Celebrating Black History Month: Diversity, Identity, and Progress

Centrica’s Voice Network offered a timely and thought-provoking exploration of British identity, diversity, and the ongoing journey toward inclusion, at a lunch and learn with British historian David Olusoga, to mark Black History Month

Fresh from the Traitor’s Castle, (which David’s 10 year old daughter describes as ‘the only thing of any value’ in his career) David talked through his own struggles with racism, which saw his childhood home attacked by National Front thugs when he was just 14, and pointed to the importance of education and open dialogue in calming the current wave of anti-immigration protests in the UK and beyond.

Professor Olusoga opened with a historical perspective, noting that Britain has always been a nation in flux - a state made up of four nations, each with its own histories, cultures, and languages. “We've always had movement and migration. Six million people in Britain today have the right to have an Irish passport … that speaks to an incredible level of movement, of migration and diversity.”  

The concept of “Britishness” he said, is a product of centuries of negotiation, migration, and adaptation. And, despite recent social and political turbulence, Olusoga argued that the UK remains one of the world’s most successfully integrated and diverse societies, “When I was a kid in the 80s, 50 per cent of white British people opposed interracial marriages - it's now about four per cent and nine per cent of relationships in this country are mixed race. Anybody looking at Britain in the 70s and 80s would have been surprised at where we are now.”

Progress is not linear, he cautioned - a resurgence of hostility and division has led to symbols that he believed were reclaimed being retoxified. “When I was growing up, the Union flag was a flag that didn't speak to me at all. It was when Linford Christie, at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 wrapped himself physically in the Union flag and did a victory lap. That was an incredible moment for my generation when this flag could be recovered, and the far-right lost control of our national symbols, and I think there is a concerted effort now to re-retake control.”

Olusoga explored the challenge of building an inclusive patriotism - one that celebrates the pillars of Britishness such as the NHS, the BBC, and the National Trust, rather than allowing them to be weaponised in culture wars. “The people who are attacking organisations like the National Trust are attacking some of our greatest success stories. There are sixty national trusts around the world, all copied on the British National Trust, just as there are broadcasters around the world that were based on the BBC, just as there are health providers around the world, based on the NHS.”

Dialogue and persuasion, he said, is how long-term change and successful integration will happen. And the toppling of the statue of slave trader Edward Colston by students in Bristol, illustrated the need to bring more nuance in to conversations about history and identity. Olusoga described as ‘incredibly stupid and insensitive’ the decision by a London based artist to replace the statue with that of a local black woman with her hands in a black power salute. “Firstly it was someone who didn't live in Bristol, someone who wasn't dealing with the tensions that that event had caused, but it also wasn't part of a dialogue.”

Companies, universities and public institutions he believes have a vital role in creating the spaces for this dialogue to take place even when facing political or economic headwinds, and to remind people that DE&I is as much about social class as it is race, gender or sexuality. “I'm half Nigerian,” said Olusoga. “My Nigerian family are reasonably middle class. Ironically, my Nigerian father's family had members go to university in Britain in the 1920s. Nobody went from my mother’s side, poor labourers from outside of Edinburgh, until the 1960s. Most of the challenges I've faced in my life have been to do with socioeconomic class.” 

There is a decision point looming for many organisations when it comes to DE&I, he argued. “It was easy to have these values five years ago, going with the flow of history. The challenge is to stick with those values now when they're under attack.”

“Maybe if you're a law firm, you won't get a contract because to do so would involve negating or rejecting your values. Well, maybe this is one of those moments where you don't take that work and it does impact on the bottom line. What I'm pleased to see is the number of organisations who can see that the political wind has changed and have done exactly what I would hope they would do. They said no, these weren't our values because it was easy. They are our values because we believe they’re right.”