Marking the passing of George Floyd: Reflecting at Off The Record

Marking the Anniversary of the passing of George Floyd – reflecting and responding at Off the Record.

As the world marks the one-year anniversary of the death of George Floyd, Off the Record recognises the role we play in supporting our Black young people in our local area and to play a role in calling out and challenging racism and discrimination, educating ourselves and building a more equitable offer of support in the B&NES area.

This past year we have made a concerted effort to listen to Black young people, staff, and volunteers about the changes they would like to see at Off the Record. We wanted to take the time to share our work thus far and future commitments.

A young person who accesses OTR, wrote this powerful blog at the time, (read it here). One year on we want to respond to and reflect on some of the key points made by the young person and actions that OTR will be taking in the coming year and beyond.

“My peers and I would like to see less posters and more actions”.

We will respond to requests from young people who want to access counselling with a non-white counsellor. We recognise young people face different barriers to access the same service. Off the Record recognises that young people need to be supported equitably to ensure they feel comfortable seeking support and their unique experiences are understood.  We believe that making active changes is a step towards creating equality as a reality, not just an idea.

“Perhaps, bullying or racism would be less of a thing if schools taught positive things about other cultures rather than the negatives so we’d be able to break the stereotypes because bullying mostly originates from people being different.”

Experiences of bullying and discrimination can have a huge impact on young people, it can develop into internalised negative thoughts about one’s own identity, and impact on mental health. During the last year, we have delivered sessions with young people through SPACE Youth Forum and Your OTR about anti-racism, responding to hate incidents, and improving understanding of equality and diversity issues. In addition, the member of youth parliament (MYP) took part in BANES webinar which highlighted young people’s voices and response to BLM protests and the death of George Floyd. You can watch the webinar back here. 

We have supported young people to input into re-design of the process of reporting hate-based bullying and incidents. This work is in on-going partnership with Black Families Education Support Group, Stand Against Racism and Inequality (SARI) and BANES Council. This has followed on from the ‘Banter or Bullying?’ project (find out more here) which highlighted the needs of young people in BANES in relation to experiences of hate incidents. We hope this empowers young people to speak up if they experience racist or other hate-based incidents or bullying, you can read the whole report here.

“Personally, as many of my peers can agree, we’ve not experienced much direct racism. Although, a lot of people are ‘uneducated’ of cultures other than their own which can come across as hurtful when they ask certain questions or say certain things that they might not be aware that some things can be hurtful even if that’s not their intent.”

We are taking action to make sure that our staff are trained on matters relating to Racial Equality. We have invited partner organisations such as The Diversity Trust and SARI with trainers with lived experience to share and upskill our team to be better equipped to support young people in this space.

Off the Record has also recruited a trustee with equality and diversity experience to provide support to this work. We hope to ensure that our approach to this area is strategic and aligns with the new strategy that will be announced later this year.

As time passes and the conversations evolve, we will adjust and change our offer to meet the mental health needs of the Black community. OTR will continue conversations with Black young people, staff, and volunteers to ensure change is informed and reflective of what the community needs. Looking ahead, Off the Record remains committed to standing in solidarity with the Black community as we influence and shape organisations and communities that are anti-racist.