"Casual racism and unconscious bias need addressing"

Wednesday 23 September 2020

65% of respondents in a local survey believe the Channel Islands have a racism problem, with some saying there is still a "great deal" of racism in Guernsey and Jersey.

Island Global Research surveyed more than 700 residents in Guernsey and 600 in Jersey about racial and ethnic equality in the islands.

16% of those who completed the survey said there is a "great deal" of racism in their island, with another 49% saying there is, to "some extent".

More than half of Channel Island respondents believe changes are still needed to give all racial and ethnic groups equal rights locally, with just 22% of Guernsey people saying the island had already made changes to address the issue, compared to 31% in Jersey.

Pictured: 16% of Channel Island respondents said there is still a "great deal" of racism.

Most of the people surveyed had heard of the Black Lives Matter movement, with half saying they support it.

"The discrimination against black people, which sometimes goes as far as being fatal, is just wrong," one respondent said. "It must stop. Skin colour should never mitigate against anyone."

Another added: "I would like to see a non-political Black Lives Matter group that I could really get behind and support all the way to full equality."

The respondents were asked, when it comes to discrimination due to race and ethnicity, whether they thought the bigger problem for the Channel Islands was "people not seeing racial discrimination where it really does exist" or "people seeing racial discrimination where it really does not exist". 57% - the majority of whom were under 40 -  said not seeing racism was the bigger issue.

Pictured: Half of respondents said they support the Black Lives Matter movement.

"While a few voices felt [racial and ethnic equality] is a topic that doesn't need addressing and doing so encourages division, there were also a number of people who expressed hope that the results of this survey will encourage their island to move forward in challenging some people's attitude and behaviour towards those of a different race, ethnicity or place or brith," a spokesperson for Island Global Research said.

"Of those that see this is an issue relevant to their island, it was commonly believed to be 'casual' racism and unconscious bias by individuals (rather than organisations) that most needs addressing. Education and increased awareness of the issues to encourage attitude change was commonly suggested.

"This is not to invalidate those with different experiences.

"We'd like to thank those who shared experiences of more overt acts of racism, as well as those who explained that they had never experiences any problems in this respect."

The survey results are available to read in full HERE.