Minority Majority City – Where are the Black Leaders?

The Census has finally confirmed what we have been expecting for a while now: Birmingham, Leicester, Luton and Newham have become ‘minority-majority’ areas or, to use a more positive term, “super diverse”.  The stats for Birmingham are at 51.4% – White 46.8% – of that 43% White British. Pakistani the largest at 17% is still some way off, but they have nearly the same as white British in our schools. The directions of travel will be increasing numbers as the school population flows through.  And for the record, in this article we refer to “Black” per  the political definition.  

In 1976 I arrived in Birmingham as a six-year-old from Bangladesh, arriving in this wonderful city with my family of seven.  For the first six months of our arrival, we shared accommodation with a family in Smethwick until my father secured a tenancy on a home in Lozells.  Strange as it seems now, we had an English lodger who lived with us. He was a World War II veteran and, as a youngster, I remember being enthralled when he would show us how he would crawl to avoid being spotted by the enemy.  Despite being a veteran, this old gentleman clearly faced challenging circumstances. Mum would take pity on his diet of boiled cabbage and potatoes and would give him some curry when she could, which he always expressed his gratitude for.  He left us after a year or two, and that meant we had space for other new arrivals from Bangladesh to lodge with us, whilst they searched for their own accommodation. I look back now and wonder how we all managed to live in one house with – and I write this as the father of two teenagers! – just one bathroom.

We were one of the very few Bangladeshi families to live in Lozells at that time.  As other families arrived from south Asia, their parents became uncles and aunts to us and children of a similar age became friends. There were a few things that bound us together: the obligatory after school mosque sessions and Bangla classes at the weekend.  Food was also a major unifier. I recall my parents sharing curry with the neighbours and if someone from Bangladesh had recently arrived, they would share some of the vegetables and prized ‘shutki’ (dried fish).  However, there was something more sinister that unified us, and that was our collective fear of racist attacks. I was an 11-year-old when I was first chased by Skinheads who were enjoying a ‘Paki Bashing’ session. They chased me into a bush and smashed eggs on my head; that was just one of many quasi-normalised and similar incidents that, today, we would call an assault. 

Following the 1985 uprising in Lozells (the media liked to call it the Handsworth Riots – but they definitely took place in Lozells), we saw white flight from Lozells and Newtown.  Whilst this inevitably meant that soon a majority of our aggressors had left the area, the danger for us was not over. Sadly, in those early days, inter-community tensions existed.  The early 1990’s saw a wave of violence between young Bangladeshi and Pakistani men, and the Afro-Caribbean community too.  This was a scary period for me.  I was at the forefront of this and I have the scars to show for it, I led the resistance and fight back from the Bangladeshi community.  I recall meetings with rival members where we agreed a truce.   Standing up to bullies meant that we finally earned their respect and there has been relative peace between Bangladeshis and Pakistanis.  Since then, there has been further interracial violence between African Caribbean and South Asian young men; sadly in 2005 a young African Caribbean man was killed. 

I went to the Holte School and left at 16 with no formal qualifications and then on to college for a year to train as a mechanic.  However, the cold and grease did not agree with me and I headed into the restaurant trade, like most of my Bangladeshi friends. By the age of 19, I had enough and got a job at Curry’s Electrical shop and started to volunteer at my local youth club.  I set my life goal at 19, ‘to help’, I set out supporting young people in similar positions as myself.  Whilst I continued my voluntary work some of it became paid with Birmingham City Council.  Aged 23 I went to Birmingham University to pursue a degree in Youth and Community Work.  At 24, I set up the Bangladeshi Youth Forum (BYF), this was a campaign and delivery organisation providing youth services to local young people in Lozells.  After four years of voluntary work, I became the Director and managed to take on a church basement and turned that into a Youth Centre.  It was at that point that I became an activist, campaigning for resources and better representation in public services.

After three decades working in the great city of Birmingham, I would have liked to see more change that reflects the diversity of the city in all its spheres.  Instead, we live in a city where all the major institutions are still, shamefully and for the most part, led by white men.  Birmingham City Council persists in pointing out how diverse we are and how this is an asset. But look at the reality of where power rests, and this is clearly an exercise in rhetoric and meaningless sound bites.  

So many of us have personal experiences of the lived realities. I myself worked as a senior civil servant until 2010. During that time, there were only three black colleagues on the Senior Management Team, a fact which I challenged to no avail.  I have seen my white counterparts become Director’s whilst the journey for equally competent and qualified people of colour has not yielded the same outcomes.  As a result, highly talented colleagues have left the system and opted to become self-employed. Success has been mixed; but why should we be forced out?  I can tell you; this demeans and it hurts.  I don’t want young people to have to face the same experiences and challenges faced by previous generations, I want them to succeed based on their potential and their abilities. But this is still not possible in Birmingham today. 

These realities were crystalised by the Commonwealth Games recently held in the city. Diversity was one of the key components in the organiser’s marketing materials yet, when you analysed the Senior Management Team, 95 percent of appointees were White British. Likewise, the then Organising Committee Board only had 1 Black person out of 20, with the rest being white.  It took an open letter to the press signed by 51 city’s key black influencers to highlight this fact. As a result, some board members resigned and we saw Geoff Thompson take up the role of Deputy Chair.  Leading up to the Games, attention was brought to bear on the fact that the directly commissioned cultural offer was also given 95 percent to white organisations.  Evidence from research shows that people recruit in their own image and in this, it would appear that they commission in their own image too.  The Games have offered a highly public and incontrovertible example of deep-seated structural racism in this city, and society as a whole. There have been attempts to tackle these issues and one of them has been ‘cultural bias training which, for me, is essentially a nice way of describing the education required to eliminate prejudice and racism.  I do not believe that training alone will solve the issue of structural racism. At this point, given the flagrant and ongoing cycle of appointments that are made not on the basis of ability but on the basis of colour and cultural affinity, positive action should now be taken to break this cycle. I understand the Labour Party is seeking to propose a new Race Equality Act as part of their manifesto for the next general election in tackling structural racism. I look forward to seeing what it proposes, especially on redressing the balance with positive action. 

Needless to say, for me and many other observers, this is not simply an issue of race, class is a major factor here too.  I therefore salute organisations like KPMG who have set the firm’s first ever socio-economic background target to have 29 percent of its partners and directors from a working-class background by 2030.  It would be great if Birmingham City Council took such a brave step and I would argue that, in this case, the figure should be 50 percent given the city’s diversity.  The appointment of Deborah Cadman as Birmingham’s first Black CEO is a major milestone and one that I am very happy about. However, thereafter the appointment of the Executive Management Team turned out to be all white. When questioned by the Council’s Black Workers and Asian Allies Group why the outcome was all white, the usual response was forthcoming – ‘the best people were appointed’. Begs the question what positive action measures were put in place to secure a large enough recruitment pool of potential Black candidates for appointment. The outcome of this was surprising to say the least, as this is the same Council that wanted to spearhead the ‘Rooney Rule’ (at least one minority candidate for each senior position).

When I last met Deborah, I congratulated her on her success, and asked “Who’s next?” Who is the next Black Director and Chief Exec of this City.  Far too often and for far too long we have seen the occasional person of colour make it through. Prior to Deborah we had Waheed Nazir – Director of Planning & Regeneration.  We had Javed Khan, who was an Assistant Director 20 years ago before having to move outside the authority to achieve his potential by becoming the Chief Executive of Barnardo’s.  The Labour Council is led by Cllr Ian Ward and whilst he has the most diverse cabinet ever, it has not been without controversy with the recent resignation of Cllr Salma Suleman over her anonymous Black councillors’ survey, with over 50% responding highlighting a catalogue of concerns, which in turn has instigated an external Labour Party review on the matter but omitting race from its remit. Hence, the resignation of Cllr. Suleman in protest. This is just another example of race issues impacting the ruling Labour Group at the Council being brushed under the table.  But this meagre smattering of appointments pretty much sums up the leadership achievements of racialised minorities during the near half-century this city has been my home. 

When I met Deborah, I presented her with a paper called, ‘Who’s Next?’ This is a proposed pilot project to identify and support minoritised individuals with training and mentoring across the private, public and third sectors, to help them become future heads of institution.  While Deborah showed some interest, the paper was referred to one of her own Directors who informed me that the council has its own internal programme.  I also met with metro mayor Andy Street, and asked him about his leadership commission. His response? “I have ‘not managed to turn the dial on that.”  I shared my paper with him and it was referred to the Race Equality Taskforce…I am still waiting to hear back from them. 

Thinking of Andy Street’s comment on not being able to move the dial, I wonder what will really move the dial? Will it be more of the same of getting Black people to jump through more hoops of equipping them for the top jobs, when the same does not hold true for their white counterparts, who rise regardless. If this degrading approach continues those who are already qualified and experienced view the City’s institutions as a ‘no go area’ where experience shows they are not welcomed or wanted. I strongly feel without addressing institutional racism the status quo will persist and the ‘Golden Decade’ sought post the Birmingham Commonwealth Games, will provide opportunities for those it always has and that’s not us folk.

I acknowledge the complexity and challenges at hand. As the founding CEO of Legacy WM, I have endeavoured to ensure that the organisation reflects the community we serve.  We have a board that is diverse. However, we need more women and we are working towards that objective too.  I would like to see Birmingham City Council and all other public and private tackle institutional racism head on.  I grew up in the city in a period that saw overt racism and violence.  I want my daughters and all the children of this city to have an equal chance of being the city’s next mayor or CEO.  I want a city that truly reflects the people it serves.

If we continue in the same vein, at best we will continue to see glacial change.  We need to embrace diversity and work with the challenges it presents precisely to ensure we get the best outcomes for this city.  We need to be proactive in our approach – we don’t need another report to tell us where we are!