How can I be antiracist?

“It requires work and considerable effort”—Aaliya Goyal, GP with special interest in occupational health and wellbeing

“Racism, in all forms, has no place in healthcare. However, it does exist, and it leaves a devastating impact on colleagues and patients and has consequences for patient safety.1

“Being antiracist means recognising that we’re part of a racist system. This can be challenging, as it requires introspection, humility, and an acknowledgment of privilege, which can lead to an uncomfortable epiphany: we’re all part of a system that wasn’t built for everyone.

“Being antiracist is a call to action: a commitment to learn, understand, and actively participate to eliminate racism. It requires work and considerable effort and goes beyond simply not being individually racist or discriminatory. Changing ingrained structures can cause fear, due to a perceived loss of the status quo. We need to move past that and actively target, challenge, and remove the systemic barriers that enable racism.

“I strive to be antiracist by sponsoring and advocating relentlessly for colleagues. I notice barriers in application processes, absences in leadership teams, and gaps in healthcare that contribute to health inequalities. I speak up and do my best to overcome these challenges and to embed change. Once you start looking through an antiracist lens, you notice things that are difficult to unsee. The current systems were built by a demographic that doesn’t reflect …