I am the white son of a barrister and a teacher. I went to a private nursery followed by a prep school followed by a private school. How many black kids were in my schools? From memory, 5...in total. I grew up in Blackheath, a largely white area in the heavily BAME borough of Lewisham.
When I was about 18 I met a Ghanaian man who became my business partner and 20 years on is one of my closest friends. I remember very clearly sitting in our office talking to another friend, Catherine from Zimbabwe, and I argued until I was blue in the face that racism didn't exist in the UK. I cringe with disgust at myself when I think about the memories of my old opinions but Catherine and Bart, for whatever reason, didn't grow angry with me...they talked to me and shared their experiences. I will always be in their debt for the patience and caring attitude they shared with me at the time.
Why am I saying this? I think its important to recognise that the reality of what BLM aims to achieve is that a whole lot of people will be expected to change their opinions and part of this will be encouraging people that to change your mind and recognise that you were wrong is a strength and not a weakness. That might actually be the biggest challenge of all. People have some pretty powerful defense mechanisms to avoid thinking they are wrong.
I am the white son of a barrister and a teacher. I went to a private nursery followed by a prep school followed by a private school. How many black kids were in my schools? From memory, 5...in total. I grew up in Blackheath, a largely white area in the heavily BAME borough of Lewisham.
When I was about 18 I met a Ghanaian man who became my business partner and 20 years on is one of my closest friends. I remember very clearly sitting in our office talking to another friend, Catherine from Zimbabwe, and I argued until I was blue in the face that racism didn't exist in the UK. I cringe with disgust at myself when I think about the memories of my old opinions but Catherine and Bart, for whatever reason, didn't grow angry with me...they talked to me and shared their experiences. I will always be in their debt for the patience and caring attitude they shared with me at the time.
Why am I saying this? I think its important to recognise that the reality of what BLM aims to achieve is that a whole lot of people will be expected to change their opinions and part of this will be encouraging people that to change your mind and recognise that you were wrong is a strength and not a weakness. That might actually be the biggest challenge of all. People have some pretty powerful defense mechanisms to avoid thinking they are wrong.