You know those books that you read and feel yourself being changed? I think it's called 'internalisation'.
This is one of those. Especially if you're white.
Reni Eddo-Lodge is a journalist and author who wrote the book 'Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race'.
Her work focuses on racism and feminism. I think it's the exhaustion in her tone that gets me.
- A slogan put about by the Conservative government was 'if you want a n**** as your neighbour, vote labour' - this was 1985
- Black children get marked down in school
- But when their work is assessed independently under a white British sounding name, they get the grades they deserve
- Bristol was a slave port and the UK has a lot of its wealth from black slavery
- Black and ethnic minority women are five times more likely to die during childbearing.
It's a hard one. If you're white, you might be thinking 'well I'm not racist'.
I believe you. But we live in a society that's got racism baked into it. Not our fault. Still our responsibility.
Reverse racism hits the news sometimes. White people being at a disadvantage because people from a black or ethnic minority group are discriminating against them.
The problem is that reverse racism doesn't happen in a way that takes meaningful power away from white people.
White people might find themselves in a single situation - say working for an ethnic minority family who pass them over for a promotion in favour of someone from their own background - but that white person will have more many opportunities over the course of their lifetime based on their ethnicity.
Ethnic minority groups literally do not have enough people in positions of power to even begin to level the playing field.
I think it's so important for midwives and students to be aware of the tension and inequality that black and ethnic minority people face.
It's just that there's a huge bias that black and ethnic minority people have to fight against all the time. You can't really fight against sexism without understanding racism. You miss so much of the picture.
The problem is to understand race as a white person, you need to put your own way of seeing the world on hold. This is pretty much impossible. The only way to do it is to think of a time when you've been so frustrated that someone couldn't see the inequality in a situation.
For instance, many women will have had a conversation with someone who doesn't see the point of International Women's Day as there's no International Men's Day.
I've been in a situation where I've been frustrated to tears trying to get a guy to understand why International Women's Day is important.
The risk of FGM, pay differences, the tension women face balancing having children and a career etc. It falls on deaf ears. It's like it doesn't even exist.
This is what black and ethnic minority people are trying to tell us. There's a whole existence in parallel with ours as white people. We're blind to it.
It's not for me to tell anyone what to do but I'd encourage you to read Reni Eddo-Lodge's book, listen to her podcast, or listen to Sprogcast, the episode with Doula Mars Lord.
Listening and understanding is only fair.
But also, if like me, the best bit of midwifery or caring for others is the privilege of understanding their stories: there is so much more to learn.
So many more ways of existing in the world to get to know.
I find this exciting.
Now I'd love to hear from you.
Please comment, especially if you're from a black or minority ethnic group, especially if you think I've left anything out!
Or if you're white - do you already know this?
Much Love,
Thank you Ellie. I appreciate the book recommendation and will check it out. As a United States nurse-midwife (retired) who spent her career working and living in the U.S. city of Detroit area, I have had many learning opportunities working with and caring for people of minority groups. The Detroit area has had a long history of racial tensions and also has a diverse population of immigrants from many nations. I hope I would be considered sensitized to the devastating effects of racism. I don’t know if we can ever fully understand but, I believe, recognizing our white privilege is an important part of fighting against racism. Perhaps you and your readers would be interested in reading an American take on the subject in a blog entry I contributed to our public broadcasting service web site with regard to a Call the Midwife episode last year.
http://www.pbs.org/call-the-midwife/blogs/modern-day-midwives/racism-and-unexpected-consequences/
Thanks so much Deborah. Great to hear you recognise what’s going on and yes, as soon as you can see it, hard to comment or write about anything like that Call The Midwife episode without it being about racism!
Hi Ellie, this was a really nice post, I can’t see anything which could cause offence in it, so don’t worry about that. I am a a black Caribbean person, who has, like any other black and ethnic minority person, faced quite a lot of racism. I think, like you said if we as student midwives and midwives etc. made an effort to understand other cultures and the problems faced by other cultures we would be able to provide the optimal care which we need to provide to women and their families as well as function in a much more efficient way with colleagues and the rest of society. Even though we can’t stop women and families experiencing racism in their lives it would be great if women could think back to their maternity care and not think about the experience being tainted by the effects of racism.
Thanks Mesha, that’s really good to know. I appreciate your comment, always a bit concerning to write something that’s not your own story but is really important to people’s lives. It would be amazing if care was a racism free experience!
I totally agree with you Ellie. I follow an amazing woman Ijeoma Oluo who also has a book and brilliant articles on this subject. I am so much more aware of my white privilege than ever. It is so important in Midwifery. Thanks for writing this blog. All white people need to be aware of this. It’s a shame that POC have to be educating us on this but I’m glad they are.
Cool, I’ll check her out. 🙂 It is a shame, hopefully moving to a world where we’re doing better.
I heard her chatting on radio 2 and it was a good reminder. I have similar conversations about women of colour, people of colour, women within apartheid South Africa and sometimes its such a difficult thing to not scream and walk away when I don’t have the eloquence or words. Will go and find that sprog cast episode (I’m due a run, listening to them is a good incentive to get out)
I really really think as a white person you should be censoring the N word.
Sure, my apologies – changed.