Irish Gypsy/Scottish/English | Guyanese
Purely by coincidence, in the first week of May 2020, I wrote 2 pieces referencing my experience of having mixed-ethnicity, a subject which I had not written about for years. Days later, the media was filled with the images of George Floyd and international outrage. The internet flooded with emotionally charged opinions, judgements and miscommunications. I suddenly felt a weight of expectation to comment on what was going on. To sum up in a single social-media post subjects steeped in extensive history, complex social structures, fear and so much pain. There was almost a pressure to become a spokesperson for all 'POC' and educator of those who weren't in this category. It was too heavy and I withdrew for a while. When one of my pieces was published I let that serve as my contribution. It provided snapshots of me navigating the issue of racial identity since birth, it was created with no expectation and no judgement.
I feel that there needs to be a lot more diverse representation across almost all industries, especially in roles of leadership. It’s something I noticed in the Corporate world and when entering the Well-being sector, one of my missions is to increase diversity and accessibility within those spaces by being present and positively active.
To tackle racial inequality we need increased representation in high level leadership reflecting diversity and normalisation of the presence of diverse ethnicities within school curriculums, especially when it comes to teaching History. There also needs to be education around and honest investigation of the systemic inequalities that exist. A curriculum that truly reflected the involvement of diverse ethnicities within British History would have been a game-changer for me when I was at school. One that highlighted our presence and contribution throughout the ages. I don’t remember ever being consistently taught about the successes or pioneering achievements of people with diverse ethnicities. If they did appear it tended to feel like a bit of a novelty, reinforcing the idea of ‘otherness’.
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