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When Equity’s Council was last elected, there was nary a mention in any of the candidates’ statements about diversity – and every single person elected turned out to be white. \u00a0Hardly a big surprise, since there was not a single BAME candidate to vote for!<\/p>\n
If you are a BAME actor, 100% white\u00a0is how Equity has appeared historically (just look at the pictures on the walls of Guild House) and we have relied on good will, sometimes patronising, to make a case for diversity issues. \u00a0The slow-drip lack of leadership within Equity on this issue has led directly in my view to the emergence of Act for Change, a drop in BAME membership and the idea that Equity is irrelevant for BAME actors.<\/p>\n
If, like me, you are a BAME actor who feels a trade union with over 44,000 members should not be irrelevant, should be more representative, and feel that the mere presence of BAME actors on Equity’s\u00a0Council will improve matters, read on.<\/p>\n
I complained at the time of the last election that there was no guidance available to help BAME actors know who to vote for. \u00a0I asked around; on Facebook and among friends, and no one had a clue who to vote for to champion\u00a0diversity. \u00a0Not to say there was no one who did this (Charlotte Cornwell being a great pro-BAME and pro-Diversity\u00a0\u00a0example) but who should we vote for, given no BAME actor\u00a0had stood?<\/p>\n
I discovered that there was a lot of politicking (with an exceedingly small p) that took place in these elections. \u00a0Factions exist within the union; encouraging people to vote for one group\u00a0or another. \u00a0As far as BAME members are concerned this is like worrying whether you should be port or starboard on the Titanic. \u00a0(Equity’s answer historically is neither – BAME members\u00a0should be downstairs in the stoking room!). It makes no\u00a0difference to BAME\u00a0actors, whether All-White team #1 or All-White team #2 are elected! Neither of the factions have much of a stance on diversity and it was left to us BAME members to choose which of the factions’ lists to follow – or to take random pot luck. \u00a0 Equity’s BAME members mostly did not bother to even vote.<\/p>\n
This year it is better. \u00a0After some positive recent changes in attitude and organisation, (Act For Change, Lenny Henry etc.) Equity has at last made some meaningful\u00a0changes within its rules, so it can proactively stand up for diversity. \u00a0Thanks to\u00a0the Ethnic Members Committee, Equity is\u00a0now able\u00a0to make a critical comment when diversity has been overlooked, and did so for the 1st time when it criticised The Rose Theatre’s War of the\u00a0Roses\u00a0production last autumn. The impact of this was enormous\u00a0and has changed some BAME actors’\u00a0attitudes towards joining the union already\u00a0(though it is incredible that until 2015 the union had never before done this).<\/p>\n
Equity is still playing catch-up, but in another unprecedented change for the better in the upcoming elections there are BAME candidates you can\u00a0vote for. \u00a010 of them! Ten –\u00a0in general seats – and there is still the protected seat, which could mean that BAME members could comprise 12\u00a0of the 33 seats if we all were to vote in a co-ordinated way (given that Abiola OGUNBIYI is already elected unopposed into the Young Members Seat). \u00a0I think that rather than have to guess which\u00a0white actors have a pro active\u00a0stance on diversity, (duh – no one is going to come out\u00a0for racist casting!) and end up with it being overlooked (as usual) or ignored (as it was by more than half of the current ones when I emailed them directly about it) it is better for BAME actors to simply vote for those candidates who are BAME and intrinsically understand the\u00a0issues.<\/p>\n
Of course, being a BAME actor since the 80s, I remember well Equity’s\u00a0then so-called, “Afro-Asian Committee” struggling to be heard. \u00a0In those heady days, each meeting descended into a shouting match and there was a lot of rivalry between BAME actors.\u00a0The idea of coordinating BAME actors\u00a0to vote for a specific outcome to benefit us all in those years\u00a0was a long way down the line – but now do I feel we have a chance? \u00a0And of course, just because a candidate is BAME doesn’t mean they will represent your views any better than one who is not BAME. \u00a0 Of course, you may know someone not BAME, who is standing and like them personally, and cant I vote for them? \u00a0 Isn’t this just a big personality contest? \u00a0 Yes, yes and YES! \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
However, the\u00a0biggest problem Equity has had- \u00a0and for me why ACT FOR CHANGE even sprung up – is Equity’s\u00a0appalling record on dealing with BAME casting and diversity.<\/p>\n
At this stage, I feel that every BAME actor\u00a0voted to Equity’s Council\u00a0(and it is not a huge number of votes required to succeed) makes a massive difference to our union. \u00a0I am not saying you should not\u00a0vote for your mates. \u00a0I am saying that if you are one of the many\u00a0BAME members who thinks it makes no difference who you vote for, and usually don’t cast any votes at all, then just for an experiment, vote for all the\u00a0members named here\u00a0(AND THESE PEOPLE ONLY<\/strong>!).<\/p>\n VOTE FOR: (in the order\u00a0they appear in the document)<\/p>\n I \u00a0was under the misapprehension that you could vote online. \u00a0I was\u00a0wrong about that. \u00a0Apparently it is something to do with trade union ballot law disallowing it.\u00a0 \u00a0What it appears we\u00a0need to do is reach for the envelope, tick the names above, seal it and post it.<\/p>\n (I have simply\u00a0guessed that the above members are BAME, by their picture and reading their biogs. \u00a0I may be wrong. \u00a0Apologies if so. \u00a0I may have overlooked someone. \u00a0Please let me know and I will correct.)<\/p>\n To clarify this post: you may know someone or want to support someone anyway –\u00a0and that’s\u00a0fine with me. \u00a0These are only suggestions for those of you, who like me at the last election, have no idea who best represents your\u00a0interests as a BAME member and would otherwise throw away your vote, because Equity seems irrelevant to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Don’t just bin the letter from Equity with the candidates and your voting slip (like i have done every time since I joined in 1988)! Get it out, scroll to the bottom of this and vote for the names listed! You can vote for all of them. For the first time, I have information for BAME … Continue reading I’m a BAME actor – who do I vote for in Equity Elections 2016?<\/span> \n