Deep Dives

Father-of-two Sheku Bayoh killed by Scottish police.
His tragic death resulted in no accountability for his killers
and exposed the extent of institutional racism in Scotland.

Here, we take a deep dive into the various ways racism has manifested itself up north, bringing to the fore news stories and academic research that penetrate the cocoon of silence or deflection that often surrounds  the xenophobia permeating every facet of Scottish society. Then we explore courses of action to remedy this, looking at various organisations, initiatives and individuals intent on fighting the good fight against racism towards the proper realisation of the UK 2010 Equality Act. Finally, we look at how BAME communities can empower ourselves in the face of such unexpected adversity, spotlighting community initiatives for us by us, and celebrating the diversity we bring to Scottish shores. 

Scottish Racism in Social Services

(watch this space...)

Scottish Racism in Employment

November 2020

Model Eunice Olúmidé, scout Scottie Brannan

‘The way the media presents and packages Scotland to the world is as if it’s a completely white country, [but] walk down the street and you’ll see every single race of person on the planet.’ Edinburgh-born Nigerian model Eunice Olúmidé makes up part of the diversity she espouses, her dark brown skin displaying Scotland’s visual contrast beyond its streets through the international fashion campaigns she poses for. Such a glamourous career was not an initial life choice for Eunice as a school student growing up in the city’s Wester Hailes council estate. So when a model scout approached her aged 15 walking down Sauchiehall Street in Glasgow, she first thought it was a joke having never been previously told she was attractive or pretty, quite the opposite from her racist school peers. Regardless, the afro-crowned sporty tomboy was eventually signed by Scottie Brannan, apparently determined to make her ‘Scotland’s Next Top Model’. It was certainly a unique way to gain employment, having it passively handed to you versus actively pursuing various companies to land your dream role as the vast majority of job seekers must do. However, doing so is ordinarily more difficult for workers such as Eunice because ethnic minorities are ‘more likely to be unemployed or in low-paid work, and are under-represented in senior management roles’. This despite people of colour largely having better academic attainment compared to white Scots, demonstrated by Eunice’s own impressive qualifications with a first-class BA in Communication and Mass Media, MA in Film Studies and another MA in Metaphysics through a scholarship she was awarded. (Yip, with that amount of educational achievement, she definitely comes from a Nigerian household!) Undisputedly, the odd racial disparity in the Scottish workforce is therefore due to "significant barriers" rooted in racism...read more

Scottish Racism towards Asylum Seekers & Refugees

October 2020

Actor Ncuti Gatwa, Aileen Campbell MSP

‘I definitely now view myself as a Rwandan Scot…yes, there’s such a term and I’m giving it a name today!’ That novel ethnonym was the brainchild of actor Ncuti Gatwa during the 2019 documentary Black & Scottish. His quirky innovation when coining identity labels is the same quality he brought to the popular Netflix programme ‘Sex Education’ in his role as secondary school student ‘Eric Effiong’. The flamboyant gay character loves dressing in drag and steadily grows confident in his own skin, the latter being a similar aspect of Ncuti’s childhood on Scottish shores. In Black & Scottish, he noted that Scotland looks like Rwanda in landscape with its rolling hills covered in thick, lush greenery descending into river valleys. What’s more, Scotland looks like Rwanda in people, at least inwardly as similar notions of justice and hospitality inform the region’s policy of ‘welcoming refugees and asylum seekers, recognising it is a human right to be able to seek asylum in another country’. This was the capacity in which Ncuti’s family arrived in Fife when he was a toddler as they fled the 1994 Rwandan genocide. But beyond the wording of refugee policies and their oversight by Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Local Government (currently Aileen Campbell MSP), Scotland looked very different outwardly when it comes to skin colour. This then transferred inwardly for some people in negative bigoted ways which Ncuti himself experienced first-hand. Indeed, various instances of racism and ill treatment have unfortunately greeted many as they take ‘refuge’ in Scotland...read more 

Scottish Racism in History

September 2020

Samuel L. Jackson, enslaver John Glassford

‘This was the tartan of my slave master; I now claim his castle and his lands for my own.’ That was the intrepid line from Black American actor Samuel L. Jackson’s character Elmo McElroy, in the final scene of 2001 film 'The 51st State'. Playing golf in the grounds of his newly acquired stately home, his full blown afro and dark brown skin cut a distinct contrast to his Scottish surroundings and trademark kilt (watch the film to see exactly how much dark skin he then exposes!) That he had come into a windfall fortune to purchase the property formerly owned by the enslaver of his family is all part of the comedic caper’s multifaceted plotline, also starring actual Scottish actor Robert Carlyle. Indeed, there was a Scottish theme embedded throughout this British/Canadian film, similar to how racism is embedded throughout Scotland’s history, ranging from ancient times to more recent racial injustices. Many of these will likely be covered in an upcoming 2020 documentary Samuel L. Jackson will also feature in called 'Enslaved: The Lost History of the Transatlantic Slave Trade'. The four-part series will ‘shine light on 400 years of human trafficking and the millions of Africans who were shipped to the Americas.’ Whilst we can expect the programme to be serious and explicit on the horrors of race-based mass abduction and genocide instigated by the likes of Scottish enslaver John Glassford, as The 51st State’s background plot it was implicit amongst all the action and comic relief. Overcoming Elmo McElroy’s family’s historical racism was as obscure as that very topic is in reality…right up until the end credits where Samuel L. Jackson ‘flashes’ his ultimate truth as he unfurls his kilt! So let’s also pull back the curtains of Scotland’s history with racism…right up until the present day...read more

Scottish Racism in the Arts

August 2020

Poet & Musician Benjamin Zephaniah, Poet Rabbie Burns

‘I love playing in Scotland…since the tour’s been announced online I’ve had a lot of people asking when I’m coming to Scotland, and this is just a little sojourn north of the border.’ Jamaican poet and musician Benjamin Zephaniah’s enthusiasm shined through as he gushed about his impending visit to perform at 2019’s Knockengorroch World Music Festival, held annually in the Carsphairn hills in the Scottish southwest. He and his reggae/ska band Revolutionary Minds were the headlining act at the event, one of many he’s played up north amidst teaching poetry sessions at Glasgow’s Woodside Secondary, dubbed the ‘multicultural school’ in the mid-90s, spending long periods in Edinburgh and even living briefly in East Kilbride. Being a poet, himself often dubbed the ‘people’s laureate’, he has a soft spot for the Scottish national poet or ‘bard’ Rabbie Burns, equivocating his revered status to that of Bob Marley amongst Jamaicans. As a fellow Rastafarian, Benjamin promised to bring lots of bass and many socially conscience lyrics throughout his ‘world ceilidh’ performance, hopeful for festival-goers to ‘think and dance at the same time’. But beyond the multicultural line-up with music from across the African continent blending with local Gaelic beats, there’s more thinking to do regarding racism. Whilst he maintains racist attacks are not comparable in level to 70s and 80s Britain, he has been distressed at stats ‘showing the rise in racist attacks in the years following the Brexit vote’. Rather than progressing with the peace, love and harmony he’d thought there’d be as he approaches retirement age, so many steps have been taken backwards all over the world. Perhaps Benjamin Zephaniah would also be surprised to find that Scotland has also been very backwards when it comes to racism within the art sector...read more

Scottish Racism in the Legal System

July 2020

The Cry: Black Scottish defence lawyer for white suspect

‘I appear on behalf of the panel, Joanna Louise Lindsay, who pleads not guilty to the indictment being a single charge of the murder of Alister Johnathan Robertson.’ These were the words of a Black Scottish lawyer representing a white murder suspect that closed the 3rd episode of the 2018 BBC miniseries The Cry. The lauded show drew a large viewership with riveting themes making it ‘part confessional drama, part abduction thriller, part whodunit, part portrait of a marriage skidding off the rails.’ However, yet another perhaps more understated draw came from the depiction of a professional Black woman (played by actress Moyo Akandé) in a court of law respectably offering a defence to the accused white woman in the dock (I won’t spoil the plot line for you). Such scenes are fleeting in television, but even more so in real life. Note this is not because of the low numbers of Black lawyers in the UK (5 of my cousins alone are called to the bar), but rather so often structural racism throughout the legal system keeps people of African origin out of such roles, instead preferring us and other people of colour to be on the receiving end of the law rather than doling it out. Still, whether we are the perpetuator or victims of crime, there’s a strong intent for us to receive no justice at all. This is true of the legal system across the country, and it is particularly notable in Scotland...read more 

Scottish Racism in Policing

June 2020

Gloria Gaynor praised Sgt Jon Harris of Police Scotland

‘I love this! Sgt Jon Harris sang #IWillSurvive to smooth tensions in Glasgow pub after a brawl’. That’s what Black American songstress Gloria Gaynor tweeted when a police officer performed her disco classic at Waterloo Bar in Scotland’s largest city. The event host also poured on the adulation saying, ‘he was brilliant and just goes to show not all bad can be said about Police Scotland,’ certainly striking a high note for 2016 community relations. In fact, the law enforcing karaoke king apparently wanted to end his starring turn after one verse, but the packed crowd cheered him on to complete the spontaneous set. The jovial vibes evident in the video were certainly what Gloria Gaynor is used to her song evoking, hence she was clearly glad it had also succeeded in this endeavour even through the medium of the Scottish police. Therefore, as a woman of colour, she might be alarmed to know that all too often, such joyous vibes placating the mostly white Waterloo Bar crowd are not evoked during police interactions with Black people and other BAME communities in Scotland. The lived reality of police dealings with ethnic minorities are in fact all too often laden with institutional racism, at its most extreme also culminating in deaths in police custody all too common across the USA, like the recent killing of George Floyd in Minnesota or indeed of the 2-day prior killing of Maurice Gordon in New Jersey from where Gloria Gaynor hails. Indeed, the sense of impunity to do the opposite of ‘serve and protect’ exists right across the world where white supremacy is the law of the land from France to Israel to Australia and beyond…all the way back here to Scottish shores...read more

Scottish Racism in Medicine

May 2020

Gina Yashere praising the NHS

‘I will never complain about the NHS again for as long as I live, trust me! We don’t know how good we’ve got it here…trust me!!’ This was a joke set-up by Nigerian comedian Gina Yashere during her 2009 performance on the BBC’s Live at the Apollo comedy show. Though also a veteran of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, her proclamation came after explaining her career had taken her to the USA where she’d ‘made the mistake’ of getting sick. After deciding to go to hospital for her ailment, they tried to charge her $15,000 for ONE NIGHT as an in-patient(!) Her further quip that it was bad service for a shared room with an old lady who farted all night was mere comic relief for the eye-watering amount the US healthcare system deemed fit to charge for equivalently free treatment on the UK’s National Health Service. Her enthusiastic praise for the NHS elicited whoops and applause from the Apollo audience, much like the well-deserved adulation currently sounded out across the country since the March 2020 ‘Clap for our Carers’ campaign. The celebration of hospital staff as they risk their own lives to save others battling the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the globe is the very least we can do as we more safely self-isolate in our homes. But Gina soon noticed a missing element to the faces of doctors, nurses, paramedics, and key workers on the British newspaper’s celebratory frontpages…they were all white. ‘If you’ve been to a hospital in the last 50 years [certainly since Windrush], you know that’s not what the NHS looks like,’ she implored in a video condemning the omission of the disproportionately high ratio of BAME staff in the UK health service. That said, the contribution and heroism of people of colour being erased from public record is only one aspect of racism that affects BAME communities in relation to the NHS all across the country even before the Covid-19 pandemic, including in Scotland...read more

Scottish Racism in Football
April 2020

Scotland Women’s Football Team, 2017 

‘While my teammates were travelling back to the athletes’ village in London, I was on a plane home to Scotland. No disrespect to the Millennium Stadium…but playing Brazil at Wembley is every footballer's dream.’ Those were the words of Nigerian football player Ifeoma Nnenna Dieke in the wake of her leg injury after playing against Cameroon in the 2012 London Olympics. Born in the USA, but raised in the Scottish town of Cumbernauld since age three, she was eligible to lend her footballing talents at the international level to Nigeria, the United States or Scotland, but chose to represent the latter from 2004 to 2017. Her 117 caps over those 13 years outweigh the 14 caps of Ghanaian-English footballer Nigel Quashie for the Scotland men’s team from 2004 to 2006, 4 caps of Nigerian-Scottish Chris Iwelumo from 2008 to 2010, 16 caps of Matthew Phillips from 2012 to 2019 or more recently Liam Jordan Palmer’s 5 caps last year, all qualifying through their Scottish grandparentage. These Black players make for a striking contrast amongst the backdrop of their light-skinned teammates as they all strive for the same goal of bringing victorious glory back home to Scotland, on the surface demonstrating a racial harmony across the region as they support their side. So it might come as some surprise that there are numerous instances of racism in Scottish football...read more

Scottish Racism in Education
March 2020

Comedian Trevor Noah, bagpipes player 

‘A beautiful place, rich in history with rolling highlands, perfectly preserved castles 100s of years old, men playing bagpipes in the streets…and no Black people.’ This was how South African comedian Trevor Noah described Scotland in his 2017 stand up special Afraid of the Dark. He lamented on the reason for the lack of diversity, ‘the further north you go, the whiter things become: the people, Christmases, bears, everything changes.’ During a visit to Glasgow, he began playing a game with himself called ‘Stop the Black Person’ and invariably failed, his gaze instead landing either on statues or his own reflection. He then quipped that if you asked a Scottish person if they are racist, they would respond, ‘I don’t know, I never tried!’ Here’s the thing, had Trevor spent a bit more time in Scotland and continued his game, he would indeed have spotted the few dark-skinned people that make up the Black community way up in the British north. They were the focus of Ugandan filmmaker Stewart Kyasimire’s 2019 documentary Black and Scottish where stories of identity, hair and confounding reactions to their broad Caledonian accents were shared. And among the tales of ‘living between two worlds’ and the ‘lack of relatable role models’ in the media, to Trevor Noah’s possible surprise, there were indeed various accounts of racism stretching back to early childhood memories at school...read more