As a white woman, born and living in England, UK, I am trying to improve the experiences of students in education, and all of those who endure racial discrimination. You can read about my journey so far here (Taylor, 2021).

On this page, I will provide a summary of some of the things that I have done, and am doing, to address racism explicitly in my teaching as well as more generally, and foster inclusion for Black* people who live in a white majority society.

Drawing on the principles of self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000), I argue that becoming anti-racist can happen most effectively when we experience fulfilment of three psychological needs: autonomy, relatedness, and competence.

1. Autonomy: This work needs to be of your own volition and not because someone else is telling you to do it; it should reflect your authentic commitment to anti-racism and not be a superficial act. Completing various training courses because they are compulsory won’t necessarily help.

2. Relatedness: Seek others around you who will support you in becoming anti-racist, and who may also be trying to become anti-racist themselves.

3. Competence: Take time to develop a sense of mastery or belief in your ability to become anti-racist. You also need to be able to recognise when you may be wrong and be ready to apologise for mistakes.

*a note about terminology: how a person describes their ethnicity and skin colour is personal and subjective: brown, black, 'person of colour' etc. The phrases 'BME' and 'BAME' (Black and minority ethnic, Black Asian and Minority Ethnic) are problematic, but commonly used to try to understand and act upon inequalities on the basis of ethnicity. I use the term 'Black' in this resource to refer to people who experience discrimination on the basis of their skin colour in a majority white society. I use a capital B in Black and lowercase w in white as an 'act in recognition of racial respect for those who have been generations in the ‘lower case’’ (Brookings, cited in Winters, 2020, p. v., see also Coleman, 2020 https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/insider/capitalized-black.html)

The following list provides 10 things that you could do to develop your knowledge of racism, build confidence to talk about it, and to become anti-racist in your behaviour.

The last thing (10b) is specifically aimed at educators working in higher education.

Note that this list is written from my perspective as a white female who lives in the UK.

The suggestions in this list are by no means exhaustive, but provide a place to start.

I would like to thank Dr Teeroumanee Nadan (@Tee_Nadan) for her constructive comments and suggestions for improving these resources

Do something, however small, right now… even if you only have

1 minute: follow someone on twitter who fights for equality, e.g. @AfuaHirsch or @Rinireni (see number 5).

2 minutes: learn about microagressions in this video explainer from fusion comedy which likens them to mosquito bites

5 minutes: learn about the concept of unconscious bias (see number 8)

10 minutes: listen to a Ted talk (see number 4).

The suggestions below are things that have taken me a number of years to do (and I am still doing them), so this is a gradual process, not an overnight one. It’s a bit like saying that you want to improve your fitness – it is a process that will take time and involve multiple different components.

If you have any additions or comments, please contact me (details on the ‘About’ page)

This may mean learning things that push you out of your comfort zone, but expanding knowledge improves people's acceptance of diversity.

Reni Eddo-Lodge has written a brilliant chapter in her book ‘Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race’ which provides a brief history of ‘blackness in Britain’ (Chapter 1, page 9) and what we weren’t taught at school. The rest of the book also provides a very readable introduction to issues of racism in Britain.

You could read a basic summary of some hidden history here https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-52939694

You could also watch

Black British history you're not taught in schools | Alt History - BBC (10 mins)

And

Black and British: A Forgotten History by David Olusoga (4 part BBC documentary, 1 hour each)

And

Enslaved: The lost history of the transatlantic slave trade a 4 part BBC 2 documentary by Samuel L Jackson and Afua Hirsch (1 hour per episode)

Next, you could find out what the consequences of structural and institutional racism are in Britain today for those people affected by it. The Race Disparity Audit (2018) presents facts and figures in areas such as education, housing, and health, whereas the Lammy Review (2017) focuses on the impact of racism in the criminal justice system.

Take a look at your bookcase and count how many books you have read that are written by authors who do not have the same cultural or racial background as you. This was one of the first things that I did when I wanted to develop anti-racist practice, and I found that most of my novels were written by white authors writing about Western issues from a Western perspective. I began to seek out novels that would broaden my understanding of different cultures. Here are some examples of authors who I enjoyed:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie (Nigerian)

Khaled Hosseini (Afghan-American)

Zadie Smith (Black British)

Bernardine Evaristo (Black British)

Monica Ali (Bangladeshi-British)

Maya Angelou (African American)

Asne Seierstad (Norwegian)

Jhumpa Lahiri (Benghali-British)

Anchee Min (Chinese)

Colson Whitehead (American)

The following authors have written excellent books that discuss racism in the West, and its impact on those who are at the receiving end of it.

The Good Immigrant (2016), collection of stories edited by Nikesh Shulka

Ibram X Kendi (2017) Stamped from the beginning

Afua Hirsch (2018) Brit(ish)

Nikesh Shulka (2021) Brown baby

Reni Eddo-Lodge (2017) Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race

Mary Frances-Winters (2020) Black Fatigue: how racism erodes the mind, body and spirit

David Lammy (2020) Tribe

Obama (1995) Dreams from my father: A story of race and inheritance

There is a more extensive list of books here

Or if you prefer listening to reading, there’s a list of relevant podcasts at https://www.theantiracisteducator.com/listening

‘Empathy fuels connection ... it is recognising emotion in others and then communicating that emotion...feeling with people’ (Brené Brown). There are a number of TED talks that you could watch or listen to, given by people who share their experiences of racism and discrimination, and how it affects their identity and wellbeing, for example:

No. You Cannot Touch My Hair! | Mena Fombo

Everyday Struggle: Switching Codes for Survival | Harold Wallace III (where are you from? - see section 9 on language)

I Am Not Your Asian Stereotype | Canwen Xu

The danger of a single story | Chimamanda Adichie

Racial Identity | Joanne Nchimbi

Ethnic Identity and the Power of Being Undefined | Anish Shroff

What Beyonce Taught Me About Race | Brittany Barron

What does it mean to be Black and British?

You could also watch this set of documentaries called Small Axe: It comprises vivid stories of hard-won victories in the face of racism, directed by Steve McQueen

Twitter

Look at who you follow on social media and consider following people who experience discrimination on the basis of race and groups that advocate for equality. Try to include both local and international voices.

Many authors I mention in numbers 2 and 3 above have twitter accounts that you could follow, as do these individuals @PriyamvadaGopal, @Muna_Abdi_PhD, @Tee_Nadan

You could follow:

Members of Parliament or local councillors who fight for racial justice, e.g. David Lammy Labour MP, Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi Labour MP, Kamala Harris (Vice President of the United States of America, 2021-) and Sobia Afridi, Oxford Councillor.

Twitter accounts that promote racial equality, e.g. Black Lives Matter @BlkLivesMatter, @BhmUK (Black History all year round celebration), @galdemzine, @raceequality, @guiltfempod, @BAMEednetwork, @decolonise_intl, @MrPranPatel DecoloniseTheCurriculum.com,

Travelling to countries with different cultures to your own can broaden your perspective and increase acceptance of difference, BUT only if you immerse yourself in local culture and do it with an open and non-judgmental mind. Travel can help to get you out of your social comfort zone and increase your trust and faith in humanity (Immordino-Yang, cited here). If you can’t travel, then travel documentaries and books can provide a good alternative.

Before the global pandemic caused by coronavirus, I was fortunate to be able to travel to places that had different cultures to Britain, such as Turkey, Morocco, India, Rwanda, Kenya, Jordan, and South America. In several of these countries, I experienced being in the minority due to being white, and I was aware that I potentially stood out as being different. This helped me to reflect on what it might be like for people who experience being in a minority on a daily basis.

When we are able to travel safely after the COVID-19 pandemic, and if you are fortunate to be financially able to do so, consider where your next trip might be. Could you visit a country that has a different culture to your own, and that will broaden your understanding of people who have different backgrounds to you? Bear in mind that you won’t develop cultural awareness if you just sit in an all-inclusive resort and don’t talk to people who live there! Have conversations with people who live there and get to know what their life is like.

Learn about people with different experiences to your own who have fought to improve the lives of others despite enduring racism and discrimination. The following people have written autobiographies:

Paul Stephenson (Black British civil rights activist, who organised a boycott of a Bristol bus company, which paved the way for the Race Relations Act, 1965)

Malala Yousafzai (a Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban who fights for girls’ education)

Hibo Wardere (a Somalian woman who underwent female genital mutilation)

Frederick Douglas (former slave and abolitionist)

Nelson Mandela (first Black President of South Africa who spent 27 years in prison)

Barack Obama (first African American president of the United States of America) and Michelle Obama (first African American First Lady)

Mahatma Gandhi (Indian lawyer and nonviolent political activist leading India to independence from British rule)

Martin Luther King, Jr (rebelled against racial segregation in America)

Margo Jefferson, Negroland: A memoir about growing up in 1950s America

Imani Perry, Breathe - a letter to my sons

Tervor Noah, Born a crime - stories from a South African Childhood

It's important to seek contact and listen to others who look and think differently from you. However, one way in which you should not try to engage a person with a minority skin colour is to ask ‘Where are you from?’ Afua Hirsch discusses in her book ‘Brit(ish)’ that this question, although often well intended, can contribute to making the person feel that they do not belong. The question assumes that the person is not from here (Britain), and, therefore, belongs somewhere else.

Hirsch explains that when she answers this question by saying ‘London’, or more specifically, ‘Wimbledon’, the inevitable follow up question is: ‘But where are you really from?’ (to which the answer is actually Norway). This question further reinforces the implication that the recipient wasn’t born in this country because of their skin colour (black/brown), which is not true.

This type of question may seem harmless to the usually well-intended questioner, but when it is added to all the other daily experiences of inequality or discrimination that Black people face, it contributes to an uncomfortable psychological feeling of alienation or otherness.

So, instead of asking ‘where are you from?’ consider asking questions like 'what do you do for a living?’ or ‘what do you enjoy doing in your leisure time?’ If you demonstrate a genuine interest in the person, then information about their heritage is likely to emerge during your developing relationship and you find shared ground to discuss.

Recently, I was walking around our village with my young son, and saw a man standing in his front garden with a number of chickens running around him. We stopped to watch the chickens and say hello. The man had brown skin, and it felt natural to want to ask ‘where are you from?’ but I stopped myself and asked something else about his chickens. We subsequently had an interesting conversation in which we both ended up sharing information about our heritage, but with neither of us having to ask ‘where are you from?’

An ally can be considered as someone who unites oneself with another towards a common goal. If you witness unfair treatment of another person on the basis of ethnicity, such as by a supermarket cashier in this example, consider how you can stand up against racism. How could you support the person on the receiving end? Remember to consider your own safety as well to ensure that you won't be put in danger.

See ‘Cracking the codes’ video series for more information www.crackingthecodes.org

First, you need to ‘see’ race: adapt how you support your students, taking into account that some students may face barriers caused by institutionally racist structures, which you are probably unaware of.

For example, that some plagiarism procedures may adversely impact Black students. Rather than assuming that these students are intentionally committing plagiarism, we need to change how we teach students about plagiarism that takes into account cultural differences. We also need to change our processes that adversely impact Black students, the cumulative effect of which is an inequitable degree awarding gap.

You could read research to understand the experiences of Black students here

You could try some of the activities provided on this website (see Education Activities) in your teaching to support Black students’ experiences of inclusion.

This could include:

• setting up discussion groups for students to share their experiences of racism and feedback to the teaching team any areas of practice that they experience as discriminatory;

• trying out the inclusion exercises to start a conversation about racism and help students form friendship groups that are not based on ethnicity or skin colour.

Also:

Check out the anti-racist educator

Check out the Race Equality Charter and find out whether your university is a member – and if not, see how you could become one.