Diversity schemes for young people - mixed race child.

[Florencesndzebedee]

I have a dc who is currently an undergraduate. I am mixed race, my dh is white. Dc is fair skinned but, through my heritage, also has black heritage (my dad is from the Caribbean).

The landscape is tough at the moment getting work placements/internships but some of these schemes are open to dc of black heritage only. My dc is reluctant to apply as he said he’d feel like a fraud, purely on looks - he looks like he might be Spanish or Greek but has blue eyes. The criteria are quite vague other than under represented people )within the organisation) of black/african /Caribbean heritage. I feel like he is entitled to apply and these schemes would give him more options.

Does anyone have any experience of these particular schemes or how they select?

White looking people can suffer racism too.

One of my friends who is black said the one thing she never expected was to give birth to a white child. OP Greek / Spanish looking too.

My friend's daughter had quite a tough time at school and whenever my friend went in to the school they assumed she was the stepmother.

OP

If he fits the criteria then he should apply.

Yes! I always remember seeing a news story. 2 males together committing g the same crime. One described as a youth the other a boy. Guess which one was black and which one was white.. the bias was shocking to see so obviously.

🙊💯🤣🤣🤣🤣

You’re saying categorically racism doesn’t exist? 🙄 Just because racism isn’t overt doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen! Lots of places like universities for example will review applications ‘blind’ so they don’t know your sex, race etc because it removes the element of unconscious bias.

I am not white and I find your comments ignorant.

You can though. If a board is entirely made up of privately educated white men (as they used to be when I started out). When it comes to recruitment people play it safe and hire people that look and sound like them. Hence centuries of posh white men in charge.
As a society we have moved on a realised working class, non white, and even female people can do as good a job and improve performance of companies because they have different perspectives.
But despite knowing this people.co tinued to hire people that look and sound like them consciously or unconsciously hence the need for these schemes.
It was only 10 years ago that there were more men called John than women as CEOs of the top companies in the UK.

Totally agree.

It's a real shame that such schemes are needed though as it isn't still the case in 2025 and ability isn't unfortunately the sole criteria.

It never had to be stated, it was a given. Educate yourself. Read up about the Civil Rights Movement, the development and maintenance of the British Empire, the slave trade, the South African apartheid, the treatment of the indigenous people of North America. Basically, the entrenched belief that white people (mostly men) are superior. This filtered (and still does) into jobs and employment.

This is why there has been a movement for more diversity and inclusion in the last 10-15 years. This is now scoffed at as disadvantaging white people.

To try and inject some lived experience here. We use the 10,000 black interns scheme at my workplace. It isn't a job, it is a six week internship and there is no job at the end. The purpose is to open up possibilities and opportunities to people from groups who are under respresented in certain sectors and role or woild not be aware of.certain careers. There are many many more barriers than overt racial discrinination to people of colour choosing and progressing in certain careers and roles. We generally see this scheme as very successful in increasing the diversity in applicants for jobs (nb we do not operate any positive discrimination schemes for jobs)

We also take part in intern schemes for students from low income backgrounds and those with disabilities for similar reasons.

To the OP your son would would qualify and there is no reason why he shouldn't apply.

This is a very tired trope.

Slave trade has nothing to do with today's employment opportunities. It's a tired and weaponised theory.

Any paragraph that starts with "go educate yourself" is usually a predictor of an unhelpful theory that follows.

If you could read my paragraph again you will see that not once did I say "racism doesn't exist" that's inflammatory.

What I did say was: discrimination based on those characteristics in the UK is not legal.

Illegal things happen all the time. Things (like colour) don't cease to exist just because you pretend not to notice them.

You said "Discrimination against non white people doesn't exist in the UK" Doesn't exist and illegal are two entirely different things. Otherwise murder doesn't exist in the UK. Or shoplifting. Or rape. Why would you think laws that make discrimination on the grounds of race illegal have managed to eradicate it, when laws making all manner of heinous acts illegal haven't managed to create a crime free society?

I do notice colour. I'm not blind. I just don't tend to use it to make up my mind whether I like someone or not.

For someone who claims colour doesn't matter you've spent an awful lot of time asking people if they are white, and talking about how different the two black women you know are to each other...
Which is evidence of neither equality nor that racism and discrimination don't exist. It is ony evidence that you pretend to overlook it, whilst spending an awful lot of evidence focusing on it.

You're attempting to rewrite what you said now because you've realised how ridiculous it was to make the claim that you did.

You said that discrimination against non-white people doesn't exist in the UK. Not merely that it wasn't legal.

It's ok to make mistakes. Just acknowledge that you were wrong.

If you couldn't understand my illustrated points: that's your problem.

I think the obvious conclusions is : you can't win with people like you.

You're wrong if you notice blackness
You're wrong if you dont notice it.
You're wrong if you dare to say "my friends are black"
If you don't have any black friends, You're critisized for that
You're wrong if you speak up for black people because you're centring yourself
You're wrong if you remain silent as you're colluding with the problem
You're wrong if you employ someone white when there's black candidates
You're wrong if you employ the black candidate under positive discrimination
I could go on and on.

So my point being , in my examples, was black people are just.... People. I refuse to play these divisive games and you'll be treated the same as I treat everyone. Based on merit.

Maybe you need to reread what you wrote. The post i am referring to is still up. You spoke about how you know 2 black ladies, one is nice one is not. And summarized that that is equality. Which it isn't.
If that wasn't your point, you shouldn't have said it. Acknowledging that black people are not a homogeny is not equality, nor is it even evidence that you treat people of any race equally.

We also take part in intern schemes for students from low income backgrounds and those with disabilities for similar reasons.

I have witnessed this sort of scheme change the lifestyle for many youths, alongside access programmes to universities.

As a working class teenager in the 90's, work experience was sweeping the floor of the local hairdressing salon or stacking boxes.

It's unfortunate that these schemes are required, those who are against them, don't suffer discrimination, it feels awful, I imagine racist discrimination feels much worse.

I think the double whammy is when kids are working class and from an ethnic minority. Add in something like a disability on top and the odds are really stacked against them.

It's a shame that some people are so resistant to attempts to give people a chance.

No. You misunderstood.

My point being was that their colour was completely and utterly irrelevant.

Whether you employ someone should not be based on whether they're "black" - because, as we can see, from my examples, black people... Are just people. by employing people purely based on how black they are is treating black people like one big homogenous mass.

Yes. I see many young people taking care roles from enthic backgrounds, walking from houses on foot to care for the vulnerable.

Fabulous intelligent youths that the government should be investing in from early years, if they want a financially stable country in the future.

Before anyone hops on me, there's plenty of middle aged people to take on the crappie roles in wc areas, let the young people be educated. Not have to work long hours to provide clothes for themselves.

I didn't misunderstand. It is what you said. Your final declaration was "Ya know what. That right there : that's equality". Page 4 if you need a refresher. Observing that black people have personality isn't equality.