“Where have you been for the last two years?” was the question asked of British TV presenter Philip Schofield by the exasperated Dr Shola Mos-Shogbamimu, as Schofield questioned whether media coverage of Meghan Markle was racist. “Where have you been for the whole of your life?” might equally have been asked of him.
Now, before I wade in on the “Megxit” debate (notice it’s about her, rather than “Hexit”), I need to come clean that I am a non-violent republican. I’d happily unleash Emily Maitlis on each and every member of the royal family if it resulted in them all withdrawing from public life. However, that is a different discussion.
Meghan Markle’s experience of racism in this country should actually come as no surprise to anybody. It is not as if it is without precedent, or even particularly unusual. There have been plenty of other very recent examples, such as the “100%” Stormzy row, Raheem Sterling’s blistering exposé of media coverage of young black sportsmen to name but two in the last few weeks. What all of these episodes should elicit is a reflective national conversation that starts with an acknowledgement that racism is still embedded in our culture and practices and looks at how we can do better. Instead, we get uninformed opinion from the likes of Piers Morgan - a white, middle-aged man who seems only interested in having a conversation with himself and about himself. We really must do better, but the “whataboutery” of Morgan and his ilk is a real impediment to progress. He and Schofield are powerful men who speak directly to their audiences on prime time TV shows every day. As everyone keeps saying of Markle, “with great power comes great responsibility.” Dr Mos-Shogbamimu is absolutely right to suggest that it is their responsibility to educate themselves. The same is also true for the rest of us. Here are some of my ideas about how we might go about it.
Acknowledge racism as systemic This shouldn’t be as hard as it seems for us. There is plenty of evidence out there. For example, Bank of England research in 2019 found that BAME workers, despite on average being better qualified than their “white” counterparts earn on average 10% less for equivalent work even after all other differentiating characteristics have been accounted for – so that is 10% of pure, unwarranted disadvantage. The same research shows that the gap is even more persistent than the gender pay gap, having barely closed at all in the last 25 years.
In terms of representation at senior levels in corporate life, 2019 research (Green Park) shows that BAME representation on FTSE 100 boards fell from 8.8% in 2018 to 7.4% in 2019. To give an idea of how that bears out in the way boards look, 47% of FTSE 100 companies have no one with a BAME background on their board at all. BAME people are not well represented either in senior managerial roles, making up only 10.7% of FTSE 100 companies’ top 100 staff. Not only do we under-promote BAME people to positions of power, our society also punishes them disproportionately. The number of BAME children convicted of crimes has nearly doubled (yes that’s increased by nearly 100%) in 8 years, despite a massive reduction in the overall number of cautions and sentences given to young offenders in general. This alarming statistic can be linked directly to an initiative which deals with non-serious offenders without resorting to the court system. The beneficiaries of this drive have predominantly been white children. Leading to the inevitable conclusion that BAME children are seen by the prosecution services and judicial system as more dangerous offenders than their white counterparts merely because of their ethnicity.
If these facts and figures get in the way of your intuitive sense of how non-racist we as a society are, then just try speaking to BAME friends and colleagues and really listening to their experiences. This is where being a woman can help, as you are likely to be able to relate, at least to some degree, to what you hear. A BAME friend spoke to me about how when he went to formal evening events with his powerful wife, if he wasn’t standing right next to her other guests would hand him their coats or ask him the way to the cloakroom. These are the many small acts of casual racism that are a part of BAME people’s every day experiences. I can relate to what it is like to be the only person of my type (female) in the room. I can relate to being taken for someone with a more menial job/ fewer qualifications/ less authority than I actually possess. I can also relate to be being told by others (mainly – but not only - men) in direct contradiction of my experience and all the evidence that sexism doesn’t exist anymore in the workplace and in fact that women are now at an advantage.
More serious are those casual acts of racism that most white women have never themselves encountered. I have never had to consider the police as a potential threat to my children rather than as people who keep them safe. I have never had to advise my children to modify their behaviour in order to avoid being singled out for unwanted attention. Another pesky fact for you – BAME people make up 15.6% of London’s population. 43% of searches by police were carried out on BAME people in 2018. You can do the maths. Guardian research also showed that searches of BAME people were less likely to result in detection of a crime than those of their white British counterparts. So, there is no reason for elevated levels of stop and search. This is more than 35 years after the introduction of the Police and Criminal Evidence Act, intended to stop racist, predatory behaviour by the police.
Accept you are part of the system
If you can accept that racism leads to everyday life experiences of which you have absolutely no experience as a white person, then you are starting to understand your own privilege – the luxury you enjoy of assuming that you will mainly be treated fairly, nobody will automatically assume that you have stolen that nice car you drive around in, you’re not very likely to be stopped at immigration controls and that, as you look a lot like most of the people around you, you will never have to give a moment’s thought to the consequences of your skin colour.
More difficult to acknowledge is that we all carry with us the imprints of the continued harmful stereotypes that are fed to us directly and indirectly from birth. I can own up to the fact that I still occasionally catch myself assuming that the men in the room are more senior than the women, or going along with the idea that – say – a woman’s voice can lack authority. I find it much harder to acknowledge that I carry racial stereotypes, which despite my best efforts are deeply embedded. In our quest to become “colour-blind” and to alleviate our collective guilt, are we actually seeking to obliterate not only people’s cultural heritage, but the reality of the prejudices they suffer based on their skin colour?
Question others’ and your own views So, when it comes to Meghan Markle, the questions the likes of Schofield and Morgan are asking obliterate her – and others’ - experience of racism. Detailed evidence is required – which these powerful white people with no experience of racism feel authorized to scrutinize and pronounce upon. All sorts of justifications for the “we’re not racist” position are offered. Firstly, that pointing out Piers Morgan’s white privilege is in itself an equivalent act of racism. Which completely misunderstands the central premise of racism, that of power. Stereotypical views about Morgan as an arrogant, ignorant, white man might well be prejudicial (although he seems to live down to most of those stereotypes), but it is the combination of power + prejudice that leads to the discrimination of racism. As all the evidence shows, power and discrimination reside squarely with the white majority in this country, - even less privileged white communities have more opportunities than their BAME counterparts - so Morgan’s claims of racism against him are just plain wrong.
The second justification is that the comments made about Meghan Markle are no worse than those made against other royal wives such as Kate Middleton and Sarah Ferguson. Which is tantamount to suggesting that three wrongs make a right. I think we know that a large section of the tabloid press is sexist and classist. So, surely it’s not such a big leap to recognize their racism as well, in particular in how they now portray one princess as the English regal rose in contrast to her darker counterpart? It might also be the case that Markle’s experience of racism throughout her life makes her less able just to put up with the abuse hurled at her by the press. Individual tolerance levels are not the problem here, so commentators should stop trying to make them the focus. It is the abuse itself that is the real problem. There is an old legal principle that can serve us well here: you take your victims as you find them, which means taking into account - when assessing their suffering - individual contexts and circumstances.
Finally, it’s argued that commentators have not been racist, they just don’t like Meghan Markle very much. This is the most pernicious of the “we’re not racist” narratives, which seeks to explain it away as something else. It also fails to acknowledge that both can co-exist. Even if Markle is not “likeable” – whatever that means – she can still be subject to racism. But, perhaps we need to start by asking ourselves how it is that we “don’t like” a woman we have never met and know very little about. Perhaps we have been affected by all sorts of stereotypes and deep-rooted prejudices, about Hollywood and Americans, about women and of course about people with different colour skin that have permeated the media coverage we consume. There is lots of research that demonstrates that in our choice of reading we generally seek confirmation of our values and views. We selectively pick out information that cements rather than reverses long-held prejudices. Challenging the things we take for granted – why we are much more willing to believe one version of events than another - is something we should all do, but it requires us to adopt an open and non-defensive position, acknowledging that we are not as blameless as we’d like to think we are.
There has not been much evidence of any such self-awareness in the current debate on racism. But it’s not too late to start and there are some great resources out there to help us understand better, both fact and fiction (if you prefer to learn through your novel reading). I’ve included references to a few of my favourites.
Let’s do better in 2020
References
Why I’m no Longer Talking to White People About Race. Reni Eddo Lodge.
Americanah Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=americanah&i=stripbooks&ref=nb_sb_noss_1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QvS78MlAXAQ
Rapper Akala on Linking Knife Crime to Race. Good Morning Britain.