us an opportunity to expand our established work around prevention and responses to bullying and harassment to better recognize the needs of religious communities within King’s, particularly focusing on incidents of antisemitism and Islamophobia.

Ain’t I A Woman – Sarah Guerra on IWD and Intersectionality

March 8, 2018 / Sarah Mander

For the year the 100-year anniversary of partial suffrage in UK, we are running a series of blog posts inspired by Sojourner Truth and her most famous speech “Ain’t I a Woman? “delivered in 1851 was a powerful rebuke to many anti-feminist arguments of the day. It became, and continues to serve, as a classic expression of women’s rights and we would like to take this opportunity to encourage all members of the King’s community to think critically about the media representation of women and the additional struggles faced by those who do not always share the same spotlight – BME, LGBT+, migrant, refugee and disabled women.

Our first Women’s History Month post for International Women’s Day is from Director of Diversity & Inclusion, Sarah Guerra.

That man over there says that women need to be helped into carriages, and lifted over ditches, and to have the best place everywhere. Nobody ever helps me into carriages, or over mud-puddles, or gives me any best place! And ain’t I a woman? ‘Look at me! Look at my arm! I have ploughed and planted, and gathered into barns, and no man could head me! And ain’t I a woman? I could work as much and eat as much as a man–when I could get it–and bear the lash as well! And ain’t I a woman? I have borne thirteen children, and seen most all sold off to slavery, and when I cried out with my mother’s grief, none but Jesus heard me! And ain’t I a woman?

I’ve found it interesting how many people have asked me what intersectionality is since I arrived at King’s. Kimberley Crenshaw an academic from Cornell University who coined the phrase explains it better than I ever could and this articulation was one of the turning points in my thinking.

I have lived my entire life in the intersections. The obvious ones – I’m a black woman. I am also the daughter of immigrants – so a Londoner and a foreigner depending on you point of view. A parent – so a mother and a person. These factors were my reality from the time I was born and they influenced my life and decisions and perceptions. They also impacted how others treated me long before I was a conscious feminist or equality activist.

As I’ve developed my career new intersections have formed – from working class to middle class income. These intersectionalities was something I had to study and understand in terms of my own identity what drives me, why I think certain things, why I react certain ways.

It is still the cause of much debate in some equality circles. And the 100-year anniversary of women in the UK getting the vote underlines it all perfectly – who actually got the vote? Women over the age of 30 who either owned land themselves or were married to men with property were given the right to vote. So, whilst it is important to celebrate this milestone that so many fought for – we should also pause on Sojourner’s statement – ‘Ain’t I a woman?’ Weren’t women below 30 just as entitled or those who were married to poor men? Or not married at all?

I love to celebrate all the equality months/days – but they also bring out a degree of challenge from me.

Years ago, when I worked for a trade union one of my colleagues said to me – why do you always have to say you’re a black woman – its not important – I beg to differ until we have a fair and equal world where all of us get the chance to succeed on our merits it is important for those of us with a platform to point out our difference so that it is consciously noticed.

Last night I had the privilege of attending the launch of a new book – Racism at Work – The Danger of Indifference by Binna Kandola – the world renowned business psychologist. The book will, I’m sure warrant a blog in its own right when I have read it but for now – safe to say it through academic research and case study demonstrates racism is very much a 21^st century workplace issue and that it has a gendered aspect.

So happy International Women’s Day. I encourage everyone to give some thought to what it means to you and, just as importantly, what it means to others who are different to you.

Waking up to my Black History

October 29, 2017 / Sarah Mander

Sarah Guerra – Director, Diversity & Inclusion

As Director of Diversity and Inclusion at King’s College London here for my first Black History Month – the 30th anniversary of Black History Month in the UK, no less – I thought it would be timely and pertinent to provide some personal and professional reflections on my own ‘black’ history as part of this month’s blog post.

I’ve spoken at several events this month, most of which focussed on the themes of ‘being a BME leader’ or ‘My Personal Journey’ as a BME senior figure. As part of my preparations, I put together this mindmap culminating the trajectory of my thoughts and experiences. I find mindmaps a helpful tool to clarify and visualise my thinking, although in this case its really more of a a spider’s web because everything is interconnected.

When reflecting on my life story, I’ve tended to be humble and played down certain aspects, however now that I’ve been asked to consider and speak about myself as a BME leader I have reflected on how unusual and frankly remarkable I am. I don’t say that to ‘big myself up’ but more as a sad reflection on the under-representation of people of colour in the senior echelons of British workplaces.

Why do I say I am unusual and remarkable? I was born in Tottenham. I was state educated. I am ‘Black’. These are the fragments of my identity and how I have come to identify myself. Growing up I struggled to identify or describe myself – I’m not technically black – I am brown. But then I discovered ‘blackness’ as a political concept and it felt right and empowering to adopt that label.

Following my graduation, I joined the Civil Service fast stream in 1995. There were thousands of applicants and I was one of the very few people of colour selected. In my particular cohort at Inland Revenue, out of the 20 people selected to work there, I was the only one who was BME – and now here I am, working in a position of influence at a globally renowned institution.

That’s rare!

Reading the Guardian the other week, it was reported that out of 535 senior officials within British universities who declared their ethnicity, 510 were white, 15 were Asian and 10 were recorded as “other including mixed”. I probably wasn’t here when that data was collected so let’s say its 11 now. 1 out 11 – notice any patterns? In 2017 we should all be shocked at that data! I shouldn’t be or feel unusual or remarkable simply because of the colour of my skin.

Before I go further it’s important to recognise – because it is easy to lose this – people of colour bring enormous talent and positive contribution to the world (see the talent sector in my mindmap). I have a range of personal strength and professional talents: strategic thinking, understanding how organisations work, enabling change in a way that is effective and sustainable, listening to people and translating their words into meaningful organisational actions. I have particular characteristics and qualities – I’m curious, I care, I’m determined and I work hard. I’ve worked hard on myself through professional development, feedback and therapy. If I don’t understand something – I work to or if I think something isn’t working, I work to fix it. These are skills and capabilities – they make me effective. They make me a leader, role model and well worth employing. What these qualities don’t do is make me that special. Many, many people of all shades have these qualities. However in the past, my particular shade has held me back. How do I know? Of those 20 people who joined Inland Revenue back in 1995, I was pretty much the only one who wasn’t promoted into the Senior Civil Service. And yet, as King’s has proven, it’s clear I have senior leadership ability.

It may be uncomfortable for some to think that in this society, race remains a factor that can hold someone back professionally, however I do think my identity has had a big impact on how successful or not my career has been and how I have ended where I am

So, obviously as with all of us, I am all sorts of things (see the identity section of my mindmap) – but when thinking about ‘who’ I am it condenses into a few clear categories:

A black woman and a working parent from a working-class background.

Whilst I no longer see being black or from a working-class background, or a working parent, as things that hold me back – the fact is they absolutely have the potential to in any given situation. Key to where I am now was the juxtaposition between my own drive to succeed and the high aspirations and expectations set for me by my parents and the contrastingly low expectations held by practically every other institution I encountered – school, sixth form, university and Civil Service.

At the age of 16, I was told at that A Levels weren’t for people like me, despite being top set. At 18 I was told that university wasn’t for me and that I should consider something more practical and vocational. After university I applied for thousands of jobs in the legal profession to no avail… these are just a few of my war wounds.

Realising the contrasts of the expectations that were placed on me and the impact of this in overcoming barriers and confounding those expectations have personally driven my passion for challenging injustice, working to ensure that others do not have to face the same frustrations. Just as importantly, I’m committed to working to change systems that discriminate or marginalise (intentionally or otherwise) and to helping organisations recognise what they are missing and create solutions. These are a key part of what led me into diversity and inclusion work. It’s trite but I really do want to make a difference and want the world to be fair!

For me, I don’t like to lose or to be told that I can’t have what my talent deserves. The experience of having to fight and having nothing come easy has shaped my whole life experience, and I believe, has made me a far more engaged and valuable employee.

I started work at 13. I’ve always had the emotional support of my family but they weren’t always in a position to support me financially. That early life experience of having to ‘get by’ and work in all sorts of places was invaluable to building my empathy and resilience. The Civil Service gave me so much opportunity, the ability to try all sorts of roles – maybe at least 4 different ‘professions’, learn and develop and test out skills. It was also an amazing grounding in the value and impact of public policy and how ‘systems’ really work. Following the Civil Service, I worked for a Trade Union which unleashed my passion, my campaigning and organising spirit and at the same time developed my technical knowledge around every aspect of employment law. I trot you through that, I guess, to show that you don’t know what experience someone has or what they can do- by simply looking at their wrapper.

Black History Month helps us realise that many, many people’s contributions are unseen, unrecognised and undervalued. That we have been socially conditioned to see the world through certain lenses and we need to be able to see so much more in each other, which is what I see as the heart of diversity and inclusion work.

There’s a section on the mindmap that I’ve labelled ‘random things’. I’ve called them random but really they aren’t, rather they’re well known issues and quite obvious ones for us to address! Especially during Black History Month.

Racism and sexism are prevalent everywhere.

They manifest differently and aren’t always obvious or in your face – but they are there. I could tell countless personal stories, both from long ago and in recent years, all of which have had an impact on the way I face the world as a black woman.

Those of us that have been victims hold the scars and they run deep. A single negative experience casts a long shadow. In addition, it erodes trust and goodwill. It leads people to interpret things that happen differently – through a different less forgiving lens.

Would it shock you to hear that in coming here to King’s I spent as much time thinking about how to ensure I wasn’t cast as the ‘angry black woman’ or the pink and fluffy inconsequential D&I diva? That on a regular basis I consider what I say and how it might be interpreted and what possible unconscious/sub conscious/stereotyping reaction people may have towards me? As I do about what needs doing?

The weight of these various considerations that I have to make on a daily basis is something I think those in the majority and those that have always been accepted find difficult to comprehend or believe. This is really the heart of what institutional racism and sexism are. I see a big part of my role here at King’s and my contribution to ‘history’ being to help the institution understand that as individuals and understand how we mitigate it to create the extraordinary student and staff experience Vision 2029 articulates.

I’d like to reflect on the difference I feel working at King’s College London compared to the previous employers and why I am so hopeful for the future. The very fact that my post has been created and been given such a platform and power is a huge step and demonstration of institutional commitment. It contrasts directly to a similar role I held at the Ministry of Defence where – recruited to similar portfolio, I sat at a more junior level, with no resources to speak of, limited organisational support and crucially ‘people like me’ weren’t supposed to speak to the most senior leaders. Those initial barriers just haven’t existed at King’s. Autonomy to set the agenda – the positivity with which my expertise is welcomed and the leadership endorsement and support I have been given means I feel so motivated and hopeful for the future. Every day I feel valued and valuable, I see and feel the impact of my work and the difference I am making.

To sum up, my personal journey has led me to recognise my strengths, know who I am and what I stand for, led me to apply myself and take opportunities and I don’t pretend the world is fair. This Black History Month I’d urge everyone at King’s and particularly leaders and managers to do all those things and also examine how you interact with people – who you know, who you listen to, who you favour – you can address the unfairness – you can help it but you have to notice and act.

Happy 30th Black History Month. Maybe one day we will get to the place where all cultures and identities are given equal focus in the way history is recorded and we won’t need the ‘special’ focus.

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