Three stories:
One. David Lammy MP received plaudits for his calmness in the face of idiotic provocation this week. As part of his response he said: “the term [BAME] is lazy, it’s impersonal. I don’t like being described as jargon — I’m not jargon. I’m black, I’m English, I’m British and I’m proud”.
Two. I read an advert for a trustee posted by a nice small charity that does good work, which I won’t embarrass by naming. They say they’re looking for somone with “real life experience or knowledge of Black, Indigenous and People of Colour communities in the UK and ideally London”. Their intentions are good: they want their board to be more like the people they help. But when they say “indigenous”, what do they mean? Do they mean London born and bred? Do they mean white? If they do, this would ‘other’ those who aren’t indigenous, and I’m sure that is not their intention. Or, cautious about wording and scared of offending, have they copied BIPoC phrasing from somewhere ‘indigenous’ might make more sense?
Three. In September there was a minor media storm when footballers playing for QPR were criticised for not taking the knee prior to kickoff in a televised game. Les Ferdinand, the Director of Football at QPR, came out strongly: “The message has been lost. It is now not dissimilar to a fancy hashtag or a nice pin badge. What are our plans with this? Will people be happy for players to take the knee for the next 10 years but see no actual progress made? Taking the knee will not bring about change in the game — actions will…Don’t judge us. Simple research and evidence will show you we are doing more than most. If you want change, judge yourselves”.
What connects these stories?
Each of them involves a symbol — ‘BAME’, ‘indigenous’, taking the knee — that has been used in a meaningless way. A symbol that is safe ground for well-meaning people to retreat to when they don’t want to cause offence. A symbol that is used as a reflex in an unthinking way, but, as I’ll get to, might invite danger.
Now I sympathise with those who feel they cannot keep up with the right language for discussing race. There are those who were brought up to think the word ‘coloured’ was polite, and who (somehow, still) cannot understand why it is now considered problematic. But I do think that fear of phrasing something incorrectly — which is not unjustified — can get in the way of real communication.
I try to remind myself to look past stock reactions to empty symbols and to examine both the intention and the effect of what is said.
