I’ve just found out I’ve got white privilege. It’s such a burden. I did the test from Westminster— or should I say, Woke Minster Council. I think what swung it was that I shop at M&S and Waitrose, and I’m not sure they expect minority groups to shop there.
It also asked me whether I saw members of my race, ethnic group, gender, or sexual orientation negatively portrayed on TV.
Obviously, since I have my own show on TV and there are so many mixed-race people in the adverts, I said no. I think I must have selected the wrong option for that one as well. To be honest, I’m struggling to cope with my privilege. It’s burdensome.
Of all the ridiculous things, this takes the biscuit. A Labour council is telling staff to undergo a privilege test as part of its efforts to combat unconscious bias against ethnic minorities.
The quiz is the brainchild of Stuart Love, who has been Westminster Council’s chief executive since 2018. Last year, he told Management Today, which is a magazine, "We should all be woke."
But in local government, where we are delivering services to communities. Stuart set up the quiz to ensure that ethnic minorities were shortlisted for jobs, and if they weren’t, they needed to contact him.
The quiz uses stereotypes to determine the level of privilege in an attempt to root out unconscious bias—although I suspect the unconscious bias is actually his own.
It doesn’t directly ask what colour I am. That would be too obvious, unless of course, I’m a white male, which it had no qualms about asking.
Instead, it put forward leading questions to work it out. Like, do I use an Afro comb? Which immediately reduces my privilege.
Saying yes to being a white male was the kiss of death, adding an extra 15 or so points and bumping you up the scale.
Isn’t that a racist quiz? Neil O'Brien, a Tory MP and former minister, said the document showed that the council was running racist hiring policies on an industrial scale.
It shows how far the public sector has drifted from the idea of meritocracy.
Well, Westminster City Council said their recruitment policies are industry standard, entirely consistent with UK employment law, and have been in place for a number of years.
This PowerPoint presentation, which we believe was available on the council staff intranet from 2021, does not form any part of our formal policy, training, or recruitment process.
Look, if you think that, based on the colour of my skin, I probably won’t shop in Waitrose or M&S, or that as a black person, I’m unlikely to have had someone read to me as a child (which is one of the questions), and you’re asking me if I’ve got an Afro comb, aren’t you putting forward racial stereotypes that are effectively racist?
How can you judge my social status by the colour of my skin? And if that is your barometer, then you’re the racist.
This quiz, in my view, is a projection of that.
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It also asked me whether I saw members of my race, ethnic group, gender, or sexual orientation negatively portrayed on TV.
Obviously, since I have my own show on TV and there are so many mixed-race people in the adverts, I said no. I think I must have selected the wrong option for that one as well. To be honest, I’m struggling to cope with my privilege. It’s burdensome.
Of all the ridiculous things, this takes the biscuit. A Labour council is telling staff to undergo a privilege test as part of its efforts to combat unconscious bias against ethnic minorities.
The quiz is the brainchild of Stuart Love, who has been Westminster Council’s chief executive since 2018. Last year, he told Management Today, which is a magazine, "We should all be woke."
But in local government, where we are delivering services to communities. Stuart set up the quiz to ensure that ethnic minorities were shortlisted for jobs, and if they weren’t, they needed to contact him.
The quiz uses stereotypes to determine the level of privilege in an attempt to root out unconscious bias—although I suspect the unconscious bias is actually his own.
It doesn’t directly ask what colour I am. That would be too obvious, unless of course, I’m a white male, which it had no qualms about asking.
Instead, it put forward leading questions to work it out. Like, do I use an Afro comb? Which immediately reduces my privilege.
Saying yes to being a white male was the kiss of death, adding an extra 15 or so points and bumping you up the scale.
Isn’t that a racist quiz? Neil O'Brien, a Tory MP and former minister, said the document showed that the council was running racist hiring policies on an industrial scale.
It shows how far the public sector has drifted from the idea of meritocracy.
Well, Westminster City Council said their recruitment policies are industry standard, entirely consistent with UK employment law, and have been in place for a number of years.
This PowerPoint presentation, which we believe was available on the council staff intranet from 2021, does not form any part of our formal policy, training, or recruitment process.
Look, if you think that, based on the colour of my skin, I probably won’t shop in Waitrose or M&S, or that as a black person, I’m unlikely to have had someone read to me as a child (which is one of the questions), and you’re asking me if I’ve got an Afro comb, aren’t you putting forward racial stereotypes that are effectively racist?
How can you judge my social status by the colour of my skin? And if that is your barometer, then you’re the racist.
This quiz, in my view, is a projection of that.
Find Out More...