Mayor responds to report of institutionalised racism in Bristol City Council

Marvin Rees says a frank debate needs to be held about systemic racism in Bristol, as he vows to continue tackling the issue within council ranks.

Responding to a report in the Bristol Post, featuring whistleblower accounts of a culture of deep-rooted discrimination and bullying, the mayor says the descriptions are painful to hear and resonate with his own experiences in the past.

While thoroughly condemning the institutionalised racism still rife within the council, he argues that it is also an issue that must be tackled head on across the entire city.

“It wasn’t a shock,” admits Rees, talking to Bristol24/7 in his office in City Hall the day after the revelations were published.

“I say about racism, it’s shocking but it should never be a shock – it goes on.” He is also critical of what he calls “sensationalising” the situation, saying the cases were already being addressed.

Staff has spoken out about institutionalised racism within the council

“I recognise those stories and those descriptions of facing racism in an organisation, I have experienced them myself,” continues Rees. “I recognise they go on in a city institution – just like every institution in the city and country – we are institutionally racist.

“That doesn’t mean that individuals are evil, but it’s a wider culture.

“I don’t defend the behaviour; it has a huge impact on people and on mental health and it’s painful to hear about. I’ve been here for two and a half years, the culture and processes that define this organisation have been decades in the making. The culture and systems of racism [in the city] have been four centuries in the making.

“There is a sober reality that we are going to take chunks out of racism, but I’m going to be humble in saying the extent to which I can stop it.”

The Bristol Post’s article includes accounts from dozens of black and minority ethnic (BME) staff, who say they have no faith in the council’s own systems to report instances of racism, and many who said complaints made about racist behaviour have been switched back onto them.

Responding to these whistleblowers’ accounts, the mayor says: “I totally take what people are saying, not enough is happening, I will look at that and take a sober look at myself at what we have and have not done.

“We have put in changes, but those changes do nothing to help the people still feeling suppressed and we will look at that.

“All those things that our staff experienced about having racism flipped back in their face, I have experienced.”

A damning report into the murder of Bijan Ebrahimi, published in December 2017, found Bristol City Council – and the police – were institutionally racist. The mayor was swift to respond, pledging that every effort would be made to change and improve.

The council also commissioned an independent report by Kamaljit Poonia, which found a disconnect between the elected leadership team’s aspirations on equality and how these are filtered through the organisation.

“After the Ebrahimi report, I wrote to a number of partners and said no single organisation alone can tackle racism. We have to do it collectively,” continues Rees.

Some of the measures that have been put in place since he came into office in 2016 include the reinstating of the BME employee group, formation of the Commission of Race Equality (CORE) and the launch of the BME Stepping Up Programme to open opportunities and boost diversity in leadership roles.

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Read more: BAME leadership programme to change face of business in Bristol

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One of the council’s senior managers, Stuart Pattison, is reportedly resigning from his post in the wake of an email he sent to staff about the Ebrahimi case.

Addressing issues at senior management level, Rees claims that changes over the last two years have put an emphasis on getting the right values to improve the overall culture.

“We, as a leadership, have always taken race and racism very seriously,” says Rees. “We have put in place a whole raft of measures to tackle it.

“We are dealing with the issue at hand, we front up to the fact there is racism in the organisation and we will deal with it.”

Rees speaks about the challenge of tackling racism at a recent City Conversations event at Bristol Old Vic

He denies that the newspaper report served to expose a culture of systemic racism, stating that cases are already being looked into by CORE and SARI.

“I think there is a massive challenge for the council,” admits Rees. “But there is a massive challenge for the journalistic class in the city as well. Let’s look at the city as a whole, let’s put the data on the table, not as a point of guilt, but to honestly grapple with what the numbers will tell us about how the city works.

“I’m not naïve enough to think just because I was elected, there is a new dawn. I know that’s happening and it’s painful and we are doing all we can to tackle it.”

Read more: Rees vows to tackle race discrimination