The Journal's new article about anti-black racism in Ireland is utterly vacuous dribble
It took them 2600 words to say nothing at all
Joseph Okoh in The Journal has a new article about the “endemic” racism experienced by black people in Ireland. I won’t pretend that I went in with high expectations, and sure enough, it’s a rambling mishmash of thin and misleading data, confirmation bias and paranoid mind-reading, which did nothing to persuade me that anti-black racism is the scourge of Irish society that Okoh seems to think it is. I’ll go through it graf by graf, highlighting the weaker claims, shoddy argumentation and unsourced assertions as I see them.
I
The article starts as it means to go on, with a title its contents make only the faintest effort to justify:
‘It’s endemic’: Prevalence of racism in Irish workplaces at record levels.
The source of the second clause is a yet-to-be-published report compiled by the Irish Network Against Racism, which indeed found that reports of racist discrimination in the workplace by colleagues or employers had increased from 16 in 2021 to 69 in 2022.
Let’s assume for a moment that every reported incident in 2022 was a real instance of racist discrimination. Does that justify the title’s claim that racism in the Irish workplace is “endemic” (which I’m assuming Okoh intended in the colloquial sense of “widespread; prevalent”)?
As we learned from the last time I wrote about this topic, there are 64,639 people in Ireland who identify as “black or black Irish - African” or “black or black Irish - any other black background”. Assuming that none of these alleged incidents of racist discrimination are from repeat reporters, this means that the likelihood of a black person in Ireland experiencing an incident of racist discrimination in the workplace is about 1 in 1,000.
A caveat: the article does point out that black people in Ireland experience unusually high rates of unemployment, and naturally you can’t be the victim of racist discrimination in the workplace if you don’t have a workplace to go to. Citing the 2016 census, the article points out that the Nigerian rate of unemployment is 43% and the Congolese 63%. For the sake of argument, let’s assume that the average rate of unemployment for black people in Ireland is the midpoint of these two points (53%). That would put the number of employed black people in Ireland at 30,380, meaning the likelihood of a black person in Ireland experiencing an incident of racist discrimination is about 1 in 450. Okoh somehow managed to write nearly 3,000 words about how, last year, a staggering 99.8% of black people in Ireland experienced no racist discrimination of any kind from colleagues or employers, and the reader is meant to come away from it thinking that anti-black racism in Ireland is widespread to the point of being inescapable. And all of this is assuming that all of the 69 instances of racist discrimination targeted black workers, which the article never specifies (the previous year’s report provided demographic breakdowns of various statistics, but not the specific statistic regarding alleged workplace discrimination). If only a subset of those instances were reported by black people (as seems to be the case), Okoh’s case is even weaker, and racist workplace discrimination against black people in Ireland is even less common than this.
One of the report’s co-authors, Dr. Lucy Michael, seems dimly aware of how thin the data for her position are, offering the weak defense that “we believe there are many cases that go unreported.”
Ireland also fares poorly when compared to other European countries. Research by the European Union Agencies for Fundamental Rights found that when it comes to racist incidents in the workplace, Ireland ranked as one of the worst Europe-wide with a rate of 33%, compared to an average of 24%.
I’ll come back to this point later. Moving on.
II
It came as little surprise to me that, of these whopping 69 alleged instances of racist discrimination in the workplace, the article can’t cite a single example of an employer yelling a racial slur at an employee, or cracking rude jokes about fried chicken and lean. No: it’s just ordinary complaints about one’s boss being a dickhead, which the complainants are attributing to racism on the basis of little to no evidence.
Consider the article’s “lede”:
EDENNA* [the complainants are pseudonymised] HAD JUST turned up for work one morning when his manager beckoned to him for a chat.
[…]
“I got there and he told me quite bluntly that I was smelling. It was so out of the blue. He said other workers had made complaints about me, so I needed to clean up myself.
“That was the first time someone had ever questioned my hygiene. I felt so disrespected but I was the only black person in that company and I knew what it was about.” [emphasis mine]
Maybe, just maybe, Edenna smells bad? Far less embarrassing to assume your boss hates black people than to consider the possibility that you stink.
Bella* is a case management worker in the social care sector who works with homeless people, disabled people and asylum seekers. She is the only person of colour working in a department of people who are mostly Europeans.
Bella says she has “seen things that has left her feeling excluded and belittled”.
“The organisation has a culture of celebrating staff who get promoted. So, we get cards signed for the staff, write lovely messages and have parties. When it was my turn, I got nothing. Absolutely nothing was done for me,” she said.1
Maybe, just maybe, Bella’s colleagues don’t like her that much for reasons unrelated to her skin colour? Maybe her tendency to jump to the conclusion that they dislike her because they’re racist could be a contributing factor?
Not only are these grievances almost unimaginably petty (your colleagues not getting you a card; your boss telling you that you smell bad, and even extending the courtesy of telling you privately so as not to embarrass you more than necessary); not only is there no evidence that these incidents were motivated by racist animus (other than the complainants’ gut feelings); but they’re the sort of things that happen to white people in Ireland every day. I’m a white Irishman, and I’ve personally had similar experiences to both in the last five years. One rather gets the impression of a group of highly neurotic and thin-skinned people, whose petty grievances against their employers and colleagues are being taken far more seriously than they have any right to be because of the colour of their skin, rather than in spite of it.
And bear in mind: of the 69 cases of alleged racist discrimination in the workplace reported to INAR last year, these are the strongest examples Okoh can find to support his case that anti-black racism is rampant in Irish society. Imagine how pathetic the rest of the complaints must have been.
This was also found in a new report released this week by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC). It stated that “being exposed to microaggression on an everyday basis made some participants leave their workplace”.
Okoh does not given any indication of how common this is, nor does the report being cited, which simply conducted interviews with 20 people. Given that the report in question opens with nonsense definitions like this -
-and this -
- I’m not particularly inclined to take their data, findings or recommendations very seriously. Imagine that: a college campus in a country where more than 95% of the population is white, and all of their buildings are named after white people! What an unspeakable travesty.
III
“We did a focus group recently with young black Irish people between 20 and 30 and only one of eight knew there were employment equality laws that protected them. That’s problematic,” said sociologist Dr Lucy Michael.
Perhaps this is true, but note that the European Union Agencies for Fundamental Rights report previously cited found that “Overall, 46 % of respondents know of at least one equality body in the country they live in. The highest awareness levels are observed in Ireland (67 %)…”. So clearly the matter isn’t as open-and-shut as Michael is making out. Assuming the EUAFR report is credible (and Okoh must believe it is, or he wouldn’t have cited it), black people in Ireland are abundantly aware of their legal rights.
The burden of proof “should be on the employers and not the employees”, Dr Joseph [a lecturer on Black Studies at University College Dublin] said. “They should be the ones to prove they aren’t racists.”
Thanks for saying the quiet part out loud. “Presumption of innocence” is so old hat. Any complaint of alleged racism must be assumed to be true and the alleged perpretrator forced to prove their innocence. I can see no possible way such a system could be abused by bad actors.
Dr Joseph asked: “Are you saying these organisations can’t find black people to do even admin jobs?”
Well, yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying. As I previously demonstrated (at length), even if the unemployment rate for black people in Ireland was identical to that for white people, the vast majority of employers would still employ no black staff, for reasons of basic demography.
“For instance, [Joseph claims] I have observed that many companies’ unconscious bias training is watered down and ineffective. You can’t just organise an hour-long training for your staff and that’s it for the next five years. How do [sic] expect people to become anti-racists just like that?”
According to Okoh, last year there were 69 instances of racist workplace discrimination in Ireland, against a population of 4.76 million. More people died on Irish roads last year than experienced alleged racist discrimination from a colleague or employer. Either these unconscious bias training sessions are vastly more effective than Joseph claims, or they simply weren’t necessary in the first place. Given the track record such trainings have, my money’s on the latter.
“African nationals have a very low employment rate and when in work, they earn on average 14% less than Irish nationals, after accounting for background and job characteristics,” a recent ESRI report found.
But if you actually click on the link, you’ll find that eastern Europeans make 40% less than Irish nationals2, far greater than the gap between African nationals and Irish nationals. The fact that white eastern Europeans make far less than black people in Ireland doesn’t support Okoh’s argument that the earnings gap between black people in Ireland and Irish nationals is caused by anti-black racism, so he simply - doesn’t mention it? Not even in passing, in a “we’re all in this together” sort of way?
Regarding the low employment rates, the 2016 census which Okoh cites himself notes that “This lower participation rate [of recent immigrants in the labour force] can in part be attributed to higher numbers of students among this group. Just over 10 per cent of Irish immigrants were students compared with almost 22 per cent of non-Irish immigrants.” So it’s not that all of these unemployed black people in Ireland can’t find work because of racist employers - they’re just busy completing their expensive postgraduate courses.
According to the research, pay gaps exist because foreign workers are generally more likely to be found in lower quality jobs and less likely to work in professional or managerial professions – 33% compared to 44% of Irish nationals.
The report in question also found that eastern Europeans are far less likely to be found in professional or managerial roles than people from Africa. This doesn’t help Okoh’s argument either, so again, he simply doesn’t mention it.
As an aside: I’m no economist, but I’d imagine one of the biggest factors determining one’s likelihood of holding a managerial position is age. Consider this article about a report from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which found that “While 27% of all employees are under 30, they account for just 5% of all managers. At the other end of the age scale, only 10% of all workers are over 60 years of age, but they make up 19% of all managers”.
Back in Ireland, the black population skews dramatically younger than the national average. It’s hardly surprising that managers are underrepresented in this cohort, for this reason alone. I imagine this is also a contributing factor to the underrepresentation of eastern Europeans in managerial roles.
Bandama* moved from East Africa to Ireland in 2020 for what he describes as a better life.
He works in the agricultural sector and is on a General Employment Permit – which is issued by the State to attract third country nationals for occupations experiencing a labour or skills shortage.
Unlike the Critical Skills Employment Permit holders, Bandama says he is being denied certain rights.
“Currently, I don’t have freedom to change my employer, which means I am tied to one job for five years. I can’t bring my wife and son here either. If I do, they can’t work.”
Bandama, who describes his experience working on a farm as a nightmare, claims he is being exploited at work because of his visa status.
[…]
“I signed up for 39 hours of work a week but they are making me do 60 hours without extra pay. My job entails lifting a lot of heavy equipment and I have to do that six days in a week and get a day off.
My European colleagues are not on these permits so can afford to leave the job at any time but I’m stuck,” said Bandama.
This has nothing to do with an anti-black racism: a white Brazilian or Filipino on a General Employment Permit would be (probably already is) subject to precisely the same conditions or exploitation. Framing this as a race issue which specifically afflicts black Africans (as opposed to an immigrants’ or workers’ rights issue) is misleading, needlessly inflammatory and presents a missed opportunity for interracial solidarity and faction-building.
IV
Ireland has the Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989, but it has been widely considered ineffective, with only 50 prosecutions in the more than 30 years since it was enacted.
“Only 50 prosecutions” - compared to what? How many crimes does Okoh believe should have been prosecuted under this piece of legislation? He doesn’t say. The possibility that there were “only” 50 prosecutions because there weren’t many offenses violating this piece of legislation seems not to have occurred to him.
“Widely considered” - by whom? The article doesn’t cite any surveys suggesting that many people (even many black people in Ireland) think this piece of legislation is not fit for purpose. These are pure weasel words which have no place in a piece of serious journalism.3
With the recent wave of anti-immigration protests and rise of the far-right, Dr Joseph welcomes new strategies that would tackle racism and prejudice in the State.
And pray tell, what “rise of the far-right” is being referred to here? I swear I’ve seen an Irish progressive rending their hair about the “rise of the far-right” at least once a month for the past ten years, and yet the only examples of this “rise” they can point to is… people holding protests. Not even violent protests! There are four far-right political parties currently operating in Ireland (Renua, Identity Ireland4, Irish Freedom and the National Party), and none have ever had a member elected to public office in any capacity. Nor do I see any indication that Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael or any other mainstream parties are drifting into fascism. Surely if the far-right were “rising”, we would actually see some evidence to that effect?
In passing, I’ll note that the recent wave of anti-immigration protests mentioned in the article are overwhelmingly targeting purported refugees from Ukraine, most if not all of whom are as white as snow. I’m really not sure how these protests are relevant to an article about widespread anti-black racism.
“Racism is more than 500 years old [Joseph says]. Sometimes people underestimate the impact it can have on people. It’s one of the leading causes of death among black people.”
I presume Joseph isn’t referring to racially-motivated murders: to my knowledge (and I’m open to correction), not one black person has been the victim of such a murder since the founding of the state.5 I can only assume she is operating under the Ibram X. Kendi definition of “racism”, in which any disparity in outcomes between ethnic groups must be caused by racism, no further investigation required. If “racism” is defined so broadly, I don’t know how the latter assertion could possibly be demonstrated empirically, and maybe it’s to Okoh’s credit that he doesn’t attempt to do so. Perhaps he recognises the assertion for what it is: an article of religious faith, not a factual claim.
Conclusion
I am frankly appalled that an ostensibly serious outlet like The Journal would publish such a crudely argued and shoddily sourced article like this in its current form. This would be embarrassing as a text post on Reddit.
I’ll reiterate what I said the last time I wrote about this issue. If this is the best evidence that Ireland’s black activist wing can marshal in support of their claim that Ireland is an endemically racist country, their argument must be very weak indeed. I suspect these activists have been primed to view social interactions through the lens of American identity politics as a result of consuming too much US-centric social media content, which they have inappropriately generalised to an Irish context in which it doesn’t belong. White Irish people read these hysterical and largely baseless claims, and refuse to rebut them either because a) they also believe they live in the USA, even though they don’t (obviously), or b) they’re terrified of being accused of being racist for having the temerity to disagree with a black person. This pathological white guilt, which can’t even pretend to have any basis in the facts of Irish history, is inculcated through years of consuming media which depicts anti-black racism from a US perspective. There is nothing intrinsically racist about disagreeing with a black person, or even “denying their racial reality” - black people are fallible, make mistakes and misinterpret things just like anyone else. Ireland has its problems, many of them quite grave indeed, but is not, never was, nor shows any warning signs of becoming an institutionally racist country.
Bella also relates an incident in which a client admonished her to “go back to her own country”, but this didn’t come from a colleague or employer, so it’s not relevant to the point about workplace discrimination.
“Eastern Europeans earn 40% less per hour than Irish nationals overall and even when the research accounted for differences in education, occupation and workplace that gap narrowed only to 20.5%.”
Googling “Prohibition of Incitement to Hatred Act 1989” leads me to this government press release, which Okoh appears to have slightly paraphrased. The reason the passage sounds like a press release is because it literally came from one. Like Okoh’s article, the press release asserts that “only” 50 prosecutions have been made under the act, and also gives no indication of what the figure ought to have been, in the writer’s estimation.
I’d never even heard of this crowd before I started writing this post, which is rather telling.
I’m not passing comment on George Nkencho until the GSOC report is issued, but I would be very surprised indeed if the report recommends that his killing be considered a murder, never mind a racially-motivated one.
US-centrism is quite common among young people even in central Europe (including me). It is not surprising but it still weird to see someone atrmepting to divide quite diverse political spectrum here into simpler liberal vs conservative. So us-centrism is my suspect of the problems. Great article!
Good article