What’s in the name BAME? ‘Unhelpful’ term set to be scrapped

Britain’s new race commission issues 264-page report on racial inequality

Protesters kneel on the ground during a Black Lives Matter demonstration in London last summer, a movement that led to the launch of a new commission by the UK government to investigate racial inequalShow more

The UK government looks set to call on public bodies to drop the term BAME, an acronym for black, Asian and minority ethnic, after the release of a report by the Commission on Race and Ethnic Disparities recommended an overhaul of official policies.

The body, set up after last year's Black Lives Matter protests, has issued 24 recommendations including advice to scrap the "unhelpful and redundant" label. To see more progress in minority communities it also recommends longer school days and more targeted career advice. It also recommends a move away from workplace practices such as 'unconscious bias training'.

The prevalence of racism in western society has come under increasing scrutiny over the past year, most recently after revelations of racism within the British royal family made by Meghan Markle reignited the issue. Across the pond, America is in the grips of a new movement with the Stop Asian Hate campaign.

While the UK commission’s remit included reviewing the causes of disparity within the areas of education, employment, health, and police and criminal justice, details around those findings have yet to be revealed.

Critics of the catch-all term, which was first coined in the 1970s as a means of widening solidarity among non-white people facing racism, say it fails to differentiate the experiences of Britain’s varied and many ethnic groups.

Speaking on LBC radio, the shadow justice secretary David Lammy agreed. “I’ve said for ages that the term is lazy, it’s impersonal. I don’t like being described as jargon. I’m not jargon. I’m black, I’m English, I’m British and I’m proud.”

Speaking alongside Mr Lammy, director of the campaign group Abolish BAME, Jessica Lee, said she welcomed the recommendation. “‘BAME’ is a problematic term that allows organisations to lump minority ethnic communities into one tidy group. Cultural heritage shouldn’t be treated like a box-ticking exercise,” the campaign group posted on Twitter.

The pandemic has further highlighted the failings of the umbrella name in paying due attention to the differences between ethnic groups as demonstrated, for example, by the lower uptake of vaccines among black people than among Asians, despite both groups often being reported singularly under BAME. The differences in familial, economic and education factors of people are other noteworthy considerations when addressing racial injustice.

The government had already been reproached by campaigners for launching a new commission when six reviews into race were published in the past three years.

Criticism was levied at Tony Sewell, the head of the race commission, and Munira Mirza, the government adviser who set it up, for comments questioning the existence of institutional racism in the UK.

Nevertheless, the commission’s suggestions will be welcomed by those who have worried that the acronym was resulting in merely symbolic changes through quotas rather than addressing the various ways in which racial inequalities manifest.

Advocates of dropping the acronym also pointed out that BAME failed to adequately represent all minorities, including white minorities such as Roma and traveller communities.

After several delays, the report is not due to be released until later this week. But The Daily Telegraph said the commission is likely to argue "for a more multifaceted approach" with a "greater focus on tracking the outcomes of individual ethnic groups".

Tackling racism needs more than words

There are fears that abandoning the acronym might be a token effort by the government to tackle complex and deeply rooted issues.

The chief executive of the Runnymede Trust, an independent race equality think tank, echoed a concern of campaign groups that the commission's work might not be substantive. "If advice on the use of the term BAME is the extent of the commission's findings, or the most pressing of its recommendations, then Britain's ethnic minority communities are being insulted by this report and its authors," Halima Begum told The Guardian.

Maurice McLeod, the chief executive of Race on the Agenda, told the UK newspaper that he hoped the report would yield more than “just a style guide”.

Last week, The Guardian reported that the commission was considering ordering companies of more than 250 employees to disclose any pay gaps between white employees and their ethnic-minority colleagues.

Those institutions that have grown accustomed to the label might find that a change or removal of a single and clear term could undermine efforts to increase diversity and track its progress.

While a replacement to the term BAME remains unclear, preferred terms include those more commonly used in the US such as ‘people of colour’, ‘ethnic minorities’ or ‘Bipoc’ (for black, indigenous and people of colour). The risk is that one inadequate term is replaced by another without dealing with issues of representation and equity.

The worry is that amid the chatter and excitement over names and acronyms, the goal – to identify and redress long-standing racial injustice across all sectors – will be lost. In the end, greater attention must be given to the treatment received by those who are discriminated against than the name they are given.