THE RACE INDUSTRY

I work now in the equalities industry or what I call the “race industry”. I was inspired to write this article as I am now working in this sector, though it is one that I have tried to avoid over the years – Community Relations Councils, and the like: equalities units, equal opportunties, diversity,etc. I first encountered this sector when I left university over twenty years ago and I stumbled into the local “Community Relations Council” in Birmingham. Then I was in the habit of going into places, interviewing people and collecting information at that time as I was finding my feet and a place in society. I spoke to a gentle Caribbean man who took the time to explain to me what the organisation did and what it couldn’t do.  I resolved myself then that I would not end up working for some talking-shop quango, I wanted to be more “front-line” in my drive for better equality for all.

Now here I am some twenty odd years later, more life experiences, more qualifications, education, and I am in that industry working on a project related to health and criminal justice.  I work for what is called a Race Equality Council.  Racial Equality Councils were funded predominantly by the now defunct Commission for Racial Equality (CRE).  Their remits was to improve race relations and their organisational and working structures were determined and controlled by the CRE.  However since the inception of the 2007 Equalities and Human Rights Act the role of the racial equality councils have diminished and the CRE was disbanded.  What this meant was that a sizable amount of the most beneficial work – racial harrassment casework has diminished due to the downsizing brought about by disinvestment by the new  Commission for  Equalities and Human Rights (CEHR). It is now very difficult to obtain training on racial harrassment casework even though there was a national network of trained professionals in this highly specialised area.  So the person that lives in an area where indigenous white people feel threatened by another new resident (perhaps due to the colour of their skin, and thus feels obliged to bully, intimidate and harrass), such a person is less likely to receive the same support as before the inception of the new CEHR legislation.

As a person who grew up in the now multicultiural Handsworth in Birmingham, I remember as a child moving to Handsworth Wood in the early 1970’s.  Within a few weeks of our move, several windows in the house were broken by stones thrown by resident teenagers. These teenagers were incited to do so by the security guard of the Student hall of resisdence across the road from where we lived.  So as a family we were forced to stay and fight, involving the police and whatever means. But this was before the days of the 1976 Race relations  and Discrimination Act – there was no Racial Equality Council to complain to.  The stonings continued for months. But there were some good people in the area who had a sense of justice:  the security guard soon lost his job even though he maintained a menacing presence in the area, staring hatefully and with malicious intent at us as we went about our business. We nicknamed him “Spock”, on account of his very personable manner.

We as children fought and then befriended the teenagers in the area, found out who and where their parents lived and the stoning eventually stopped.

In the present day I work in an organisation that is crippled by a lack of funds and investment, beset with a hostile public sector and a very competitive voluntary sector. The organisation and those involved in its non-executive mangement are mainly retired or close to retirement age, they have lost their sense of anticipation of the external political and social environment, unable to generate significant external  interest in the work of the racial equality council. This is compounded by a out of condition, out-of sorts premises that is in much need of an upgrade to 21st century standards.  What this means is that visitors would not be impressed by the slug infested basement kitchen, the piss stained carpets in the toilets accessed only by steep rickety stairs, let alone the peeling paint of the external front door and the window frames, the threadbare worn carpet tiles and paint stained seats. So it’s no surprise that service user numbers are falling. 

So this is a synopsis of the some of the worst aspects of the equalities industry – from the disnvestment to the legislative mess to the resultant degrading working conditions. The losers at the heart of this are not the workers in the sector, most of whom are well qualified and should be able to take their well honed skills elsewhere, but the helpless and desperate people who experience bullying and harassment on account of their race, skin colour and culture. People who are not skilled enough to know how to organise with others to stand up for themselves. Socially isolated people who need and appreciate a listening ear of someone who understands what it feels like to be targeted for punishment on account of being “different”, people who are struggling to maintain asense of dignity, mental clarity, mental well being in the face of sustained oppression and opposition. Whatever happened to equality, anti-racism, racial discrimination, anti-oppressive practice and equal opportunities?

In addition some twenty odd years later after my first encounter, i notice that the workers in the “race industry” are different. They are less gentle, sold on the performance management/bullying culture that is now very pervasive in the English public sector, jackbooted suitwearers who are more prone to manage by barking orders and issueing frivolous commands about “new intiatives” than to offer realistic help and practical support. There is also a lot more of what Human Resources and personnel Professor Tony Watson of Nottingham University refers to as “management bollock speak” – which are the terms such as ” window of opportunity”, “service delivery”, “action plans”, “performance review”, deliverable outcomes” , “capacity building”- you get the general idea. People more motivated by wielding power and authority over others than by public service, empathy and altruism. This is refective of the highest levels of the industry the CEHR itself as well as in the third sector itself. Too many sandal wearing Hitlers.