The African Council - Scottish Government consultations
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The African Council
Response to 2021 Scottish Census Consultation – re Topic
1a What do you, or have you used 2011 Census information about ethnicity and national
identity for? Select all that apply.
Resource allocation
Service planning and delivery
Targeting investment
Policy development and monitoring
Research requirement
Not used (go to Question 2)
Other purposes - please specify
If 'Other'
The Council notes that this consultation is only about whether a topic should be included in
the 2021 Census and not about the detail of the question itself. NRS writes ‘The focus of
this paper is on information required at topic level, not the detailed questions that
should be asked on the questionnaire. The detail of the content of the questionnaires
will only be finalised after a comprehensive programme of research, testing and
further discussions with users’ The plans for this programme are currently being
developed and will be published on Scotland‟ Census website in due course’1
The African Council (Scotland) welcomes this undertaking and very much looks
forward to this further consultation with ethnic minority representatives on question
content – a process which was not carried out during the formulation of the final
2011 Ethnic Question.
Our first request is that an Ethnic Question should be about ‘Ethnicity’ and not about
Colour or ‘National Identity’; and it should certainly not contain all three elements
in one question. There was a separate National Identity question in any case, and
we leave others to make the case for the inclusion of a separate National Identity
Question.
Colour coding of human beings is ethically wrong and it does not reflect any form of
reality. It is a racist construct which has no scientific basis and which not only
informed the Trans-Atlantic African Slave Trade, colonialism, the SA Apartheid, but
also the rise of modern European racist organisations like the BNP, as well as far
right European political parties. Only such organisations could seriously propose a
business case for the degrading and colour coding of fellow human beings. We have
seen no evidence from GROS, or now NRS, to justify the design of an ethnicity
question which uses colour coding for any community.
1
https://consult.scotland.gov.uk/national-records-of-scotland-survey/scotlands-census-2021-topic-
consultation/supporting_documents/Topic_Consultation.pdf
1Whatever happens in the rest of the UK, it is the African Council’s view that Scotland
requires an ethnic question which treats all (ethnic) communities equally; and we will
provide a full case for such a question when NRS carries out its promised further
consultation on question detail.
We use Census data to compare the equalities progress of all identified communities
(not just minority ethnic communities but also indigenous Scottish communities – for
instance we note that African Community members do better in the school
education system than the indigenous Scottish population) across all the socio-
economic variables that the Census provides.
However, we had huge difficulties on a number of counts:
The 2011 ‘Ethnic’ Question is confusing for respondents as demonstrated by
the cognitive research carried out by GROS in about 2008. This means we
cannot be certain that respondents ascribed themselves as intended by the
question designers so the error levels are unknown (also there are no
published details about the levels of variable person and household levels of
imputation)
Some communities were described relatively unambiguously – for example
the Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi communities. However, because of
colour coding, it was impossible to fully investigate the state of equalities for
the African community. The same comment applies to the Caribbean
community.
GROS/NRS did not provide detailed ethnic variable breakdowns for the
Standard Output Tables except for identity variables. They did not provide
detailed tables against socio-economic variables nor any method for us to
construct our own tables. Because of colour coding and the inclusion of an
extra category of ‘Black’ the African Council could not determine accurately
the full equality status of its community members. To do this required, as a
starting point, three-way tables of country of Birth vs Ethnicity vs equality
variable. NRS say they only provide further tables at a cost - and this limited
and damaged our ability to carry out our equalities research.
Therefore what follows may look like limited use of 2011 Census output but
we had to take great care to work around the poor quality restricted output
from NRS.
We have identified the state of the African population compared to the state of all
other ethnic groups and used the data, as far as is possible given the poorly
constructed question and weak output from NRS, to counter racist type output which
amalgamated African and Caribbean and ‘Black’ as if ‘Black’ was a real grouping,
denying the separate histories which have forged different communities and denying
the different ways and purposes in which members of the African community have
arrived in Scotland.
The bulk of our work has therefore been to counter groups which use ‘Black’, BME or
BAME amalgamations as ‘political’ tools to gloss over ethnic diversity and difference.
These groups – some of which we would regard as well-meaning but naïve rather
than racist - were encouraged by the NRS’ ‘Ethnic/National Identity/Colour’ output. In
fact, GROS/NRS created a severe problem; and most of our effort has been in
2countering the damage done rather than working on equality issues as we should
have been able to.
Nonetheless, with the encouragement of equality organisations such as the
Grampian Regional Equality Council and its Alliance partners (SAREC) in Scotland,
the founders of the African Council have over recent years managed to conduct
some preliminary self-funded research into the employment status of members of
our community. The Council has also conducted a further survey as well as evidence
based review of the existing research data regarding the employment as well as
educational status of Africans in Scotland.
1b For what specific purpose do you, or have you used 2011 Census information on ethnicity
and national identity?
The African Council has not used National Identity for any purpose though it may
have been useful as a separate question had the ‘‘Ethnic/National Identity/Colour’
question been an ethnic question. In the future, a National Identity Question may be
used to determine whether ethnic minority community members were becoming
welcomed into Scotland and integrated in any sense.
However, we are not aware of any research, which has investigated whether the
National Identity question can act as a proxy for integration and until this is done the
business case for National Identity remains weak – though we understand it was
originally included so that ethnic group members could affirm their Scottishness -
and so making the nationality rubric within the ‘Ethnic/National Identity/Colour’
question unnecessary (So why was it included in the ‘Ethnic’ question?). Whatever
the reasons for its inclusion, our view is that including/conflating National identity in
an already flawed and unequal census framework in which some communities
ethnicity are respected enough to be captured as they are while others are
denigrated (it is important to note that the term ‘denigrate’ means ‘blacken’ (Tsri,
2015: 5) through colour coding is certainly NOT the best way of encouraging African
people to affirm their ‘Scottishness’!
For each sub-topic, please include details of any additional information sources you have used, what
specific use you have made of census information and why the information is important for that.
Ethnic group
We use Scottish Government Education Statistics along with output from School
Leaver and University Destination Statistics. We use ONS Labour Force data on
employment status (although that is highly colour-coded and should be made to
conform to the Scottish Parliament Standards on Ethnicity). We also use some
Scottish Government commissioned research but, often, because of the mixed and
poor quality of its ethnicity output, this is often to try and disentangle exactly which
communities are really represented by the studies.
National identity
We have not used this variable, have no objections to using it (as a separate
question), and assume we would in the future - that is once a time series and the
3relationship between this ‘soft’ variable and real social impacts have been
established, i.e. whether (or not) it is a good proxy for integration, for example.
2a At what geographical level do you, or have you used information about ethnicity and
national identity? Select all that apply.
Scotland
Council area
Scottish Parliamentary Region
Scottish Parliamentary Constituency 2011
Westminster Parliamentary Constituency
Health Board Area
Community Health Care Partnership
Multi-member Council Ward
National Park
Postcode Sector
Settlement
Locality
Civil Parish
Inhabited Islands
SNS Data zone
Output Area
Other - please specify.
Please specify if
2b If you need information about ethnicity and national identity for population sub-groups,
please describe:
the population sub-group,
the purpose of your analysis,
the level of geography used in your analysis and
the sub-topic it relates to.
The African Council feels that the Ethnic question will have to help understand why
people come to Scotland but perhaps not as a direct question. The original African
Community, before the current refugee crisis, came because of the strengths of the
Scottish University system and were largely academic. There was only a relatively
small – as is still the case – Caribbean community in Scotland which was part of a
larger Caribbean community who came to the UK through government work
programmes in England; and so their roots are very different. But now we need to
identify people who have come to Scotland as refugees and asylum seekers. But
here the key question may therefore be to identify more closely where people’s
ethnic/country origins are.
4When the current Census framework was being designed, the African community
was not only small, but in many ways overshadowed by the Caribbeans. However,
the public perceptions and especially the racist treatment which welcomed them into
the UK, as well as the way in which the government responded in an attempt to stem
the potential tide of racism against Caribbeans and other ethnic minorities had a
great deal of influence on the consultation process as well as the outcome of the
major shift from the historic ‘Nationality’ Question to the ‘Ethnicity’ one. In particular,
it seems clear that government statisticians as well as members of the British
Parliament decided not only to treat African and Caribbean communities as one and
the same community, but to predicate the identity of both these quite different
communities’ ethnicity on ‘race’ (Black), with which the Caribbeans would have
identified primarily due to the legacy of slavery which denigrated so much of the
slaves’ African cultural identity.
However, as the African population has grown both in its size and diversity, the
British government and its agents have continued to ignore the reality of African
peoples’ identity and diversity. The result is that service needs of needy African
communities such as the Somalis on behalf of whom appeal was made to ONS to be
recognised in the 2001 Census seem to have fallen on deaf ears. Thankfully this is
no longer the case in Scotland, thanks to a listening Parliament and more equality
minded administration, who recognise that the purpose of the ethnic question is,
among other things, to identify the needs of distinct and real communities. This in
turn means that NRS should ensure that the 2021 census framework is such that it
would be able to capture the growing diversity brought about by the new African (and
other) migrants. In pursuit of this, we would refer NRS to GROS’ 2006 Census Test
Ethnic question as a model for the way forward. This question was proven
successful and accepted by all communities.
So we would urge NRS to seek out the needs for information on the diversity of the
new refugees, understanding that the ethnic question is not about ‘self–definition’ of
different ‘races’ but about people and communities; it’s about the diverse but
real/identifiable ethnic communities’ service needs, including equalities, not about
some politically concocted and constructed ‘community’.
We normally confine our analysis to Scotland level but we also need the major city
breakdowns and regional breakdowns.
The subtopics are Country of Birth, Religion, Education levels, Employment Status,
Car Ownership, Housing tenure, Overcrowding, Demographic data, Health and
invalidity and so on – all the equality variables which measure community progress
and disadvantage. Household income, even if banded, would be a most useful
variable. A high level Industry Sector for employment has also provided useful.
If you need information about equalities for population sub-groups, please describe: 3a Is
UK comparability a requirement for you/your work on ethnicity and national identity?
Yes, essential need
Yes, some need but not essential
3b What type of comparisons you are making. (select all that apply)
5Comparisons at similar levels (for example, comparing Council Areas between countries)
Comparisons at different levels (for example, comparing Council Areas with the UK
average).
Other – please specify
Scotland vs England, Wales, Northern Ireland but also comparison across Europe
would become an increasing need with the refugee diaspora.
3c Please provide details of the comparisons you are making, with reference to the relevant
sub-topic where possible.
The main socio-economic variables (e.g. Employment status) by age groups.
4a In 2021, is maintaining comparability with 2011 and/or earlier censuses for ethnicity and
national identity important for you/your work?
Yes
It is important to maintain comparability but not with the meaningless ‘Black’. The RG
promised to remove ‘Black’ in 2002 and that removing ‘Black’ would not harm
comparability; and it still won’t. The promise was not kept, but the correctness of his
promise stands. It should also be noted that the RG told a Parliamentary Committee
that the use of ‘Black’ (and ‘White’!) was illogical2.
We must reiterate our (evidence based) conviction that the use of Black as a people
descriptor in Scotland’s census or any other census is damaging and meaningless
(Dyer, 2002; Tsri, 2015); and therefore that to be perceived as saying that: “we want
comparability and so therefore we want ‘Black’ to remain” would be a lie. Those who
insist on ‘Black’ being used either in the census or in any serious discourse on
people’s (real) ethnicity should tell you what (real) ethnic community they represent.
Or are they calling someone else ‘Black’?
4b Please tell us why, making reference to the relevant sub-topic where possible.
We may not need to explain to NRS the importance of time series but we will just in
case. A statistical snapshot shows the current condition of the subject but a time
series shows the direction of travel. We cannot have policy, or meaningful policy
interventions and evaluation, without monitoring progress. So effective equalities
monitoring and policy development for all ethnic communities is unlikely to be
achieved without clear, unambiguous categories and without consistency over time
and without the ability to monitor progress over time.
If yes, please tell us why, making reference to the relevant sub-topic where possible.
5 Do you, or have you analysed information about ethnicity and national identity in combination with
any of the 2011 Census topics listed below? Select all that apply.
2
Equal Opportunities Committee, 04 Dec 2007. Evidence given by the Registrar General, Duncan
Macniven. fhttp://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=1180&i=5181.
6Yes
No
Housing and accommodation
Basic demographics
Household composition
Migration
Travel to work
Travel to study
Ethnicity
Identity
Language
Religion
Health
Care
Educational attainment
Labour force and socio-economic classification
6a Are you aware of alternative (non-census) sources of information about ethnicity and national
identity?
No (Go to question 7)
Yes - please specify by sub topic.
Are you aware of alternative (non-census) sources of information about ethnicity and national identity
6b Do the alternative source(s) meet your current requirements?
Yes
No - please provide details of why the alternative source does not meet your requirements in the
space below.
If you answered yes to question 6a, please tell us whether the alternative source(s) meet your current
requirements
7a Did the information collected in the 2011 Census about ethnicity and national identity meet your
needs?
7Fully
Partially
No
7b What additional information, if any, would you require about ethnicity and national identity if it
were to be included in the 2021 Census and why?
What additional information, if any, would you require about Ethnicity if it were to be included in the
2021 Census and why?
We should certainly not use the odious term ‘Black’ for humans because it
denigrates its human referents (Tsri, 2015). What is needed is clearer definition of
region/country of origin and clearer definition of cultural ethnic identity. Therefore we
feel an ethnic question should be reflective of these factors and so, for example, ask
a question about ones ‘cultural and ethnic heritage’.
What is your Ethnic Heritage? Such a question allows community members to
reflect on where their forebears came from which will become important as
generations settle in Scotland and children try to strongly identify with their school
companions. It would allow better community affiliations. Again it is interesting, but
clear that the current Census framework already captures some of our ethnic
minority communities’ response to this question, but not so with Africans and people
of African descent! Such a question would at least begin to create a basis for
equality of recognition as well as treatment.
We also think there will be a greater need to distinguish refugees’ originating from
the Middle East from those originating from North, East and West Africa. These
people are likely, at least initially, to form distinct communities with distinct needs,
strengths and weaknesses. African Council is keen to work with NRS and others to
ensure that Scotland has the framework to support these and all communities with
due respect and fairness.
A language ability question may become more important.
8 Please use the space provided below for any other comments you want to make, relevant to
ethnicity and national identity
As indicated earlier, the employment of the term ‘Black’ for humans should be
abandoned. There is much discussion in the press, between pressure groups, in the
Census Organisation and in Medical Science, about how to refer to ethnic minority
communities34. The terms questioned include ‘Black and Minority Ethnic’ (BME’);
3
As examples of recent discussions: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/22/black-
asian-minority-ethnic-bame-bme-trevor-phillips-racial-minorities
http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/rod-liddle/9425841/why-i-feel-a-glimmer-of-sympathy-for-
cumberbatch/
8‘Black and Ethnic Minority’ (‘BEM’); or the longer acronym ‘BAME’ (now including
Asians) where the term ‘Black’ (or ‘B’) is tautological and ambiguous, and often
offensive.
Many people use the term ‘Black’ to either self-identify or see its use as marking
them out as pro-equality; fair-minded people who are in some way showing solidarity
with a much abused section of society. These people are often not ‘Black’
themselves, and so are labelling someone else ‘Black’, often against their wishes.
This ‘racial appropriation’ and the associated confusion and contradictions have
persisted in part due to the legacy of African slavery on the one hand, and the
fragmentation and marginalisation of the diverse African communities on the other.
Within Scotland, the straightforward and logical term for referring to ALL ethnic
minorities - whether these be African, Asian, Caribbean or indeed European - is
‘Minority Ethnic’ or ‘Ethnic Minority’. No other words are required, no racialized
characteristic is required, no colour coding is required (Nobody is literally black or
white (Dyer, 2002; Tsri, 2015), no community is singled out. Importantly, no one
should be labelled ‘Black’ against their wishes - and to do so seems unethical and
leads to bad research. The simplified terminology also removes the need for the
equally divisive and meaningless ‘White’ ethnic category. It can be replaced by
‘European’. In relation to the use of white for humans, Dyer (2002, back cover) poses
the following question: ‘white people are not literally white or symbolically white, yet
they are called white. What does this mean?’
Apart from the very general problems associated with adding unnecessary labels to
the term ‘Ethnic Minority’ and the inherent ambiguities with the word ‘Black’—black
is embedded with negative symbolisms and used to characterise what is evil, what is
socially undesirable, and many negative qualities (Byron, 2002; Snowden, 1971 and
1983;Tsri, 2015). There are other problems with the use of black to describe and
categorise humans. For instance, people with a racist agenda seem to prefer the
term ‘Black’ to denigrate (blacken) their targeted victim. The simple term ‘Ethnic
Minority’ moves us away from the language of racists and leads towards equal
respect for each and every ethnic community. The African Council would also like to
see Scotland move away from references to such minorities as ‘Visible’ Minorities.
We say this for at least two reasons. The first is that no one is invisible to the racist!
If the rhetoric about ‘Visible’ and ‘Invisible’(?) majority was truly the case, how do
they explain Northern Ireland troubles, and such like – in Europe! – not to mention
Rwanda etc. The second is that references to ‘visible’ minorities play into the historic
racists’ tendency to focus on people’s appearance rather than their humanity as well
as on differences between members of different nationalities and cultures while
ignoring what they have in common. It is The African Council’s considered view that
if we are serious about building a cohesive and fair Scottish society out of our
diverse cultural tapestry, we must be guided by universally acknowledged and
fundamental Principles of equality based on human dignity, and which are enshrined
the Articles of the UN Charter.
4
Charles Agyemang, Raj Bhopal, Marc Bruijnzeels 2005. Negro, Black, Black African, African
Caribbean, African American or What? Labelling African Origin Populations in the Health Arena in the
st
21 Century. J Epidemiol. Community Health 2005; 59 1014-1018.
9One of the strongest reasons to avoid the use of the term ‘Black’ for Africans is that it
establishes a correlation between the negative symbolism of blackness and African
peoples (Tsri, 2015). As a consequence, they are characterised as inferior and evil
(Bernal, 1987; Snowden, 1971). Its use and negative consequences can be traced
back to the Greeks (Snowdon, 1971 and 1983; Tsri, 2015) and later to the
Europeans who masterminded and benefited from Slavery, colonialism, and
Apartheid by denigrating the identity and dignity of African people (Bastide,1967;
Haynes, 2002 ).
The so called ‘political’ use of the term in the UK came about as a result of political
appropriation of the ‘Black Power’ movement, an American phenomena and an
expression of African Americans’ struggle against systematic discrimination and
violence from fellow (European) American citizens, who, for centuries had used their
sense of racial superiority to regard and treat African Americans as sub human, an
attitude which was reinforced by racist legislation. It is worth noting not only that the
Parliamentary Committee which was tasked with helping facilitate the development
of an acceptable ‘ethnicity’ Question, actually visited the U.S in 1983 with a view to
seeing for themselves how the US Census was framed, but also, and sadly, the
undeniable link between the binary and hierarchical ‘White/Black’ dichotomy used in
the U.S Census with the framework which was finally recommended and accepted
for use in the 1991 UK Census. However, regardless of the lengths any organisation
or State may try to go to justify their use, colour coding of human beings will never
promote or deliver equality. They are part of the historic ‘race’ construct whose
purpose was, and still is, just the opposite. It is based on the myth that there are real,
fundamental, distinct and discrete differences in the characteristics of those labelled
‘White’ and ‘Black’5 6.
Whatever the reasons for using or not using ‘Black’ in social discourse, the African
Council will continue to argue that ‘Black’ is an ambiguous, odious and redundant
concept within statistical systems and removing such a category in ethnic questions
is a first step toward a clearly defined, community-based ethnicity classification.
Equalities monitoring is then not only possible but achievable - to the benefit of all
communities. The use of ‘Black’, ‘BEM’ and ‘BAME’ etc. underwrites the illogical7
inclusion of colour-coding in statistical systems, which in turn damages our ability to
monitor discrimination and promote equality and equality of opportunity for all.
5
General introductions to racism and its effects are: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism
http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/en/article/racism/
6
And the UNESCO declaration against race as a reality
http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0012/001282/128291eo.pdf
7
Equal Opportunities Committee, 04 Dec 2007. Evidence given by the Registrar General, Duncan
Macniven. “In 2001, there was an interesting attempt to find a short question that people across the
population would find easy to answer, but it mixed colour and geography by asking "What is your
ethnic group?" and then offering options such as "(a) White" or "(c) Asian". That was illogical”(Italics
our). fhttp://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/report.aspx?r=1180&i=5181.
10References
Bastide, Roger (1967) ‘Color, Racism, and Christianity’, in Daedalus, Vol. 96, No. 2: pp.
312-327.
Bernal, M. (1987). Black Athena: The Afroasiatic roots of classical civilization: The
fabrication of ancient Greece 1785–1985 (Vol. 1). New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers
University Press.
Byron, G. L. (2002). Symbolic blackness and ethnic difference in early Christian
literature. London: Routledge.
Dyer, R. (2002). White. London: Routledge.
Haynes, Stephen R. (2002) Noah’s Curse: The Biblical Justification of
AmericanSlavery. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Snowden, F. M. (1971). Blacks in antiquity: Ethiopians in Greco-Roman experience.
London: Harvard University Press.
Snowden, F. M. (1983). Before color prejudice: The ancient view of blacks. London:
Harvard University Press.
Tsri, Kwesi (2015) ‘Africans are not black: why the use of the term ‘black’ for Africans
should be abandoned’, in African Identities: DOI: 10.1080/14725843.2015.1113120
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