Rimsha has experienced a bit of a bumpy journey to her first job. Moving to the UK aged 7, to a community where hers was the only Black, Asian and minority ethinic (BAME) family resulted in experiences of racism and bullying throughout school. For many of us, changing communities or moving to a new country can have a huge impact on our mental wellbeing. Changes like this can affect us at any stage of life whether it’s a childhood move or preparing to move away from home to start college or university or even moving for a new job.
Unfortunately, Rimsha’s experiences of racism is not an isolated incident. A recent YouGov poll showed that 84% of BAME Britons have experienced racism. The Royal College of Psychiatrists note that racial discrimination can have a significant negative impact on a person mental and physical wellbeing.
It is everybody’s job to challenge racism. This often starts with challenging our own beliefs. Many of our beliefs fall victim to what is known as UNCONSCIOUS BIAS.
Unconscious biases are social stereotypes about certain groups of people that individuals form outside of their conscious awareness. This type of bias is more common than conscious prejudice and often conflicts with the holder’s conscious values. So, someone may be consciously anti-racist but still have biases towards people of colour.
This is the challenge of an unconscious bias. We don’t know we have them.
