THE MAP

STEP 1: COMMITTING TO ANTI-RACISM

Our future is one where…        

• We have committed to anti-racist practice across the city's institutions. We have rejected short-termism and have a long investment horizon for change.

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Our institutions’ role...

• Recognise the limits of piecemeal short-term activities and plan for longer-term transformation.

• Support leaders to understand how to make decisions more in line with anti-racist practice.         

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Our individual role...

• Use our power and position to bring attention to where racism is happening and make plans to address it.

• Commit to learn the difference between ‘not being racist’ and being ‘anti-racist’.

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STEP 2: RECOGNISING CYCLES OF DISTRESS AND LACK OF PROGRESS

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Our future is one where...

• We notice the cycles of distress and inequality in our city. We acknowledge the trauma communities have experienced because of racism and histories of colonialisation. We recognise that racism affects how we think and learn and that previous attempts to address racism haven’t worked effectively.

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Our institutions' role...

• Be honest and transparent about what is heard through consultation exercises. Take accountability for action/ decisions not to take action.

• Invest in evaluation of initiatives to progress anti-racism and learned from information about impact.

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Our individual role...

• Actively listen to experiences of racism and trauma, listen to our feelings. Share how it affects me and what I can do about it

• Be honest and transparent about what is heard through consultation exercises. Take accountability for action/ decisions not to take action.

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STEP 3: SHARING POWER

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Our future is one where...

We give power to those affected by racism and they feel heard. Traditional decision-makers are aware of their power as white people. They share power and invest and trust communities that are racialised and marginalized.

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Our institutions' role...

• Support leaders to understand different forms of power and how their use of power can maintain or disrupt patterns of systemic racism.

• Trust marginalised groups to take the lead in designing policy and services. Make co-design less performative (getting the ‘numbers’ of community involvement right) and more developmental (building skills and agency).

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Our individual role...

• Learn to hear and value different types of experiences and knowledge in the way I make decisions.

• Bring attention to how white privilege operates in the city and use my power to support and trust those who experience racism to lead and share their knowledge and experience.

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STEP 4: COLLECTIVE ACTION

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Our future is one where...

• Birmingham becomes a centre for innovation in the field of anti-racism.

• Different communities and different parts of the system come together and held each other accountable for change.

 

Our institutions' role...

• Respond to racism in a systemic way – recognizing that we need to work in our organisations and outside of them in partnership with others to effect change.

• Develop a shared vision for anti-racism between public, private and voluntary sector and hold each other to account for progress.

• Encourage collaboration to progress anti-racism across communities.

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Our individual role...

• See the similarities in experiences and patterns of disadvantage across communities.

• Work with others who are different to me to address a shared goal of eradicating racism in our city.

• Invest time in relationships and friendships across sectors and across communities to develop a shared understanding of how racism operates in our city/how to address it.

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STEP 5: THE BENEFITS OF ANTI-RACISM FOR US ALL

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Our future is one where...

• All Birmingham residents see the benefits of challenging racism as more of the city prospers and benefits from its diversity.

• Marginalised groups in the city see the potential to work together rather than compete with each other.

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Our institutions' role...

• Ensure mainstream planning for our city’s development incorporates anti-racism as a core cross-cutting issue (rather than as an ‘add-on’ separate concern).

• Involve different parts of our city (outer-city/inner-city) black communities, white communities in discussions about anti-racism. Restrict ‘us and them’ politics and competition between marginalized groups through openness, transparency and good conflict management.

• Develop an approach to doing anti-racism that emphasises White British people can also benefit from an anti-racist city.

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Our individual role...

• Learn about anti-oppressive practice and the intersection between race, class, gender and so on.

• Believe that our city’s future development is intimately linked to the prosperity of our diverse communities.

• See that we can all benefit from an anti-racist city – irrespective of our ethnic background.

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STEP 6: SHARED INVESTMENT IN THE CITY'S FUTURE

 

Our future is one where...

Birmingham residents feel more connected to their city. It is a place where people know that their background won’t stop them pursuing their dreams. They have a shared investment in making Birmingham better.

 

Our institutions' role...

• Leaders take a stand and speak of a city that can’t be prosperous if racism exists.

• Birmingham show other cities how it can be done – explaining how anti-racist practice is a key lever for promoting growth and drawing on the talent, knowledge and leadership potential of its population.

• As Birmingham’s children and young people became the future leaders of the city, they make engaging with diversity the norm, not the exception.

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Our individual role...

• Acknowledge how bias and racism can limit the involvement of people from different backgrounds in decisions about city’s future.

• See responding to racism and bias as too important for our city’s future to be ignored and prioritise this as a way to help my city and my community grow and develop

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If we get this right, we should feel more connected, more able to show up in our city’s institutions and in our city’s democratic process and to be ourselves. We will benefit from the diversity of our city’s population – beyond what we read about in glossy magazines about our city (food, culture and music). We won't have to hide who we are and neither will others. We will feel accepted and valued for our contribution to the city’s success.