Motivation

It Is Time to Stop Telling Black People They Are Oppressed

Before you read this article, I need you to clear your mind of any pre-assumptions you have. Unfortunately, many of us can never listen to the other side of an argument. That is because we seek to critique straight away. So, do everyone a favour and try to read the article with an open mind.

Let me make a few things clear before I start. First things first, I do not believe racism does not exist. As a child, I battled with racism throughout most of my early years in school. My mother had to move me from two schools because of teachers treating me differently.

I was always the wrong child. Even when it was not my fault, teachers seemed to label me as the bad kid. Many children in the school would not get in trouble for racists name-calling either. They would pick on my big lips and yellow skin without any consequence. But the minute I retaliated, I was the one in detention.

There is no doubt that racism still exists. And I used to be on the other side of the argument. I went through my whole life up to 18 believing all white people had it out for me. From the second I hit eight years old, my mother would tell me two things.

One, I will have to work harder than the other children because I am black. Two, I will find it difficult to get the same opportunities as my peers because I am black. At the time, it felt normal to think that way, but it was a defeated mindset.

So before anyone accuses me of not believing in racism, I thought I would make it clear that I do. And have experienced it firsthand. Unfortunately, I experience more from my blacks now for holding an opposing view. They label me as a white man or a sell-out.

Here in the United Kingdom, the government recently released a race report. The research was conducted by Tony Sewell and his team. The interesting part about all of this is that Tony is a black man who works in education. He is an accomplished person who grew up in the rough area of Brixton in London.

So, when the race report was released, many were surprised. The report highlighted that blacks are doing better than their white counterparts. And black Africans are doing better in school than white students.

The report served up a massive blow to those who have been preaching systematic racism for years. The sad thing is, many people are seeking to overthrow the facts from the research to hold their views. It reminds me of flat Earthers who stand on no evidence yet still carry their message.

Systematic racism is defined as a form of racism that is embedded through laws within society or an organisation. The goal of this type of racism is to keep the progression of a race static. The report not only highlighted that systematic racism is not present in the UK. It also showed that the system is worse for white brits if we old to systematic racism.

But, the report does not stop there. It provides solutions to how the UK can begin closing some of the gaps which still exist. But as you can imagine, many people did not read that part.

For me, the report confirmed what I have always known since the age of 18. Black people can thrive in the United Kingdom despite the colour of their skin. And it is upsetting that we are complaining about progression so we can hold on to oppression.

Well, I say no. It’s time to stop having a defeated mindset and move towards a winner's mindset. And the article seeks to do just that.

We Can Thrive In Education

There is one thing that we can all agree on, and that is knowledge is power. Without knowledge, there is no progression and no ideas. For years, black people received poor education and struggled to get much knowledge.

A lack of knowledge leads to bad decisions, and in most cases, an unfortunate turn of events. Family structure and education will always be the foundations of an economy. So, when a group of people can not excel in any of those two, you tend to find them at the bottom of the food chain.

Those who fail all their classes in school tend to have a hard life. There are always outliers to this trend, but for the majority of people, this holds. And people who come from broken households tend to find it harder to climb in society. The sad truth is that they are more likely to become criminals.

The race report highlights that ethnic minorities are exceeding white people in education. Black Africans are amongst the best performing students, along with Asians. Unfortunately, black Caribbean’s appear to be amongst the lowest-performing students.

So the question for those who seek to find systematic racism is this. Are the UK systematically racist towards black Caribbean’s? Well, it would be a bit silly to say that from the facts. Knowing that white British students are also near the bottom with them. Only if you believe they are oppressing the white students as well.

Either way, the report is clear. There are way more factors to consider when evaluating student performance. Location, parents' occupation, class and attitude to education are all factors that need to be considered.

So, instead of being quick to call gaps in education racism, we should evaluate other factors. But from face value, the facts show ethnic minorities are outperforming the majority. This means ethnic minorities are more likely to thrive in education than others.

So yes, black people can thrive in education. And as a result, we can thrive in pushing the world further through the knowledge we get in education.

We Can Thrive In Business

Another interesting thing the report shows is that blacks excel in the ethnicity pay gap. They are also more likely to get a response from job enquiries. When the data is adjusted to account for the UK born, ethnic minorities again outperform the majority.

Part of this is because of the attitude many ethnic minorities have towards work ethic. With many minorities coming from underprivileged backgrounds, their work ethic is higher. And the market place awards harder workers with more pay.

Thomas Sowell highlights in Basic Economics, that ethnic minorities outperform natives. But they also implement new ideas as many seek to disrupt the way of living.

Now I know there are still some gaps. For example, no black CEO’s in FTSE 100. Also, many of the companies doing well in the UK are owned by ethnic minorities that are not black. And these are gaps that need to be addressed.

But to put it down to systematic racism would be illogical. Especially knowing the facts that blacks, on average, have a positive pay gap. One of the biggest arguments I hear about organisations being racist is biased.

Those on the left paint this picture of a manager who is racist or has a bias towards white people. Then, as he goes into the organization, he practices this bias leading. So fewer black people get promoted or receive jobs. But this is not systematic racism. That is individual racism.

There will always be individuals who hold prejudiced views. But this does not make the organisation racist. Just because a thief works for a company, it does not make the company a thief. Individuals will always be able to act outside of the laws governing them. That is why we have criminals.

The laws governing organisations and the UK economy are not racist, and so the system is not racist. Individuals do not make the system. They are part of the system. And that is important to know when thinking about systematic racism.

We are still waiting for our first CEO in the FTSE 100. But for now, we should celebrate the progress and our ability to thrive in the business world. In the UK, we can build something for ourselves, and the stats and figures show it.

We Can Thrive Against the Odds

Now I will not sit here and make you believe everything is fine. The report does not do that either. As I highlighted, there are still some gaps that need to be closed. For example, black Caribbean children not doing as well in school.

There are also a few more gaps I would like to highlight. For example, we see black people are still more likely to be stopped and searched than white people. Now, this may be because many of the areas which have high crime rates are black communities.

A lot of the knife crime which occurs is black on black crime. So, the police probably have preconceived biases which cause them to stop more blacks.

But this does not make it right. And educating police officers on their unconscious biases will help solve the problem.

We also see that many ethnic minorities live in multi-generational households or are from poor communities. These factors can affect performance at school and lead to wrong life choices.

I am not completely ignorant of these issues and gaps because they still exist. Much work is still needed to support black people to ensure equity. However, to say that these gaps exist purely because of racism goes against facts.

There are actually many good schemes that help young black people enter the workforce and university. 100 black interns and ethnic minority scholarships, just to name a few. These schemes would not exist in a system that keeps black people down.

The good thing is, black people show that despite some environments they have to face, they can still thrive. People like Akala and Stormzy have shown it is possible to thrive in the UK. Not to mention, they both came from broken homes.

We also see people like Tony Sewell who have become black voices in the leadership of the UK. It is not perfect, and it never will be. But what we can do is have a mindset that is shaped for thriving rather than being crushed. And that all starts with our beliefs.

Rising Above an Oppressed Mindset

As highlighted, conformity biases play a massive part in the way we think and do things. This bias causes us to draw conclusions from the world around us based on our own beliefs. Police officers are more likely to stop a black man than a white man due to preconceived beliefs.

That conformity bias has led to a damaging gap in our society, and black people now fear the police. Not only fear them but grow anger and hate towards them, which leads to unlawful behaviour.

However, we have wired ourselves to our own conformity bias. We have told ourselves that we are oppressed, and everyone is out to get us. With that, black people are now quick to blame everything on the colour of their skin.

When black people do not get an opportunity or fail, they quickly blame the system. Yet, the longer we tell ourselves we are oppressed, the longer we will be. Conformity bias will always allow you to confirm what you want to believe.

So, if you wish to believe that you are oppressed, then you will remain oppressed. That is why facts are so important. Facts have no bias and do not have an agenda. We can trust facts because they are the only things that are completely true.

And the facts tell us that we are not in a perfect world. But we are in a much better world than we think we are. So, we should celebrate our progression whilst working on the things we need to.

Let us stop telling our friends and children they are oppressed. Instead, tell them they can thrive in the face of adversity. And that it is possible to make a good life for themselves regardless of the colour of their skin. And when we tell them this, we are not selling them false hope. We are simply confirming the facts.