“Hold onto the rope,” we are told. “It’s your lifeline!”
I’ve had a busy weekend. I was interviewed on BBC Radio London on the sad and very damning report (Independent Culture Review by Nazir Afzal OBE) of the institutional #racism and #misogyny rampant in the London Fire Brigade. Different clips of it were #broadcast throughout the day. [https://lnkd.in/eFg3KkXg]
What gripped me as I shared was how the racism and misogyny went unacknowledged, unheeded and unaddressed over the years. And now that the bare facts have been made public by 2000 people of their workforce, the authorities of LFB are suddenly behaving as though the abuse is only just happening. Read the report and you will see some of the vilest stuff that has been going on for the longest time against people of colour, Muslims and women. After all, it was triggered by the (racialised) suicide of Jaden Francois-Esprit.
My question is, why is it that organisations wait for another racist/misogynist catastrophic failure before taking due diligence? Why is it that they say, “Hold onto this rope of promise,” knowing that they’ve only offered ropes of sand?
We’ve had enough of words, what we need is action!
Their words are like sand. They slip through our fingers into grains of meaninglessness, and people die! For too long, #marginalised and preyed-upon groups have been written about, pontificated about, theorised about and messed about.
#companies & #organisations, get a grip. Now we need tangible ropes of #ACTION!