The acronym BAME

BAME, Bame, bame - where did this acronym/word appear from? All of a sudden it was around, used by many to describe Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic groups. What do you all think of this word? Is it a good description of people who are none white? Do you identify as BAME? I don't, I identify as Black and don't like catch all/category words. Surely I am not the only person who does not like the word. Who chose the word BAME anyway? It was certainly not chosen by us.

It is used to group together everyone who is not white - one homogeneous group. All categorised in the BAME group do not share the same experiences. Each group is different. Does it hide the true struggles of Black employees and candidates? Organisations have used the word BAME to group together important and distinctive groups of ethnic minorities and to inflate figures to show how diverse their organisations are when they are still suffering from a lack of diversity. The word BAME is a box ticker! Employers can be anti-black in their recruitment policies but hide behind saying they have BAME employees because that box is ticked.

Shall we refer to people as their correct nationalities - the Black community, the Asian Community etc. It would be great to hear your views on the word. Please do sign up to join my community www.allyship.co.uk