Black Lives Still Matter

Yesterday marks the third anniversary of the brutal murder of George Floyd at the hands of US police officers. This atrocity was a catalyst for resurgence of the global?Black Lives Matter movement?and it captured news headlines around the world. Here in the UK, organisations and brands were compelled to respond and acknowledge the existence of systemic racism in society. But lots of the content that was posted only amounted to ‘optical allyship’ (also known as ‘performative allyship’ and?‘BLM-washing’), where organisations and/or brands didn’t communicate a tangible anti-racism strategy, just superficial support. In the long-run this?erodes consumer trust and does more damage than good.?

In June 2020, many Black activists?organised to provide support for Black communities, educate non-Black people and hold companies and leaders accountable.

These are just a few of the initiatives set up by Black people:

• Activist Layemi Ikomi created a public spreadsheet of UK galleries and museums to track their public support (or lack thereof) Black Lives Matter protests.?
• The London-based POCC creative industries network published an open letter calling out creative industry leaders for their silence in the immediate aftermath of George Floyd’s death.
• Marketing initiative The Current commissioned a report which did a deep dive into the treatment anti-racism in marketing campaigns.
• The charity Black Minds Matter was launched in June 2020. The service connects Black individuals and families with free mental health services.

The reaction from companies, leaders and government was a mix of knee-jerk and performative responses and bold, yet empty commitments. For example, then PM Boris Johnson immediately announced a commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities chaired by Dr Tony Sewell. However, publishing the findings was delayed till the following year 2021 and eventually stated that race and racism was less important and the UK was a “more open society”.?Our Content Lead, Almaz Ohene , wrote this article on how Gen Z activists were campaigning to decolonise education - and this work feels more relevant than ever.?

Next month, we’ll be looking back at 3 years of our work building anti-racism into brands.?And we will be reviewing some of the biggest and boldest brand promises and asking, where are they now? So stay tuned for more of this, throughout June.?

However as we start to reflect, this Instagram post from anti-racism expert, Nova Reid?asks a really important question:

Are we enabling the immaturity of white supremacy?

She asks it, not as an accusation, but a point of genuine reflection for anyone who is serious about equity.?She asks it in response to the people whose response to any discussion about racism is to ask “What can we do?”.?

Because in 3 years, there has been so much written,?so much free content provided on what to do. On our website alone, there are at least 3 resources including this blog post, which literally gives 5 things you can do to build anti-racism into your brand.?

Not to mention the books, events, social media accounts, and wealth of resources on anti-racism.?

So the question now is not?“What can we do?” but “why are we not taking action?”. And be honest and use your initiative in moving forward.?Because if we allow ourselves to be continuously distracted by the question, "What can we do?", we are not taking action.?We are not prioritising and centering the people most impacted by racism.?We may, in fact, be enabling the immaturity of white supremacy.?

This is not an accusation, it’s an invitation to refocus our collective efforts. And we look forward to reflecting, recommitting and re-energising with all of you in our community.?

Team Brand By Me?