Diversity, and the fear to commit!

On the 25th May, a black American citizen by the name of George Floyd was murdered by the police while being taken into police custody. This incident was caught on camera, and via social media was cast around the world. In no time at all this became a worldwide tragedy, as the way George was killed could only be seen as a completely heartless and unprovoked. To top it all off, this act was committed by those whose job it is to protect and serve the public.

This touched the hearts of millions of us throughout the world from all walks of life, but what I did not see coming was how it would bring the topic of race prominently to the top of the agenda here in the UK. The Black Lives Matter movement of the last few weeks here in the UK has been a real shock, a very pleasant shock if I’m honest but a shock all the same.

As a black man (I use the term black and not BAME as I do not see this as an accurate description of who I am) the dumping of the statue of prominent slave owner and trader Edward Colston in the harbour in Bristol will go down as an iconic moment in the history of this country. This act is representative of an acknowledgement that it is now time for our history books to start telling the real story about the British Empire, colonialism and its significance to life in this country. This for me is far from a battle against all the statues around the country but a quest to now understand the importance of diversity both in our society and in the workplace. For many US companies Friday was taken as a bank holiday to celebrate the abolition of slavery on the 19th of June in 1865. Now this has been a holiday all across America to some level for many years, however never has it been so widely adopted that I have had emails from clients explaining why they can’t come back to me on Friday as they have this day off, as a bank holiday they say. 

Should the UK be doing a similar thing and 1st of August be recognised as a holiday as this was the day back in 1834 that slavery became illegal in the UK?

Never before has there been this level of awareness and momentum for change so let’s start making those steps to educate immediately and forge alliances with like-minded professionals in the same space. This week I heard an African Proverb that said:

If you want to go fast,

Go alone,

If you want to go far,

Go together

This made me stop and think about what can I do to be a part of this movement that has been so important to me for many years.

The answer is reach out to your network Jason. Talk to other professionals in various markets not just recruitment and see what they are doing to remove the likes of unconscious bias from recruitment processes or even if others think it can be done. This has to start with companies showing what sort of adjustments they are going to be making to address Diversity & Inclusion. Not just by appointing individuals and giving them titles when some of these professionals clearly don’t understand any sort of racial discrimination or focus solely on gender specific issues. While this is part of the problem it is often where companies tackling of D&I starts and also finishes.

Numerous academic studies have shown the link between diversity and business performance as primarily it leads to new ideas and innovation. There has never been a time in business that this has been of such importance. Let's make that change and starting today!!!!