You must prioritise anti-racism in the same way you prioritise other mission-critical work over non-essential activity. We can achieve this only if research includes a broader range of perspectives – in particular, those of people most affected by the challenges we want to solve. But health challenges affect some groups more than others, and racism – rather than race – is the main reason for health disparities between racial groups.Īt the same time, far-reaching discoveries and equitable solutions for health challenges require the greatest diversity of people and ideas across science and research. Wellcome supports science to solve the urgent health challenges facing everyone. It will make our work better and enable us to achieve Wellcome’s vision. Prioritising anti-racism at Wellcome will improve the experiences of people of colour as well as creating collective progress towards a fair society. Prioritise anti-racism work by dedicating time and resource to it Now we must use our influence and power to remove those barriers, and to begin dismantling racist structures in our work and in society. Our organisation has also played a part in sustaining barriers to inclusive research, including by producing and sustaining racial inequity. Our founder, Henry Wellcome, owed much of his wealth and many items in his collection to colonialism, and our museum and library have enshrined racist systems of knowledge. As the Executive Leadership Team and Wellcome Collection acknowledged in 2020, Wellcome has perpetuated racism as a funder, as an employer, and as a museum and library. It is the dominance of schemes that racially categorise people, and the actions these false distinctions have been used to support, that has made race and racism all too real in their impact on people’s lives.Īs a global organisation based in Europe with mostly White European staff, Wellcome has to understand our role, intentional or not, in producing and maintaining racial inequity. False beliefs in some genetic or biological essence that defines all members of a racial category have been used throughout history to justify racism, and still exist today. We know from our data that we have persistent racial inequity at Wellcome – people in racially minoritised groups face a number of additional barriers compared to White people. To take anti-racist action, we need to understand how racism has shaped all of us – particularly by unduly elevating the positions and perspectives of White people over those of people of colour. If anti-racism work is unfamiliar and you aren’t sure of the best way to change things, use these principles and the accompanying toolkit to find out more, to act, and to learn from the things you try. While everyone at Wellcome is responsible for anti-racism in their everyday work, those in power are accountable for meeting our anti-racism commitments and for following these five anti-racist principles. It may also include suppliers for goods and services. This guide is primarily for people with leadership responsibilities at Wellcome, including the Executive Leadership Team, Senior Leadership Team, Board of Governors, and funding committee chairs. An anti-racist policy is any measure that produces or sustains racial equity between racial groups. Being anti-racist means supporting an anti-racist policy through your actions. Our data, our Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy, and the Black Lives Matter movement have led to Wellcome’s Executive Leadership Team committing publicly to taking an anti-racist approach.Īnti-racism is the active work to oppose racism and to produce racial equity – so that racial identity is no longer a factor in determining how anyone fares in life. Wellcome will no longer tolerate racism, and will work to ensure our actions and decisions do not sustain racial inequity.ĭespite widespread intention among colleagues to combat racism, progress is not fast enough.
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