Scottish | Ghanaian - NHS Senior Project Manager
I identify as mixed-race. My Mum is from Scotland and my Dad is from Ghana, they met in Nursing college in Scotland. Both of my parents worked in the NHS (mostly within community nursing) for 25+ years.
Most recently I’ve found it challenging to be English and British. The role of the British empire in slavery hasn’t ever really exactly been at the front of mind but the recent discussion on statues like those of Edward Colton in Bristol and fairly recent highlighting of the ‘slave compensation’ paid to former slave owners up until 2015. The latter of which means for 10+ years the tax I have paid as part of my working life may have gone towards compensating former slave owners for their loss of ‘property’, who may have in turn been my own descendants. This combined with the fallout from Brexit, the rise of discrimination and abuse of minorities that closely followed and the rise of ‘English’ nationalism seems to have had a detrimental impact on the tolerance for immigrants and those that have emigrated to this country to either create a better life for themselves and their families (like the Windrush generation), whilst also carrying out many of the jobs which saw so many on the frontline during the COVID pandemic.
I'm relatively new to the NHS, and obviously starting during the second wave of the pandemic is far from normal circumstances. I sought out the BAME staff network when I joined and am interested in getting involved in that. I feel that people can treat me very differently in different situations. I think this is down to what I wear. As a professional, if I'm well dressed, generally I feel more respected, but often if I'm going to the gym or I've just finished a run, I'll be in sportswear and much more casual and I feel I'm treated differently. I've been told many times that I'm well spoken, presumably because I don't sound or speak in a way people expect when they look at me. For some reason when they see me, they don't expect to hear an educated person speaking. So why is that?
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