Racing vs. Racism – How Sir Hamilton and Dr Imafidon are driving for #diversity in STEM, sports and wider society. After the publication of Hamilton Commission’s report on racism, Dr Anne-marie Imafidon goes head-to-head on CNN TV with mentor to Sir Lewis Hamilton, Former CEO of the McLaren Formula One team Martin Whitmarsh. The report reiterated the 1998 findings, which led to the creation ExcellenceinEducation.org.uk an alliance of inner-city charities and corporations, which support BAME and inner-city children with additional STEM programmes. For your FREE copy of the Commission report, Direct Message @ChrisImafidon via Twitter, or @coimafidon on Instagram.
By Professor Chris Imafidon – The story of racism is the same with every BAME CHILD in a country, which once openly and proudly displayed “NO IRISH, NO BLACKS, NO IRISH”. The signs went down physically but psychologically remained a national anthem manifesting from time to time, from a journalist calling Meghan’s baby a Chimp to a teacher falsely accusing Lewis Hamilton.
At the age of five, Hamilton’s dad, (Mr Anthony Hamilton) bought him his first radio-controlled car. Little Lewis spent every Saturday and Sunday racing and was obsessed with how much he could improve, while his father took on multiple jobs to fund his son. Six years later Lewis started secondary school. No matter how hard he worked he was told he wasn’t smart enough, that he had no potential, or future. But today, he is a Seven-Time World Champion, holding the highest number of wins, poles, and podium finishes in the world of Formula One. He is the same person who got told he’d never achieve anything because of a racist society.
Many individuals and institutions have long observed a lack of diversity or inclusion in aspects of our society including schools, sports even car racing. Multi-world record holder in car racing, Sir Lewis Hamilton, MBE took radical steps against this sad situation. Sir Hamilton enlisted the assistance of a member of Britain’s brainiest family, Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, MBE as a member of a 14-strong Hamilton Commission board group of leaders. Sir Hamilton, who now routinely takes a knee before all his races then commissioned a special report based on the survey, studies and the lived experiences of RACISM.
OLD TRUTHS VS NEW FINDINGS
The motorsport industry found that just 1% of Formula 1’s 40,000 employees were from black backgrounds; only 2% are black in 500,000 teachers in England; and almost half of schools in England have no Black, Asian or Minority ethnic (BAME) teachers (46%). In 2019 Black people accounted for just 2% of engineering apprentices.
According to Sir Hamilton, “I was asking a lot of questions for a long, long time, for years. Why am I one of the very few people of colour here? There was never a good answer, no one ever knew. No one was going to do the work so it was the perfect opportunity for me. I was like ‘I’m going to do the work and get the research in. For me I really wanted to understand the root of the cause so that I could know better but also the industry, we can go on a journey together.”
DRIVE FOR DIVERSITY
Sir Lewis Hamilton echoing the @EIEProgramme’s #GeniusFormula, says: “Given the right opportunities and support, young people can excel at whatever they put their minds to, but our research shows that many young Black people are being closed out of opportunities within STEM and having their full potential limited. While I have enjoyed a successful career in motorsport, it’s been a lonely path as one of the few Black individuals within Formula 1 and, after fifteen years of waiting for the industry to catch up, I realised I had to take action myself.
“In order to do that, I needed to understand what was preventing the industry from being as diverse as the world around it. Through the Commission’s research, we can see there are clear meaningful steps the motorsport industry needs to take towards creating a more inclusive environment where diversity can thrive but also that we must tackle the barriers facing Black students that exist throughout their educational journey. Some of these barriers I recognise from my own experiences, but our findings have opened my eyes to just how far reaching these problems are. Now that I’m armed with the Commission’s recommendations, I am personally committed to ensuring they are put into action. I’m so proud of our work to date, but this is really just the beginning.”
The sign “No Irish, no Blacks, no dogs” may have been taken down from the shops in London’s west end. But the mentality of some British leaders particularly those in sports still reflects this ultra-discriminatory behavior. The modern UK must replace that sign with “ALL ARE WELCOME” #Imafidon #BlackLivesMatter #Knee #TakeAknee #sports #education
Dr Anne-marie Imafidon, MBE, co-founder of Stemettes (Multi-world record holder thanks to excellenceinEducation.org.uk programme for inner-city kids): Speaking to the media including CNN, as a member of the commission, says “I wasn’t surprised by a lot of the findings, I think it’s things that we knew, that we maybe didn’t quantified or detailed or have explored to this level. So for me, it was not a surprise. But also it still is disappointing, right, being able to see in the statistics and the stories in the anecdotes and the case studies, and the state of play that we have for black people in motorsport and for young black people, and exploring stem and considering their stem options.
MARTIN WHITMARSH, FORMER CEO OF MCLAREN F1 TEAM: says “The Commission experience was really humbling, and a terrific for learning experience for me, you know, I spent 25 years in this, in sport focused on performance and trying to win, frankly, not with a sort of a broader regard to social issues, or any other particular agenda. And, you know, once I hadn’t, or didn’t believe that I’d witnessed or conscious racial discrimination. You know, I was aware that the barriers to entry were high to get into the sport, you know, Formula One, requires more than boots in a ball or racket and ball.
So for athletes, it’s extremely difficult to get into the sport without a lot of help. Formula One is the pinnacle of motorsport. Its focuses on performance and winning and excellence, is traditionally recruited from the top universities. And really, part of my learning was that in itself is discriminatory. Sort of the disadvantaged in our society, they don’t feel invited to those institutions. And I think that was — I think the big lesson for me.
WHITMARSH: No, no embarrassment, but I think you know, yeah, you know, I was in a leadership position for 25 years in Formula One. I didn’t do enough. I mean, I don’t — and that’s something that you reflect on with time and experience. We weren’t using that opportunity. And I think that’s the big learning that we can come out of this. I think Shapiro (ph) trying to apologize the sport. Formula One isn’t unlike many other sections of society. But we should come out of it saying we can do better and we can use Formula One. And particularly, of course, we can use Lewis, who’s developed into this iconic figure who transcends Formula One. And, you know, he’s a great catalyst and a great ambassador for this messaging. So I think Formula One can do a lot more, not just for Formula One, but for society in general.
IS SPORTS RACIST?
Dr IMAFIDON, who was an alumna of the #GeniusFormula of @eieprigramme concludes: “Yeah, I think it’s definitely been unconscious. And I don’t know that I would necessarily say outright that it’s fully racist, but it’s not anti-racist. And so make it what you will?
THE FUTURE
WHITMARSH: I’m confident that we can make a difference. I’m confident that, you know, Anne-Marie is much more articulate about this than I am. But I think, you know, we’ve got to be consciously anti-racist, and we will make a contribution to society. And we can stimulate that because we’ve got this platform of Formula One, and we’ve got this icon called Lewis Hamilton. So I think but we’ve got to put the work in and we’ve got to make sure that, you know, the report doesn’t get circulated, some grand gestures made and then it goes away. So this is — as Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon, said, this is the only a start. At the moment, we’re creating a discussion, we’re creating some awareness. But we’ve really got to make sure that the sport signs up to a charter and commits to changing its actions. Otherwise, the results won’t be different.
CONCLUSION
The Commission identified ten recommendations addressing racism, which it believes will have long-lasting and positive impact on the motorsport industry and encourage more young Black students to pursue subjects, which lead to careers in engineering. These recommendations include:
Asking that Formula 1 teams (and other Motorsports organisations) take the lead in implementing a Diversity and Inclusion Charter for motorsport to commit the sector to improve diversity and inclusion across all organisations:
Calling for Formula 1 teams and other motorsport businesses to broaden access to motorsport by expanding the apprenticeships provision to include higher apprenticeships and degree apprenticeships as an alternate pathway into the sector, as well as availability to paid work placement and work experience schemes:
Establishment of a new exclusions innovation fund, to develop programmes that address the factors that contribute to the high proportion of students from Black backgrounds being excluded from schools;
Supporting the piloting of new approaches to increase the number of Black teachers in STEM subjects that lead to careers in engineering, namely mathematics, physics, design and technology, and computing:
Supporting the creation of scholarship programmes to enable Black graduates from degrees in engineering and allied subjects to progress into specialist motorsport roles;
Calling for additional STEM activity support to be provided to supplementary schools led by Black community groups across the UK.
Professor Chris Imafidon is chair of ExcellenceinEducation.org.uk, an alliance of inner-city educational charities and institutions that mentors BAME youths, women and professionals in the commonwealth. He is a multi-Guinness World record holder; internationally renowned adviser to monarchs, governments, presidents and corporate leaders; Mentor to multi-millionaire tech entrepreneurs & many world record holders. His STEM and other research and innovation have been recognised internationally, winning multiple awards. Professor Imafidon is 5X International Bestselling author; Mentor to New York Times Bestsellers and a Sunday Times Op-ed author, a Wall Street Journal Best Selling author and a regular contributor to #African Voice, [Twitter @ChrisImafidon; Instagram @CoImafidon; Facebook/Linkedln/ClubHouse –Professor Chris Imafidon]
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