If someone asked you “Are you racist?”, would you be horrified to think that anyone would ask you such a question? Would you reply “Of course not” indignantly? If, however, someone asked you “Are you judgemental?”, would you have to think about it a little more?

Three young black Irish women spoke recently about their experiences in Ireland on The Irish Times Women’s Podcast. It was not positive. The fact remains that racism is an everyday occurrence in our little country, but it may be hidden from the eyes of many of us through no particular fault of our own. On any given day, I am personally not too challenged or confronted by racism. All my family and friends look like me, all my colleagues look like me, in fact the majority of people that I know and interact with on a daily basis look... “like”... me. And when I say “look like me”, I mean the majority of them are white-skinned people and from a similar socio-economic background.

The debates and differences of opinion would be extreme, the conversations intense and I get a lot from this

I have met and continue to meet people from all across the world in my work and travel. The debates and differences of opinion would be extreme, the conversations intense and I get a lot from this. I made many friends, but I don’t speak to them all regularly now, as happens in life. As I listened to the podcast I realised that, although I have heard and read much commentary on the topic, I have not spoken to one single black person about the death of George Floyd.

The appropriateness of certain old TV programmes and movies is now being questioned

I spend a lot of time talking about and working in the area of gender equality. In doing this I always go back to the same question: “Why is diversity important?” The answer is that diversity brings a difference of opinion into the conversation, which is vital. In an ideal world, the value of diversity wouldn’t be questioned. However, ingrained stereotypes and judgements remain. The appropriateness of certain old TV programmes and movies is now being questioned because of how people are portrayed in them. Some may say that this is “political correctness gone mad”, but I suppose it is easy to say that it is “madness” if you are not the one at the butt of the joke or the stereotypical image. Diversity is not just male or female, black or white. A person’s physical appearance, belief systems, or life choices, can open them up to being judged. And judged critically.

I’d say that there are relatively few women who have gone through life without a judgemental comment being made about their weigh – “You’ve put on a bit of weight” or “You’ve lost a lot of weight”. Sometimes these can be congratulatory comments and appreciated, oft times however, they are not. A comment, which may seem innocuous to the commentator, can hurt or damage self-esteem and lead to mental health issues.

She is an inspiration well worth following

You can’t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.

– CS Lewis

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