A Thought For This Week.

I don't know how this week has been for you, but the events we've seen playing out across the US with George Floyd, protests, riots.... it's hard to find words, isn't it?

For many of us, these events aren't happening in 'our' backyard. I'm writing this from the United Kingdom. It's a different cultural context, but I wish I could say that racism was something that didn't happen here. The protests happening in London echo the fact that this may not be our backyard, but there are British men and women from ethnic minority groups who know exactly what it feels like to be profiled because of the colour of your skin.

And it raises that uncomfortable issue. 

Privilege.

And that's falling short, because it's really about White Privilege.

At university I studied History, and specialised in gender, race and class. I spent the final year of my Bachelors degree studying slavery and the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. My undergrad dissertation focused on slave-owning in the Caribbean in the 1700s and 1800s. I even took modules on the 1960s Civil Rights in the US, and on the end of the British Empire and the creation of the British Commonwealth.

I've read books, written papers, attended conferences, witnessed heated debates and raised voices between academics on these issues.

It's been a learning process for me, but over the last few years I've seen more and more how much I've been a recipient of White Privilege. Life hasn't always been straightforward, and I've hit many bumps on the road - but it's completely true that the colour of my skin has never been a factor.

Honestly, I think these histories should be mandatory topics in our schools and we all need a deeper understanding of how the world has come to be the way it is.

But here's the key thing I learned.

I might have read some of the stories of black men and women in the US and the Caribbean, even the UK. I might have spent time tracing the legacy of slavery and colonialism and how it maps onto the lives of black and ethnic minority people even today.

But I haven't experienced what they have experienced. 

It doesn't matter how much you study something, it does not become your experience.

I don't 'get it'.

I am still learning. But the most important thing is I need to be listening. 

This isn't my story to provide a commentary for. I can't claim special insight, or that I know what it feels like to fear for my life if stopped by armed police. Or to have to teach my children how to stay alive in an encounter with police that they have no control over.

But I am listening.

I don't understand - how could I? But I want to better understand how to be a force for good in this situation.

This week there are many, many different voices competing for our attention.

For some of you reading, you might be unable to even think about your business right now.

Some of you may feel like you'd welcome the distraction from current events and the distressing scenes on our news feeds and device screens.

Some may even feel angry that I'm holding space for this issue this week, and 'bringing politics' into your inboxes, or that perhaps I hold different views to you.

Wouldn't it be great if I ended with a clever little link to turn this into a business lesson?

That's not where I'm going with this one today.

As the world processes the events of the last week, and as we continue to grapple the Covid crisis and all that it means for the immediate future, it's worth taking a pause and taking a long, hard look at the things we give assent to. To where we draw the line. When is enough truly enough?

I'll be back next week with some business resources to help you, but for now, my prayers are with the family of George Floyd and for all of us as we decide what happens next.