Racism in academia, and why the ‘little things’ matter

Subtle biases and structural inequalities need challenging just like overt acts of racial aggression and discrimination.
Kevin N. Laland

I am a professor of biology at a good UK university and a member of a national academy, and can regard myself as successful by most standards. I am comfortable with, and proud of, my Indian heritage and culture, as well as my British heritage. Yet, as is often the case for Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) staff and students, many less fortunate than me, I bring the burden of my personal history to university.

I was raised in the English Midlands, the son of an Indian father and an English mother. My father was one of a large influx of people from the Indian subcontinent who settled in the region from the 1950s to the 1970s. The period is an ugly chapter in British history, marred by violent gangs who took up ‘Paki-bashing’ with relish. The insult, derived from ‘Pakistani’, was thrown at anyone with real or perceived roots in the Indian subcontinent. Read more http://shorturl.at/hOTY7