Friends House accused of ‘toxic culture’ on race and religion
Former employee says she was treated badly at BYM.
A former Britain Yearly Meeting (BYM) employee has made a series of allegations over social media about her treatment at Friends House, accusing the organisation of being part of a ‘toxic culture’ around race and religion in the charity sector.
Sahdya Darr, who now works for the Open Rights group, tweeted a long thread which was shared and ‘liked’ by several Friends, including BYM employees. Some of the incidents she mentions include comments by the recording clerk, the deputy recording clerk, another senior member of staff, a trustee, and two of her line managers in the Quaker Peace & Social Witness department.
The former member of the Peace & Disarmament team said she went through three grievance procedures: one instigated by her; the other counter-instigated by her manager; and another instigated again by her. She raised the first grievance against her second line manager when, she says, ‘in an email to the only other PoC [person of colour] in the team, he writes that Black & Brown people need to be more reflective about their own speciesist privilege & also their unhelpful & oppress attitudes towards animals’.
In the Twitter thread, Sahdya Darr, who is Muslim, says that her second manager tried to ‘force his vegan beliefs’ on her. ‘He explains to you what your religion says about how you should treat animals. He compares the treatment of animals to slavery. You call him out & he responds with “But my gf [girlfriend] is Black,”’ she tweeted.
Sahdya Darr added that when she tried to speak to two trustees about racism, one said: ‘Well, you were hired.’ She also complains that her first line manager said she took up ‘too much space’ and, in a team discussion about his successor, that ‘we all know it should go to a Quaker’.
When she told the deputy recording clerk that she felt she had no option but to leave, she says she was told that ‘sometimes that’s the best option’. The Friend understands that some members of staff do not feel the thread conveys a fair picture.
Paul Parker, recording clerk, whose alleged conversation about Ramadan is also recounted, said: ‘We’re working really hard at BYM to become a truly anti-racist employer. It wouldn’t be appropriate to comment publicly on grievances involving members of staff, but I know we still have a lot of work to do to achieve this goal across the organisation. I care very much that all our staff feel welcomed, valued and respected. It saddens me that this has not always been the case. We take it very seriously when things are raised with us and it’s important that we’re accountable when things go wrong. Creating a culture of anti-racism will involve work for us all, and we are still learning how to do it. It is not easy. We may well stumble along the way. But it’s what we’ve got to do.’
The tweets were part of the hashtag #NotJustNCVO in which people share incidents of discrimination in the charity sector against protected characteristics such as race and religion.
Comments
Yes tit is clear here is more work to be done on this issue. Do staff at Friends House undergo training on race and discrimination?
By Susan McQuail on 8th March 2021 - 10:22
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