Diversity

Diversity has always been a matter that has fascinated me.

When I was 11 I moved from predominately white Preston* to London (near Brixton) which was like stepping into another country where the population was black. I was a minority. It was wonderful, terrifying and exciting all rolled into one. Combined with the fast pace of the capital city, I was absolutely astounded. This was my first journey into an awareness that our country is full of diversity which perhaps I grappled with again when I moved to Norfolk in 1993. This time I was struck by the lack of diversity: no black faces in the city centre, no black children at playgroup and no celebrations of diverse festivals at school. It was again an alien place for me and felt really uncomfortable. I felt as though the vibrancy had been wiped away and although it was nice to relax into a slower pace of life I felt like something wasn't quite right.

Norwich and indeed Norfolk have changed rapidly over the 12/13 years I have been here and I have been on a voyage of discovery, seeing an increase in the number of Black and Asian people out and about and maybe even working with them too!

For my work, I have to ask the young people that I work with to fill in a registration form which gathers their details like name, address and contact details. It also includes their ethnic data. It's confusing for a start because it is laid out alphabetically, so they go from Asian through to White British and they always get confused because perhaps literacy isn't quite their strongest suit. Even if it is, it isn't clear.

I sometimes work with young people who are obviously mixed race and I base this assumption on their looks. If we are filling out the form, I may ask them and often they are quite keen to talk to me about it "Yes my father is from the Carribean and my mum is from Norfolk. I'll just tick "White British" on the form." Sometimes the conversation goes deeper: "Do people at school take the Mickey out of you because of your ethnicity?" In some respects I think they tick white British because they want to belong rather than to deny. They don't feel any different to anyone else but they are aware that being different is something that isn't tolerated too well.

At Acle High School, we built up quite a rapport with some girls who via the form revealed a previously unguessed ethnicity to us youth workers. One said because she has blue eyes no-one really knows but the other girl said she had been called a "Black bitch". Another girl there was involved in a Broadland District Council event she said she felt quite uncomfortable because she was the only mixed race person there. It was sad but I was also proud that she chose to confide in me.

Hidden diversity is rife in Norfolk: we have immigrant farm workers who come over do the unpredictable and often back breaking manual work that perhaps locals don't want to do. We seem to have a large proportion of these in East Anglia because of our coast line and our rural economies. There are also large concentrations of minorities in certain areas (Portuguese in Thetford and Chinese in and around Kings Lyn).

Denial isn't only found with the young people I work with; it's also with the staff. I work with a woman (and her sister) whose parentage is Moroccan and British. They both have dark complexions- they both will put White British on a form. For them it's just too complex to work out. They feel British. White British covers it in their eyes, which I guess is fair enough.

While talking about race and racism in youth clubs, I have been surprised at the belief expressed as "I'm not racist, I think black people are great. Can't stand [people from Pakistan]/ asylum seekers/ travellers." With attitudes like this, who can blame young people for a denial of their heritage?

I can thank some recent training run by the Norwich and Norfolk Racial Equality Council for enlightening me about the death of Stephen Lawrence. I thought it was a tragedy- like it is when anyone is murdered. I thought it was even more tragic that his death was based on his colour. I hadn't realised how public the area was where Stephen was killed. I hadn't realised how people had watched as Stephen died and had not wanted to get involved. If ever there was a time for collective responsibility, it seems that it was then at the death of Stephen Lawrence.

As an informal educator, I have a responsibility to not shy away from tackling these issues. As the woman from the NNRE said "The men responsible for killing Stephen were just as much victims as the boy they stabbed. Victims of a cruel lie." How many people had heard racist comments coming from the killers? How many challenged them? That is our collective remit.

And what price do we need to pay for fair representation of minorities in our universities and work places? Positive discrimination? I would think so. However fair minded we are, institutional prejudices are subtle and powerful.

Heather blogs here about the place of women in the church and their attendance at conferences and the like. The equal opportunities approach is to extend the invitation to men and women. That makes it fair! Or does it? If women are unable to afford childcare, or don't have use of the car, or are lacking in the confidence to attend a conference with 98% men, how does that make it fair? The anti-discrimination approach is to positively encourage women to attend. It could be that transport is laid on, conference fees waived, childcare cover arranged or special seminar times to meet the needs of women are put into place.

When applied to minorities in the work place, the equal ops approach is to say "Well we've indicated in the ad that we're an equal ops employer and that we welcome applications from the Afro-Carribean community". It's a good step but it doesn't go far enough. An anti discrimination approach would be to go a little deeper: why are none of the job applicants black? why do none of the black applicants have the correct qualifications or experience? The questions are easy, the answers are hard. It costs time and money to have an anti discrimation approach as opposed to an equal ops one. It unearths more problems than most companies are prepared to deal with and even then, society may not be playing by the same rules as you anyway. It's tough. I've also realised this is a very long blog. It must be an important subject for me. I will probably blog on it again...


*I realise that Preston now is very multicultural and even in the 70's we had a noticable mix of Asian and Chinese populations