Features / Racism
Neil Maggs on whiteness, class and tackling racism
As a working-class man who grew up in a multi-cultural area of Bristol, Neil Maggs had never really explored what it meant to be white before.
In a BBC Radio 4 Analysis programme, the Easton-based journalist and presenter examines how a better understanding of identity and white privilege could be the key to successfully challenging structural racism and being an effective ally in tackling it.
He talks to prominent Bristol people, including Desmond Brown, chair of the Lammy Review Group for Avon and Somerset Police, poet Lawrence Hoo, Kerry Bailes, a Hartcliffe-based activist and Dr Stever Garner, a professor at The University of Bristol, as well as Robin DiAngelo, anti-racism trainer and author of White Fragility, and Eric Kaufmann, author of Whiteshift: populism, immigration and the future of white majorities.
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“They contacted me because I think they had seen some of my documentary stuff and I had written a couple of articles on the issue of race and class,” Neil says, speaking to Bristol24/7 ahead of his national radio debut.
“The whole issue of whiteness and white people talking about being white is quite niche and quite new but has been going on in academia for a while.
“I think they wanted a voice that was grounded in some of the issues.
“Usually, the people comfortable talking about being white are on the far right. But by understanding what whiteness is – the institutional structure of superiority – and for white people to talk about their own whiteness and understand that reality and their privilege, it’s a step to being a more effective ally.”
Neil Maggs talks to a number of Bristol people for the BBC Radio Four programme
Maggs talks to people with differing views during the programme and says he learnt a lot about himself as well through DiAngelo’s book.
“I reflect upon the process and the journey as I go through,” he tells Bristol24/7.
He says the programme is likely to trigger a debate and his key driver is to tackle racism and the rise of the far right in an effective way.
Explaining what he means with reference to his home city of Bristol, Maggs says: “Sometimes discussions around diversity and representation feel a bit like an echo chamber.
“My driver is challenging people who are racist or ignorant but I want to do it in a way that is effective. I think, at the moment, people feel pushed.
“The drive for diversity has to have far more depth. It’s about understanding the realities of racism and structures in society.
“I believe the answer is to bring the white people on those council estates with us. It’s got to be grounded in reality. It’s about bringing people with us not pushing them away.”
BBC Radio 4’s Analysis programme will be available to listen to online shortly after broadcast.
Read more: Time for change in Bristol
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