Conversations With Coleman

Race & Inequality Across the Pond with Inaya Folarin Iman

Feb 3, 2023

Inaya Folarin Iman, founder of The Equiano Project, discusses race relations in the UK and the influence of Black Lives Matter. They explore the misportrayal of a race report in the media, the complexities surrounding Black Lives Matter, and the impact of recent protests. They also touch on decolonizing the curriculum, differences in connotations of 'liberal' between the US and UK, controversy surrounding statue removals, and the Sasha Johnson case.

01:23:38

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Episode guests

Inaya Folarin Iman

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Quick takeaways

The report commissioned by Lord Tony Sewell challenges the prevailing narrative on racial disparities in the UK, emphasizing cultural factors, family structure, individual behavior, and education as additional factors to consider in addressing disparities.

Sasha Johnson's shooting case highlights the complexity of violence and crime within communities, showcasing the danger of assumptions based on racial narratives and the need for nuance when discussing such incidents.

Deep dives

The Report on Racism and Socioeconomic Disparities

The report commissioned by Lord Tony Sewell aimed to examine racial disparities in the UK and challenge the prevailing narrative. It found that there were disparities within ethnic minority groups as well as between ethnic minorities and white people. The report emphasized cultural factors, family structure, individual behavior, and education as additional factors to consider in addressing disparities. While it acknowledged the existence of racism, it argued for a focus on models of success and empowerment rather than solely victimhood. The report generated controversy and was dismissed by some as a whitewash, but it opened up a different perspective on interpreting the data.

Introduction

3min

Race, Racial Identity, and the Broken Conversation

14min

Decolonizing the Curriculum and Its Impact on Universities

4min

Differences in Connotations of 'Liberal' in the UK and US

21min

Controversy Surrounding the Removal of Statues and Buildings

21min

The Sasha Johnson Case: Mistaken Identity in a Turf War

15min

Future Ambitions and Building Networks for Liberal Democracy

4min

My guest today is Inaya Folarin Iman. Inaya is the founder of The Equiano Project, a British organization dedicated to promoting free speech, common humanity, and universalism. She recently organized a conference called "Towards the Common Good" hosted at Cambridge, where John McWhorter, Glenn Loury, Thomas Chatterton Williams, and yours truly, spoke along with a host of British thinkers who are fighting in the same trenches that people like John, Glenn, Thomas and myself are. Inaya is one of the major people fighting this fight in the UK. She also ran for Parliament as part of the Brexit party in 2019 and has written for many outlets in the UK including The Telegraph, Spiked and Unheard.

In this episode, we discuss Inaya's background growing up in a working-class immigrant family. We talk about the influence of Black Lives Matter and the George Floyd moment in the UK. We discuss the similarities and differences between the US and the UK with regard to race relations. We talk about the contents of Boris Johnson's commission on race and how that report was misportrayed in the media. We also talk about the tragic cases of Sasha Johnson (a Brit) and Jazmine Barnes (an American), both of whom call into question which Black lives matter, and which Black lives don't.

I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did.