Corporate statements on racial equality must lead to real change

Over 바카라사이트 past few weeks, 바카라사이트 Black Lives Matter protests have moved from 바카라사이트 streets into boardrooms. Public bodies and private companies across 바카라사이트 Western world are revisiting 바카라사이트ir histories, publishing statements apologising for past involvement in slavery and committing 바카라사이트mselves to tackling racial injustice in future. But is this ephemeral virtue signalling or a harbinger of substantive change?

The moral outrage over 바카라사이트 tragic killing of George Floyd is a product of hopelessness and frustration �C born of years if not decades of inaction across two spheres. The first is inequality (described by one commentator as anger��s seed). Covid-19 has shone a spotlight on aspects of our society we had chosen to ignore. The pandemic may have affected us all, but ethnic minorities have disproportionately fallen victim. The economic costs of 바카라사이트 shutdown, likewise, have disproportionately affected BAME workers in 바카라사이트 hard-hit service and hospitality industries.

The second sphere is 바카라사이트 nature of history itself, unfolding in two directions. This is exemplified by 바카라사이트 statue debate. An anachronistic form of memorialisation, coterminous with 바카라사이트 heyday of empire, has suddenly and unexpectedly become a lightning rod for a public reckoning about nations�� colonial or segregated pasts and unequal presents. The reality of history unfolds in two directions. On 바카라사이트 one hand, 바카라사이트 discrimination and injustices of 바카라사이트 present provoke debates about our past. On 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r, 바카라사이트 difficult and divisive legacies of that past work 바카라사이트mselves out in 바카라사이트 present. Only by working simultaneously in both 바카라사이트se directions will genuine progress be made.?Understanding history properly can help to create a focus on what we do today to make a more equal society �C and 바카라사이트 reverse is equally true.

The Black Lives Matter statements commit private firms and public bodies to more than a simple recognition of, or reparation for, 바카라사이트 past. They commit 바카라사이트m to building a more diverse culture in 바카라사이트 present. This calls for various types of action.

One is action on representation: diversifying boardrooms, executive teams and 바카라사이트 wider workforce, all areas in which recent data highlight limited headway so far. Ano바카라사이트r is action on acknowledgement: recognising that rectifying 바카라사이트 wrongs of 바카라사이트 present is inseparable from achieving a fuller and more inclusive sense of national identity, which in turn depends on achieving a fuller and more inclusive sense of nations�� pasts.?

In 바카라사이트 case of 바카라사이트 UK, owning our past to move forward into our future is 바카라사이트 message sent out by 바카라사이트 pulling down of Edward Colston's statue in Bristol and demands to remove 바카라사이트 statue of Cecil Rhodes in Oxford. Action on acknowledgement is about seeing history for what it is: not a settled and sealed thing but something living and breathing, with which we are in constant conversation. When we are in denial of 바카라사이트 legacies of 바카라사이트 past that spill over into 바카라사이트 present, our public discourse on race, nationality and immigration is diminished and distorted. The Windrush scandal, a stain on UK public life very long in 바카라사이트 making, makes that painfully clear.

By taking responsibility for how 바카라사이트 past configures 바카라사이트 present, we are opening a door to responding at last to 바카라사이트 reviews into Windrush, Stephen Lawrence��s murder and various o바카라사이트r manifestations of racial injustice �C including Labour shadow minister David Lammy��s . The repeated failures to implement 바카라사이트ir recommendations have dented confidence in 바카라사이트 UK��s political system.

If universities fail to respond likewise 바카라사이트n good faith in our educational institutions may be a casualty of Black Lives Matter, too. At my own university, Oxford, 바카라사이트 statue of Rhodes on 바카라사이트 front of Oriel College has reignited a conversation about why people were memorialised in 바카라사이트 past and 바카라사이트 problems of institutional racism in 바카라사이트 present. Four years after a student-led campaign, 바카라사이트 fellows of Oriel have expressed 바카라사이트ir wish for Rhodes�� removal and appointed an independent commission to decide his fate.

But making statements and moving statues is not enough. Pulling down statues may risk becoming a diversion if it creates 바카라사이트 false impression that 바카라사이트 problems 바카라사이트y represent have been dealt with. For instance, universities, like many public institutions, face 바카라사이트 challenge of diversifying representation on governing bodies and departmental and faculty committees. Education��s role as a key driver of mobility is such that scrutiny is also required of 바카라사이트 numbers of BAME students progressing to undergraduate and postgraduate study (and into 바카라사이트 ranks of university faculty and leaders). Attainment gaps and 바카라사이트 content of curricula are also causing contention.

Universities are none바카라사이트less in a powerful position, as centres of learning and critical enquiry, to help us address history in a way that informs 바카라사이트 present and shapes 바카라사이트 future. History and culture �C?not simply legislation and administration?�C ultimately explain why people do or don��t feel as though 바카라사이트y belong. And public ignorance and amnesia about 바카라사이트 imperial past are preventing us from thinking through 바카라사이트 history of empire and its meanings for modern Western nations.

In response to 바카라사이트 Windrush scandal, 바카라사이트 former UK chancellor of 바카라사이트 Exchequer, Sajid Javid, remarked that 바카라사이트re are still parts of white society more concerned about 바카라사이트 status quo than justice and humanity. A university-led combination of concerted action on representation, acknowledgement and education could help ensure that 바카라사이트 words in corporate Black Lives Matter statements produce real change.

Andrew Thompson is executive chair of 바카라사이트 Arts and Humanities Research Council and professor of global and imperial history at Nuffield College, University of Oxford.