Becoming anti-racist is not something that can be achieved overnight, but change needs to start today
- Read Read Read! Be inspired by biographies of those who have fought to overcome racial discrimination and diversify your bookshelf: The Library has a BLM reading list. Ensure you actively engage with the material, start an anti-racist book club with your friends!
- Avoid microaggressions in conversation and actions.
- When you see any form of racism, become an active bystander, if it is safe to do so. Remember the four D’s
- Direct Action – Directly intervene by calling out the negative behaviour, explaining why it is not OK
- Distraction – Indirectly intervening by interrupting the situation or changing the focus/subject
- Delay- waiting for the situation to pass and check in with the victim. Reflect on what took place and take appropriate action
- Delegation – inform someone with more authority to take action: you can report at the University via Report & Support.
- Hold an intersectional anti-racist standpoint that recognizes how racism interconnects with other forms of oppression (for example, due to gender, class, caste, faith, sexuality, disability or age).
- When you see an all-white reading list on your course, challenge it. Adapt your teaching practice and create space for discussions on experiences of racism.
- Don’t deny that racism does not exist, even if you can’t see it Covert racism and systemic inequality is concealed or subtle rather than obvious or public. Examples can include - Blaming the victim. Racial profiling or stereotyping. Saying "it’s just a joke" when making a racially insensitive comment. Tokenism.
- Commit to undertaking Anti-racism training; free examples include:
- Santander Scholarships Studies | Union Black Course (becas-santander.com)
- Responding to Hate and Extremism via The Centre for Hate Studies
- Diversify your social media feeds: Follow some groups/individuals who campaign for equality.
- Be courageous. Challenging the status quo and what you have been told takes courage. White privilege can make people defensive. Don’t let it.
- Understand how history has defined people. You can’t change this, but you can see it in a different way.
- Be a race ally and advocate against oppression if you are not Black. Identify when to step in but also when to give spaces to minoritised ethnic voices.