White privilege ‘is being sure hairdresser can cut your hair’

WHITE privilege means going to the hairdresser and being confident they can cut your hair, staff at one of Britain’s largest councils have been told in an “allyship” session.

Birmingham city council’s two-hour Zoom session tells staff that white privilege “refers to the unquestioned and unearned set of advantages, entitlements, benefits and choices bestowed on people solely because they are white”.

It adds: “Generally white people who experience such privilege do so without being conscious of it.”

The authority’s internal “allyship workshop”, leaked to The Sunday Telegraph, says it provides ways to tackle unacceptable behaviour and understand challenges faced by black staff.

However, staff have complained it is “naked and unapologetic activism” promoted by the council’s “frighteningly Maoist” Cultural Change Officers.

The workshop contains an extensive section on white privilege and lists 10 examples, with staff asked: “How many do you answer yes to?”

One example is: “I can go to a hairdresser and be sure that they can cut my hair.” Other examples fall into the “role models” category, such as going to museums and seeing white people represented by artworks, or being taught a curriculum that “testifies to the existence of their race”.

Staff are asked in the workshop, which was first rolled out in November 2020 with other renditions since, whether these examples surprise them.

They are then shown a diagram saying they should “look for opportunities where you can offer up your privilege to someone else”. Council staff are urged to be “proactive in your re-education”

‘Look for opportunities where you can offer up your privilege to someone else’

as an ally who “calls out negative behaviour”, and they should “embrace the discomfort … in this ‘safe space’”.

A council whistleblower said: “We have to accept this, or we’re [told we’re] being unacceptably defensive.”

A Birmingham city council spokesman said: “We all want a city where everyone can benefit from the opportunities that are on offer – and providing our staff with the chance to understand as much as possible about the issues people of all backgrounds can face is a crucial part of this.”