How to be an anti-racist ally

In this extract from our anti-racism toolkit, we look at the roles we can all play to be better allies, active bystanders and accomplices.

If everyone plays their part, we can ensure that our ethnic minority colleagues are supported and begin to embed an anti-racist workplace culture. Read on to learn more.

Challenging racism in the workplace

Many of us want and need to challenge racism in our workplaces. We want to change the behaviours and the language, as well as the organisational systems and processes that restrict the opportunities of ethnic minority people.

This is vital work, but it can’t be done without everyone playing their part. Anti-racism is everybody’s responsibility; all of us have to take action.

So how do we go about it?

What’s my role in eradicating racism at work?

To support a programme of anti-racism in your organisation, there are three broad roles people can adopt:

Active bystander

This is someone who intervenes or challenges when they see discriminatory (meaning racist) language or behaviour. Active bystanders understand how their actions help to build an inclusive culture; they believe in doing the right thing.

Ally

An ally is someone who will stand with an individual or group in a marginalised community, and use their privilege to amplify the marginalised voices. Examples include White people taking part in the Black Lives Matter marches or actively championing anti-racism.

Accomplice

Someone who works to dismantle structures and systems that create or perpetuate racism, and whose work is informed by ethnic minority people. An example would be a person who works with ethnic minority colleagues to ensure that the recruitment practices in their organisation are free from racial bias.

Accomplices take a step beyond allyship, though the two terms are often used interchangeably.

Improve your own knowledge of racism in the workplace

Before you start, you can take steps to understand more about racism in the workplace.

This could include everything from your organisation’s legal responsibilities to understanding more about the experiences of those who are different from you, to understanding your own biases and how they can unconsciously influence your behaviour.

More steps to understand racism in the workplace are outlined below:

• Get to understand everyone’s responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 – know who is protected, and from what. Be aware of how different types of discrimination can affect your organisation, the perpetrators and the victims.
• Seek out diverse opinions and experiences to broaden your understanding of anti-racism, particularly in a work context, and to benefit from a wider range of perspectives.
• Learn about the experiences of those who are different to you. You can do this through sharing media libraries, reading articles, blog posts and books (fiction or non-fiction), watching internet videos (YouTube etc) and TED talks, etc. Don’t assume that ethnic minority friends and colleagues will teach you – the onus is not on them to resolve racism.
• Challenge your own unconscious bias and assumptions. Understand your blind spots and where they come from, and find ways to eliminate their influence on your thoughts and decisions.
• Be intentional: consider why you are doing something or saying something, and think it through carefully before you start.