Bigots beware – you have fewer places to hide in mixed-heritage Britain

Posted in Articles, Media Archive, Politics/Public Policy, United Kingdom on 2015-04-27 19:14Z by Steven

Bigots beware – you have fewer places to hide in mixed-heritage Britain

The Guardian
2015-04-26

Hugh Muir

The makeup of Britain is changing. Anyone who thinks they can get away with casual racism is making a big mistake

The Runnymede Trust’s report on Race and Elections tells us that one of the groups least likely to register to vote is those of mixed heritage. They are relatively young; they move around – not least to study; and of all the things they have to do, registering to vote isn’t a massive priority. Undoubtedly, that will change.

Still, the growing number of mixed-heritage Brits – 1.2 million now, the biggest single increase of any group in the 2011 census – will give rise to all sorts of recalculations. Nigel Farage might reconsider his terminology. Last week, he boasted of a member who was “half-black”

Read the entire article here.

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People cannot simply choose an identity of their own making…

Posted in Excerpts/Quotes on 2012-12-16 03:54Z by Steven

So while it is important to understand self-identification in thinking about race and ethnicity, people cannot simply choose an identity of their own making, nor can they escape the views and prejudices in others in navigating the world.

Dr. Omar Khan, “Who are we? Census 2011 reports on ethnicity in the UK,” Runnymede Trust: Intelligence for a multi-ethnic Britain, (December 11, 2012). http://www.runnymedetrust.org/blog/188/359/Who-are-we-Census-2011-reports-on-ethnicity-in-the-UK.html

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Rather, Obama’s identity is informed by his social experience…

Posted in Barack Obama, Excerpts/Quotes on 2012-12-16 03:50Z by Steven

That Barack Obama self-identifies as African American rather than ‘Mixed’ has probably little to do with a rejection of his mother’s heritage or a radical kind of separatist politics. Rather, Obama’s identity is informed by his social experience, and the reality of racism is evidenced not simply in his experiences in the 1970s or 1980s, but in the continued focus on his place of birth and by the fact that over 90% of White American voters in Mississippi and Alabama voted for his opponent.

Dr. Omar Khan, “Who are we? Census 2011 reports on ethnicity in the UK,” Runnymede Trust: Intelligence for a multi-ethnic Britain, (December 11, 2012). http://www.runnymedetrust.org/blog/188/359/Who-are-we-Census-2011-reports-on-ethnicity-in-the-UK.html

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Who are we? Census 2011 reports on ethnicity in the UK

Posted in Barack Obama, Census/Demographics, Identity Development/Psychology, Media Archive, Social Science, United Kingdom on 2012-12-13 19:31Z by Steven

Who are we? Census 2011 reports on ethnicity in the UK

Runnymede Trust: Intelligence for a multi-ethnic Britain
2012-12-11

Dr. Omar Khan, Head of Policy Research

Every ten years the Census provides us with multiple insights into the state of modern Britain. In today’s release of the 2011 Census, we find that the Black and minority ethnic (BME) population has reached nearly 8 million – roughly the population of Scotland and Wales combined.

Overall, the BME population is now 14.1% of the overall total in England and Wales, rising from 7.9% in 2001. This doesn’t include the significant ‘White Other’ population which is now 2.5 million, or 4.4% of the overall population. Much of this growth has been through immigration, and many will assume that the ‘White Other’ population is primarily Eastern European. However, this population also includes White French, White Australian, White Argentinian and White American people, which explains why this disparate ‘group’ is now some 12.6% of the population of London.

Combined with the 40% of the population that is Black and minority ethnic, a minority of London’s residents are now ‘White British’ (46%). While this is indeed a striking development, it masks an arguably more significant development – the greater dispersal of ethnic minorities across the UK. Contrary to much received wisdom, Britain is becoming less ‘segregated’ every year.

Between 2001 and 2011, the regions whose BME population has grown the fastest are those that had the fewest ethnic minorities in 2011. So Wales, the North East and South West have all doubled their proportion of BME people (from just over 2% to over 4%), while London and West Midlands, which had the most BME people in 2001, have grown the slowest. There are more BME people living across the UK, including in villages and the countryside, and this phenomenon can be expected to continue.

One of the striking findings of the census is the reduction in the overall number of ‘White British’ people by over half a million people. So one reason the BME proportion of the population is rising is because the White British population is shrinking. In most regions of England and Wales this decrease or growth was actually quite minimal (with the White British population growing by more than 2% over the decade only in the South East), but London was notable because there were 600,000 fewer White British people living there in 2011 compared to 2001. This clearly points to the phenomenon of White British people leaving the capital, and explains much of the rise in London’s proportion of BME people…

…Inevitably much coverage of the census will focus on the rising ‘Mixed’ population, which now is the second largest, at some 1.2 million people. While the rise in the number of people categorized as mixed has been quite remarkable, so too has the overall BME growth, meaning that the ‘Mixed’ population is only 1% more (15.6%) of the total BME population than it was in 2001 (14.6%)…

…On most social outcome measures, the ‘Mixed’ population shows enormous variation, with Black Caribbean-White and Black African-White people more likely to have outcomes similar to Black people generally. In other words, rather than viewing the ‘mixed’ population as a single group with shared social experiences, we should rather focus on the continued salience of race, and in particular how the racial background of parents affects the social outcomes of children…

…It is also significant that many of these categories have large and growing populations. This raises the final important question – how identity shifts over people’s lifetimes and indeed across generations. While the overall share of Black people within the BME population remained about a quarter, there was a sharp decrease in the proportion who identified as ‘Black Caribbean’. However, the ‘Black Other’ group saw the steepest rise, suggesting that some children of Black Caribbean parents are happier with this ethnic identity.

Depending on how identity and social experiences change, we might expect further development of the current census categories. For example, the children of White Polish parents may plausibly identify as ‘White British’, as many of the grandchildren of Irish and Italian migrants now do, while many ‘Mixed’ people may rather identify as one of their parents. Here it’s worth emphasizing again the importance of social experiences and social outcomes in understanding race and ethnicity. That Barack Obama self-identifies as African American rather than ‘Mixed’ has probably little to do with a rejection of his mother’s heritage or a radical kind of separatist politics. Rather, Obama’s identity is informed by his social experience, and the reality of racism is evidenced not simply in his experiences in the 1970s or 1980s, but in the continued focus on his place of birth and by the fact that over 90% of White American voters in Mississippi and Alabama voted for his opponent.

So while it is important to understand self-identification in thinking about race and ethnicity, people cannot simply choose an identity of their own making, nor can they escape the views and prejudices in others in navigating the world. In the UK, the unemployment rate for Black young men is now 55%, Chinese graduates with better results have lower earnings than their White colleagues and Black and Asian women face such difficult experiences in the labour market that some of them change their names on their CVs

Read the entire article here.

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Runnymede film nominated for Limelight Award

Posted in Articles, Media Archive, United Kingdom, Videos on 2012-05-21 18:54Z by Steven

Runnymede film nominated for Limelight Award

Runnymede Trust
2012-05-10

Clench, a Runnymede short film written and directed by Riffat Ahmed, has been nominated in the Best Drama category at this year’s Limelight Film Awards, to be held on 14 June 2012.
 
Made as part of the Generation 3.0 project, the film tells the story of Ash, a mixed-race girl from Old Trafford, Manchester, who signs up to a one-week boxing course after a her social worker presents her with a final chance to turn her life around.
 
The film looks Ash’s own experience of racism and the preconceptions she holds about other people and places.

Read the entire article here.

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Clench: What are You Fighting For?

Posted in Asian Diaspora, Media Archive, Social Science, Social Work, United Kingdom, Videos, Women on 2011-10-23 02:46Z by Steven

Clench: What are You Fighting For?

Commissioned By: Runnymede Trust-UK’s Leading Race Equality Think Tank
2011
Written and directed by Riffat Ahmed
Produced by Shane Davey, Courtney Edwards, Riffat Ahmed and Fabien Soazandry of Davey Inc
Running Time: 00:15:39

Starring: Hussina Raja as Ash
With: Kevin Morris, Jeff Caffrey, Afreen Mhar, Allan Hopwood, and Danny Randall

Made as part of the Runnymede Trust’s Generation 3.0 project, which looks at how racism can be ended in a generation, this short film tells the story of Ash, a mixed-race girl from Old Trafford, Manchester.

On a youth referral scheme, we see Ash travel to the iconic Salford Lads Club where she takes up boxing as a way of dealing with her troubled past. By portraying Ash’s experience of the sport, the film highlights how the boxing ring can be a neutral space where race and neighbourhood politics are left outside.

The film looks at not only Ash’s own experience of racism, but also the preconceptions she holds about other people and places.

Clench demonsrates how boxing can become the ultimate visual tool for communication between generations, highlighting that every person has a story to tell regardless of how they look.

Music: Sam Baws
Director of Photography: Jake Scott
Sound Design: Ashley Charles
Editor: Vid Price

Supporting Cast: Ezzo DeVaugn, Billy Wain, Kane Hannaway, Charell Anerville, Philip Mulher, Adam Crosby, Sam Walker, Rico Stewart, Dan McCan, Anna Baatz, and Patrick O’Brien

Gaffer: Gwyn Hemmings
Focus Puller: Matt French
Second AC/DIT: Jan Koblanski Bowyer
Sound Recordist: Shaun Hocking
Make up: Sophie Mechlowitz and Leah Tesciuba
Red Camera: HH Films Manchester
Anamorphic Lenses: Nick Gordon Smith
Lighting: Arri Manchester
Colourist: Martin Southworth @ Nice Biscuits

Shot on location in Manchester, England

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Webinar: Mixed Identity and the Arts

Posted in Arts, Identity Development/Psychology, Live Events, Media Archive, United Kingdom on 2011-06-28 04:18Z by Steven

Webinar: Mixed Identity and the Arts

Runnymede Trust
2011-07-05, 10:30-12:30Z

Runnymede Trust is hosting an online seminar (webinar) discussing mixed identity and the arts. The webinar will take the form of a live-streamed discussion between the photographer and visual artist Mark Sealy, the arts consultant and creative producer Samina Zahir and playwright Roy Williams. Their discussion will last about an hour, with the second half devoted to answering questions from participants who have pre-registered for the event.

Panellists will discuss the idea of mixed and migrant identity in art. Whether it is possible to have art that addresses a mixed race or a migrant audience as it can a Black audience? If not why not? Is it possible to have art that does not come from a mixed background? Are any minority groups well represented in the Art world? Is it important that they should be? In what sense have discussions about art and race moved forward in the past two decades? What can be done to encourage this process?

The arts and mixedness project is a collaboration between the Arts Council and the Runnymede Trust. The RunnymedeTrust is the UK’s leading race equality think tank. The project was designed to examine the extent to which mixed race people are catered for by and in the arts in the UK. It was also intended to examine the ways that arts can address the issue of mixed race identity. This next stage of the project has begun to focus more directly upon audiences for works of art. It has broadened the focus of the project to examine how migrants relate to mixed identity and how art can address issues of migration.

The webinar will start at 11:30 am [BST] and will last approximately 2 hours. If you would like to participate in this event or for further information please email Kamaljeet Gill at kam@runnymedetrust.org.

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Arts and Mixedness [eConference]

Posted in Arts, Identity Development/Psychology, Live Events, New Media, Politics/Public Policy, Social Science, United Kingdom on 2010-07-13 06:22Z by Steven

Arts and Mixedness [eConference]

Runnymede Trust
2010-07-09

Runnymede is currently hosting an online debate on mixed-race identity and the arts.

There is a comment from columnist and broadcaster Yasmin Alibhai-Brown: Mixed-Race Britain: Where Next?

Playwright and poet Sabrina Mahfouz also writes about her thoughts on mixed-race identity: A Reflection on Mixedness

There are also contributions from noted arts practitioners Patricia Cumper – director of the Talawa theatre company, Jane Earl – Director of the Rich Mix Arts Centre, and Jennifer Williams – Founding Director of the British American Arts Association in our live discussion thread.

They discussed issues of cultural representation in art, the role of funding bodies and policy, the need for specific ‘mixed’ representation and the benefits / dangers of defining mixedness, race or art. Read and contribute to the discussion thread live now.

Discussion thread started by Nina Kelly on 2010-07-09 at 09:43Z.

Nina KellyModerator
Posts: 4
Jul 09 2010, 10:43

Panellists Jane Earl, Patricia Cumper and Jennifer Williams will be discussing mixed-race identity and the arts below.
For their biographies please see the ‘panellist biographies’ option on your left hand side.

Last edit: Nina Kelly Jul 09 2010, 11:10

 
PatriciaPosts: 19
Jul 09 2010, 11:01

I’m on line.  Pat

 

 
KamaljeetPosts: 22
Jul 09 2010, 11:02

Good morning everyone. Welcome to our debate this morning. I guess the first issue to address is a broader one about the term mixed itself: Does the term mixed carry any coherent meaning when discussing Race?

 

 
JenniferPosts: 7
Jul 09 2010, 11:03

I am online Jennifer (WILLIAMS)

 

 
PatriciaPosts: 19
Jul 09 2010, 11:05

Like all general terms, mixedness is in danger of conflating a number of different social phenomena.  To be mixed race Black/white has a very specific meaning in many societies. Should mixedness be discussed and explored?  Absolutely.

 

 

Read the entire thread here.

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A Reflection on Mixedness

Posted in Arts, New Media, United Kingdom, Women on 2010-07-13 06:06Z by Steven

A Reflection on Mixedness

Runnymede Trust
July 2010

Sabrina Mahfouz, Poet, Writer and Playwright

On the 27 May Runnymede and the Arts Council held a joint seminar in which they invited a group of arts practioners and policy makers to come and debate the nature of ‘Arts and Mixedness’; as well as what—if anything—the Arts Council should be doing to encourage, fund or facilitate engagement with people racialised as mixed.  Several of the participants subsequently provided reflections on the meeting and on the subject of mixedness and the arts.

The following submission was kindly provided by the writer, playwright and poet Sabrina Mahfouz.

‘Mixedness’ in it’s definition is so complex that it is often shied away from or regarded as being catered for via more specific diversity categories. I think the arts are somewhere to explore the possibility that this is not enough. In a Britain where ‘mixedness’ will one day be the majority minority (if it isn’t already) the arts should be reflecting this in its content, commissioning and – perhaps most importantly, in its casting (without it being a box-ticking exercise). Mixedness of course goes further than race – social class, religion and sexuality are some of the most obvious factors and for the moment it seems that discussion and awareness are much more important than policy and targets…

Read the entire article here.

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Lone Mothers of Mixed Racial and Ethnic Children: Then and Now

Posted in Census/Demographics, Family/Parenting, New Media, Reports, Social Science, United Kingdom on 2010-07-13 05:56Z by Steven

Lone Mothers of Mixed Racial and Ethnic Children: Then and Now

Runnymede Trust
June 2010

Chamion Caballero, Senior Research Fellow
Families & Social Capital Research Group
London South Bank University

Rosalind Edwards, Professor in Social Policy
Families & Social Capital Research Group
London South Bank University

Information from the UK Census indicates that parents of children from mixed racial or ethnic backgrounds constitute one of the highest lone parent groups in the country. Like all other groups of lone parent families, these are overwhelmingly headed by mothers.

In this research report Dr. Chamion Caballero and Prof. Rosalind Edwards, of the London South Bank University, pulls together data from interviews with mothers of mixed-race children whose fathers are absent. Some of the anecdotal evidence is from those who brought up their children decades ago, and this is compared with the experiences of women doing the same today.

The report explores the specific racisms, prejudices and stereotypes that this group of women and children have been faced with – both then and now – and where, if anywhere, they have been able to turn for support.

To read the report, login or register for free here.

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