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Hello {{ first name | friends}},
I started drafting this reading list in the weeks following the digital lynching of Professor Jason Arday. His death has raised a number of questions about racism, about the media, about Britain, and more. I've included a few here. The Reading List also includes a range of perspectives from the Global South on caste, enslavement, colonialism, as well as learning, knowledge and academia.
1. DEI is not dividing Britain. The weaponisation of race is by Monica Tyler
As I visited different parts of England over the summer, I felt the truth of this title, because there was so much bigoted anti-immigrant rhetoric floating around, and many of the loudest proponents seemed to ignore context and lack critical thinking. This piece examines the myth and the reality.
“This is why the claim that DEI undermines merit is so misleading. It assumes Britain was previously a perfect meritocracy in which everyone had the same opportunities and the best person always succeeded.
That has never been true.”
2. Who gets to be human? by Lena Bheeroo
This question, too, is pertinent, and points to centuries of people of racialised as white assuming their right to define, extract from and police people of the Global Majority.
“The pattern is this: Black and brown people do the work to create a better working environment for racialised people, then get rolled out as proof the organisation is not racist the moment it is accused. They end up burned out from the emotional labour, then spat out when restructures arrive to dilute and defang our movements”
3. The far right is flat wrong on racism by Keon West
As this writer says, call a thing and thing. Only then can you start to deal with it.
“We must be brave enough to talk straightforwardly about racism and discrimination, and the mountain of evidence that proves their existence. We can’t just talk about outcomes such as that Black and Brown people are disproportionately poor or unhealthy. We must be willing to discuss the plain, scientific evidence that these disparate outcomes are due to racism.”
4. The World Still Wants Black Women to Love, Not to Lead. That Ends Now. by Dr Janelle Williams
Here, Dr Williams presents the issue of exploitation of Black women, as well as a solution for moving forward in true partnership.
“But we must tell the whole truth. Black women are too often asked to carry extraordinary responsibility inside systems that were never designed for us to thrive. Despite facing some of the highest barriers to capital, we remain the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in America. Despite chronic disparities in income and wealth, we pursue advanced degrees at rates that outpace nearly every demographic in the country. We are generating solutions at scale while being denied the capital, infrastructure, and institutional trust those solutions deserve.”