Task A

Outline the initiative by Rene Germain and Adesuwa Ajayi and the insights it has provided.

(Comprehension) (12 Punkte)

Analyse how the authors present their views on the current situation of Black employees in the UK. Focus on communicative strategies and use of language.

(Analysis) (16 Punkte)

Choose one of the following tasks:

3.1

As a reaction to the Black Lives Matter protests against racism across the USA, former President Barack Obama said in June 2020 that “this moment can be a real turning point in our nation’s long journey to live up to our highest ideals.”
Discuss this statement referring to work done in class on American myths and realities.

(Evaluation: comment) (14 Punkte)

Source: Barack Obama,"How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change", 1 June 2020
https://obama.medium.com/how-to-make-this-moment-the-turning-point-for-real- change-9fa209806067 (Zugriff: 17.10.2020)

3.2

You are a British student living in London. Reading the article has made you wonder whether the situation at British workplaces presented in it reflects the current state of Britain as a multicultural society.
Write a letter to the editor expressing your opinion on that question.

(Evaluation: re-creation of text) (14 Punkte)

Rene Germain and Adesuwa Ajayi
Black Lives Matter – Unless You’re Black in the Workplace

The authors Rene Germain and Adesuwa Ajayi are two black women living in the UK.

The murder of George Floyd in the US and the resulting Black Lives Matter protests taking

place globally have led many organisations to express their support for the Black Lives Matter

movement and their black employees, and making generous donations to black organisations.

However, this new apparent solidarity with the black community is rather surprising, especially

to their Black employees who are used to dealing with racism and micro-aggressions every

day.

It’s ironic to see companies who have failed to act on racism for so long, suddenly professing

to care. Where is the solidarity when you pay us less than our white counterparts? Where is

the solidarity when you fail to hire and promote us into senior leadership roles? Where is

the solidarity when we report racist incidents and we are told to ignore it?

Numerous conversations have been happening online as company statements have been

critiqued by current and former Black employees. As the two black female founders of nine

to five’s, an online community for black people in the workplace, we saw it as our duty to

amplify and expand this conversation, so we created #blackintheoffice on twitter and asked

Black employees to message us their experiences so we could share them anonymously.

The response has been overwhelming, with many recommending the thread as essential

line manager and senior leadership reading. Whilst it provides a much-needed raw insight into

the black British employee experience, it has also been heart-breaking to read.

Common trends we saw across the submissions included Black women being subjected to

negative comments about their natural hair styles, weaves and wigs, with colleagues touching

their hair and even attempting to remove wigs during work night out.

Many of those that got in touch with us said they found out upon leaving their jobs that they

were being significantly underpaid, and being replaced with lesser qualified white people

who were being paid more.

Others spoke of being labelled as "aggressive, pushy, sassy, negative", or being subject to

inappropriate comments about drug use, gangs or slavery, and receiving no support from

their peers or HR when reporting incidents.

And the submissions showed this issue isn’t unique to one particular industry either. It happens

everywhere, from law to banking, recruitment, fashion and luxury, beauty and cosmetics,

charity, transport, aviation, education, property and construction, journalism and more.

As suspected, there is no “safe industry” or “safe workplace” if you are Black.

Now more than ever, companies need to realise that talk is cheap and Black employees are tried.

We are tired of the blanket statements and empty promises. We want to know of the

specific actions you are going to take to create a safe environment for Black employees to thrive.

We would like clear transparency and accountability around those actions. We would

like to be spoken to as the Black community and not referred to as BAME or people of colour,

because we are not a singular homogenous group. We want to be listened to and trust that

we can report incidents without fear of retribution. We want to be paid fairly. We want to

see more Black people in senior leadership, because we know they exist in our firms and

externally, so why don’t you hire or promote them?

Now is also the time to recognise the things that don’t work. It simply isn’t enough to just

hire more Black people, not until you have taken the necessary steps to make your workplace

more inclusive of them. Hiring a diversity and inclusion lead takes away from the fact that

a diverse and inclusive workplace needs to be the responsibility of everyone.

The unconscious bias trainings mask the ugly reality that much of the behaviours Black employees are

subjected to are very conscious and calculated. “One size fit all” diversity and inclusion

initiatives for “minority” employees don’t address the unique issues those individual

communities face.

Systemic racism is rife and the injustices that Black people are subjected to don’t stop with

police brutality. The way in which companies treat their Black employees is another type of

injustice that needs to be acknowledged and addressed. It’s time for companies to do better

and take action.

Source:Rene Germain and Adesuwa Ajayi, “Black Lives Matter – Unless You’re Black in the Workplace”, in: HuffPost, 19 June 2020
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/black-workplace_uk_5eec85e8c5b6301a5b3d 63e8?guccounter=1 (Zugriff: 14.09.2020)

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Note:
Our solutions are listed in key points. In the examination, full marks can only be achieved by writing a continuous text.

The article published on 19th of June 2020 by Rene Germain and Adesuwa Ajayi entitled "Black Lives Matter - Unless You're Black in the Workplace" is about an initiative which gives black workers in the UK the opportunity to make their experiences in their workplace public.

Introduction:
referring to the article

the #blackintheoffice initiative was started by the authors
the reason for this was the lack of belief in corporate solidarity verbally expressed in response to the Black Lives Matter movement
Black workers were asked to share their experiences in the workplace
these accounts were then shared anonymously by the authors on Twitter and were intended to provide insights into the daily experiences of black workers in their workplace
these accounts show that systematic racism, injustice and microaggressions are commonplace
large participation in the project shows that it is a widespread problem in all industries
which basically says that there is no job security for black workers in general
concrete measures and individual approaches are what the authors call for

Main Part:
the #blackintheoffice initiative

the authors criticise the racism that people of colour are subjected to in the workplace daily
also make several demands to change the situation
communicative strategies, as well as language devices such as stylistic devices, are used to emphasise their position

Introduction

criticism on the part of the authors is already apparent in the headline and drips with sarcasm
they criticise that companies support Black Lives Matter financially and verbally; however, within the companies, nothing changes
other phrases like "It's ironic to see companies who have failed to act on racism for so long, suddenly professing to care" (l. 7/8) are laced with sarcasm and show the authors' attitude towards these companies

Main Part:
critism

list of rhetorical questions (l. 8-10)
Anaphora "Where is the solidarity..." (l. 9) emphasises its absence and demands a concrete action
use of possessive determiners and personal pronouns "we" and "you" (e.g. l. 9 and 10) underlines the inequality that employers and employees are not on the same side
because authors give first-hand accounts, they are very credible
evaluative adjectives such as "heart-breaking" (l. 18) create strong emotions in the readers
the number of examples given underlines the extent of the problem
the large number of examples listed and the wide range of sectors affected underline the problem $\rightarrow$ more than ten different sectors are listed (l. 28-29)
"[a]s suspected" indicates that for the affected (coloured people), the result does not come as a surprise $\rightarrow$ depth of the problem becomes clear

linguistic devices

subsequent clear demands
extensive enumerations (cf. 33 - 39); the authors use sentence starters such as "We want..." and "We would like..." to introduce the said demands
are underlined by anaphora $\rightarrow$ each sentence begins with "we"
also highlights the contrast between black workers and white employers
"[S]o why don't you hire or promote them?" (l. 40) direct address and appeal to employers to act
"We would like to be spoken to as the black community and not referred to as (BAME) or people of colour" (l. 36) $\rightarrow$ use of parallelism to draw attention to the need for individual action
the repetition of the words "diversity and inclusion" (l. 43, 44 and 46), as well as the use of inverted commas, again underlines that the summary of "minorities" does not address the problems of individuals
clear appeal at the end of the sentence: "It's time for companies to do better and take action" (l. 52)

author's demands

Action must be taken now! $\rightarrow$ this point of view of the authors is made very clear by the article
use of various linguistic devices, numerous examples, and evaluative language make this very clear

Conclusion

3.1

“This moment can be a real turning point in our nation’s long journey to live up to our highest ideals” - this quote was said by former President Barack Obama in June 2020
he thus was referring to the Black-Lives-Matter-Protests against racism in the US
he expresses the hopes of true equality of all races and ethnicities
his optimism, however, must be viewed critically for certain reasons

Introduction:
referring to quote
introducing task
formulating thesis

the problem of inequality and unequal rights has gained widespread awareness and is no longer tolerated by many and fought against
this demonstrates the strong support of people of all ethnicities and social classes for the Black Lives Matter movement
represent important points and preconditions for lasting and real change
for people of colour, too, things have already changed since the civil rights movement
as seen, for example, in Barack Obama, first black president of the USA, for eight years (two terms) and Kamal Harris, current vice president

Main Part pros:
Black Lives Matter
awareness

however, the inequalities still exist to date and are even widening in some cases, and must not be forgotten by these few success stories
the USA has been further divided by President Trump
nationalists and white supremacists oppose more equality and equal rights for all ethnicities and races
the American criminal justice system is still dominated by racial prejudice
e.g. large incarceration numbers and daily police violence and brutality against blacks (George Floyd as the latest example)

cons:
persistent inquality against minorities

Ultimately, it can be summarised that the Black Lives Matter movement has been thought-provoking for many and has the potential to raise awareness about the persistence of inequality.
however, it does not pave the way for people of colour to achieve equality; it is still an uphill battle for all people of colour in the USA
this must be continued to be fought, otherwise, black people would accept to be seen as second class human beings
whether it is the turning point in the country's history, as Obama says, remains to be seen and should not be viewed too optimistically, as it will take structural changes in policy and the criminal justice system to bring about change

Conclusion

3.2

the article "Black Lives Matter - Unless You're Black in the Workplace" by Rene Germain and Adesuwa Ajayi addresses the issue of everyday structural racism of people of colour in the workplace
sadly, I fear that this injustice currently permeates many areas of life in the UK and reflects a bleak picture of the country's multicultural society

Greeting and Introduction

just like in the workplace, black people are structurally discriminated against in everyday life and have to deal with prejudice
e.g. when looking for housing or loans from banks
the current mood in our country, together with the recent Brexit, has exacerbated racism
people speak more open about it and are less inhibited to express their previously subtle behaviour out loud
daily racism is also on the rise on social media
people can easily hide behind their computers and spread these hate messages
the recent racist attack on an England international via social media prompted him to strongly criticise the platforms and launch a boycott that led to a protest by English football clubs on social media
it is not only people of colour who face this racism, ethnic minorities are also affected by it
the biggest problem is that these minorities are under-represented in areas such as culture, politics, law and the media, and their views are neglected accordingly

Main Part:
discrimination in everyday life
Brexit
racism on social media

All in all, I believe that it is everyone's responsibility to fight racism, no matter where they experience and witness it.
Especially non-affected whites should stand up for these people more and also fight against the ongoing and increasing structural racism.
Shouldn't everyone's goal be to live in a society where everyone is tolerated? For my part, yes.

Conclusion and Closing

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Task A

Rene Germain and Adesuwa Ajayi Black Lives Matter – Unless You’re Black in the Workplace

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Rene Germain and Adesuwa Ajayi
Black Lives Matter – Unless You’re Black in the Workplace