Our future must be greater than our past

Last week was triggering.

I felt sunk at the intersection of race and gender, as I watched the powers that be fumble over what they defined as racist and sexist.

The comments that have come to light from Frank Hester may be nearly five years old. Yet the impact of those words still sting as it dehumanises and devalues its target to this very day.

My soul hurt when I saw Diane Abbott MP try to speak in the mother of parliaments, only to be passed over by the speaker some 46 times. Silence can be a powerful tactical choice when you have freedom and agency. Being silenced and overlooked is an equally powerful and dangerous act of oppression.

I recognised that look of pain on her face when I watched her attempt to speak about the matter that impacted her directly.

It was an all-too familiar one, I’ve seen it on the faces of my mother’s generation and heard it weaken their voices as they recounted the deadly combination of racism and misogyny they continually face. Sadly, I see those contours of pain forming expression lines in my own reflection now.

Diane’s views aren’t mine but her experience of being targeted for hostility and aggression because she is able to take up space and share her opinions is not uncommon amongst global majority women.

Like it or not, we live in a racialised environment and we can no longer avoid the necessary conversations about the importance of anti racism as a solution.

We need to start to think and act differently if we believe that our future needs to be better than our past. It doesn’t matter if we falter or feel unsure at first, it matters that we adopt a growth mindset and continue to focus on doing the necessary work rather than the fleeting feel-good of a quick-fix initiative.

That’s why last year’s Congress resolution about transforming the RCN into an anti-racist organisation is  so important. The process will centre the lived experiences of those who experience racism and seek to redesign our own processes to deliver equity.

I stand in solidarity with all those who are overlooked and silenced because of their identity.  At this moment I want to squarely acknowledge the vulnerability of global majority women who are amongst those that feel some of the sharpest edges of intersectional disadvantage.