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The I and the System

It’s been a big week (again) in the world of anti-racism here in the UK. After the England male football team’s last minute defeat in the Euro final, three Black players received a torrent of racist abuse.

In actual fact, these players receive racist abuse every day, but this week it’s been particularly high profile.

There’s been an outpouring of support with many, many individuals declaring their admiration for the three men. The events have fueled discussions in the media, in the Houses of Parliament and in the streets. It’s inspired a new Facebook profile icon for people to visibly demonstrate their support.

All this is positive, I guess. It proves to the non-believers that racism in the UK is genuinely a thing. It also shows how many people are not racist, and are willing to speak out against racism.

In all honesty though, people being called racially abusive names is abhorent, but it’s the least of our problems. It’s systemic racism that really needs to be addressed. It’s the fact that the framework of the UK contains unacceptable imbalances in the experiences of ethnic minorities versus those who are White.

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A is for Anti-Racism

This is my fabulous friend, Caroline. We’ve spent much of our twenty-odd year friendship jabbering away, swapping books and putting the world to rights, usually over a bottle of wine. She’s interesting and interested, so I was keen to bring her into the Oo! That’s a Bit Racey! conversation.

Last week, Caroline kindly agreed to be one of the voices of Oo! That’s A Bit Racey. I asked her some questions about anti-racism, to understand how she feels as a White woman surrounded by discourse about racism and to share her perspective on the world.

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The More She Wins The More She Loses.

A review of Rachel Edwards’ second novel, “Lucky”.

I really did feel lucky when I received a beautiful early edition of Rachel Edwards’ second novel to review.

Rachel’s first novel, “Darling”, was one of the first books I read during my year of reading solely Black authors. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing her for a young persons’s book club since, and I’ve got to know an inspiring role model. As well as being a wonderful writer, Rachel is one of those women who really does empower women.

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Two ears. One mouth.

It’s a quick post from me this evening!

As most of you know, I started Oo! That’s A Bit Racey! for a number of reasons; to share my personal journey towards antiracism, to document the many things I’m learning, to help distill my thoughts and, most importantly to encourage people to talk about race, ethnicity and equality.

For a blog that’s supposed to be about conversation, I’ve realised I’ve been doing an awful lot of talking.

So I’m feeling inspired, and very excited to give you all a rest from my voice, and to give us all the chance to listen to others.

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A week we need to document

I’ve struggled with what to write this week and yet I need to write something.

It’s been a tough week. A week that has centred on women. It’s been painful and I’ve struggled to find the silver lining. Maybe this week will drive more conversation about equality? Maybe it will open people’s eyes to the prejudice perpetuated by the media?

The week started on International Women’s Day. A day to celebrate how far we’ve come in women’s equality. And then…

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Accepta-black

This blog has been bubbling away for a little while. It’s a tricky one for me, but now’s the time. There are two things that have spurred me to to talk about “palatable Blackness”. The first was a great conversation with the co-founder of MixEd, a new platform for mixed race educators. Louise bravely shared her personal story and mixed race experience on the day the platform launched. The second is the Meghan furore….and who hasn’t been triggered by the omnipresent Meghan-Harry-Oprah discourse circulating this week?

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Aha! Now I understand!

Hi friends! Thanks for joining me for today’s blog post. It’s been an interesting couple of weeks with some fabulously bright highlights.

The journey towards anti-racism can be challenging, especially when you’re trying to take others with you, but the tequila shots that blast me with energy are the people I meet along the way. It’s made me re-think about that dreaded activity, networking….

I’ve “networked” a fair amount during my career. I’ve never minded it. Stick me in a bar with a glass of wine and a canape and I’m pretty happy. I can chat to anyone and have a perfectly pleasant time.

But that’s not what networking is really about is it? It’s not about swapping business cards, promoting your business and nodding politely.

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