The man spearheading Liverpool City Region’s race equality programme wants to work with communities to deliver lasting change that is sorely needed.
Emy Onuora knows first-hand how immigrant families can succeed against the odds. The academic and author hails from a sporting family – growing up with professional footballer brother Iffy and sister Anyika, an Olympic medallist.
As a member of the team delivering the city region investment in addressing racial inequality, he knows that many children fail to overcome the racism which puts up barriers to success. Having grown up around Smithdown Road, he knows all about the famous Liverpudlian history of community and solidarity.
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As project manager of Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram’s race equality programme, he now faces the job of extending that proud tradition to the Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) communities. He said: “Historically the city region has always prided itself with issues of social justice – you think about the Hillsborough campaign, the dockers strike and the boycott of the S*n newspaper.
“Unfortunately, that has not manifested itself in terms of race equality. We have had minority ethnic communities for longer – this has not, by and large, been a post-Windrush community – it predates that by a couple of centuries so structural racism has been ingrained for longer.
“We have had positive action initiatives over the years but there has been no continuation, no structural change. Hopefully now things are beginning to change and we are starting to move in the right direction.”
May 25 marked two years since the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, sparking Black Lives Matter protests across the world. In the wake of the demonstrations, Mayor Rotheram committed to tackling institutional and systemic racism with a declaration that the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority will help an extra 5,000 BAME residents through employment and skills programme by 2025. It will also more than double its own BAME workforce from 3% to reflect the City Region population of 6%.
Furthermore, 6% of senior positions will be held by BAME employees and the authority will be required to increase representation each year. Liverpool now has its first Black MP and city mayor, with a £3.2 million Race Equality Hub starting to take shape.
Emy, 57, said community leaders are impatient for change but he is acutely aware that in the past such initiatives often produce little lasting effect. He said: “Our research tells us that no-one anywhere gets this right.
“We looked for successful models in the UK and USA and we found none, so we really are in uncharted waters. Heads might roll but the issue inevitably moves down the list of priorities and we move on.
“What people fail to do is understand barriers, learn lessons and develop a new kind of policy. We want to embed long-term funding and make sure we do this with communities rather than doing it to them – hence our co-design approach.”
“The Mayor is on board and is very supportive. We need to ensure the hub is long term and commercially viable. It is going to take more than two or three years to achieve.”
Emy’s 2015 book Pitch Black: The History of Black British Footballers, looked at footballing racism through the eyes of some of the most influential players of their generations, including Liverpool legend John Barnes. Emy said initiatives to increase diversity in employment will be broadly based around demand and supply and centre around a strategy of persuasion and encouragement.
He said: “We will target our growth sectors and ask them to provide positive action - to ring fence opportunities for Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups.
“We will provide pre-support, through things like interview, applications and CV preparation, so that they are able to gain entry to those opportunities. We will do work with organisations that want to diversify but don’t know where to start, for example an engineering firm with a family ethos, perhaps one that traditionally recruits from sons and friends of workers.
Having worked in the field and in the community for many years, Emy understands the appetite for change but also the need to deliver tangible results. He said: “It is exciting and frightening at the same time.
“All things being well, it is going to be a game changer and will have a real effect on the city region. It is innovative and the opportunity to help shape its development is really exciting.
“The frightening bit is the anticipation from the community. Everyone has seen it all before and there is a lot of scrutiny. People are sceptical, which is healthy, but they are willing to suspend this scepticism if things begin to move in the right direction.”
“We are going away from the model of intervention where you throw money around. We want to do something strategic, long term and think about its development. Race equality is not going to be addressed in the short term.”
