White students blocked from barrister work experience scheme

“Bar Council allows only black or mixed-race candidates to join a six-week summer internship”

I’m aware of situations where very wealthy ethnic minorities, who would otherwise be able to afford volunteering or similar experiences, have been granted these opportunities over poor white individuals.

As a country, we’ve become so hyperfocused on race and ‘racism’ we’ve lost sight on fairness and true equality.

I’m not jumping into the discussion about whether this is ok, but I want to point out that this headline is deliberately worded to fuel the current culture war. The program in question is specifically for black people, or mixed-race people with black heritage. So it excludes Asian people too, but the Telegraph’s slant makes it seem specifically anti-white.

All the white kids in the poverty ridden council estates clearly dont need a hand.

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Typical misleading headline to try and invent a fake race war.

The council run multiple work experience schemes, which help target minorities that are underrepresented in the industry. Yes, that includes Black people. There are also other schemes that exist to support people from lower socio-economic groups.

It’s an important scheme to make sure that it’s not only privileged rich white people who get opportunities in lucrative careers. Anyone who thinks that this is ‘racist’, either doesn’t understand what the scheme is for, or simply doesn’t like black people.

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> allows only black or mixed-race university students and graduates to join a six-week summer internship.

Lol, so not just white people. Only one ethnic minority is allowed to join the internship. How is this not considered discrimination? Race is a protected characteristic.

Can we say now that the UK has institutional anti-White racism?

The headline is misleading, as the below quote from the article states, they don’t exclude white people, they have targeted schemes for several socioeconomic categories and this is just one of them. I would understand the outrage if they did this scheme and nothing else  but that’s not the case. 

Barbara Mills KC, who chairs the council, and Malcolm Cree, its chief executive, said in a statement that it also offered work experience schemes for other groups.

“Work experience and mentoring programmes we offer to other groups at the Bar include work experience placements based on socio-economic background – e.g. school attended, first generation to attend university, or receipt of free school meals,” they said.

I’m not sure why they single out White students in the headline? This is just discrimination against anyone who isn’t Black.

This is just a continuation of what we’ve been importing from the US. We see it in advertising as well.

How many South Asian, East Asian, Arabs, Polynesian and Mestizo people do you see in our adverts on TV here?

Then compare it to how many White and Black actors you see in these adbreaks.

These programs are Black-centric because it’s an issue to do with the guilt modern America has with their disgusting treatment of Black people for centuries. And now we’ve imported it.

I’m a white working class male pursuing the Criminal Bar. I’ve never benefited from any scheme (I’m sure some are out there)

I don’t mind. I don’t mind because I can finally say, when I’m a pupil barrister, I fought for every inch. I’ve already fought for a lot of work experience, networking, competitions and doing well at Uni.

This is a really, really tough vocation, and it will give me immense satisfaction to finally accomplish what I’ve set out to do with only myself to applaud.

I know of a black person in a similar corporate diversity scheme in the UK given an armchair ride to a very desirable and in-demand position with all the perks. A decade later it turns out they’ve been stealing the entire time, in addition to being pretty bad at their job in general. A total embarrassment for the organisation concerned and they’ve gone to great lengths to bury it

I do think appropriate schemes from those with a hard start in life can be helpful.

That being said, my workplace has a scheme for black people (yes, just ‘black’ people, not even sure it’s that strictly defined so just luck of the draw if you’re dark enough), women, those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, fast track schemes for those without degrees, people with disabilities, plus a few more.

And at our place, those schemes work. An incredibly high percentage go on to become Directors or higher, as obviously you get noticed by the higher ups. And I know I shouldn’t moan, those people likely work very hard to succeed.

But I had a single mum who went bankrupt, just as I was going to uni, I’m busily paying off my student debt, I upskill with whatever courses I can afford. But when you get told, sorry you’re a white male with a degree, no free training for you, it does feel like a bit of a slap on the face.

Imagine the uproar if a work experience scheme said “whites only” on it.