How can I be antiracist?

“It requires work and considerable effort”—Aaliya Goyal, GP with special interest in occupational health and wellbeing

“Racism, in all forms, has no place in healthcare. However, it does exist, and it leaves a devastating impact on colleagues and patients and has consequences for patient safety.1

“Being antiracist means recognising that we’re part of a racist system. This can be challenging, as it requires introspection, humility, and an acknowledgment of privilege, which can lead to an uncomfortable epiphany: we’re all part of a system that wasn’t built for everyone.

“Being antiracist is a call to action: a commitment to learn, understand, and actively participate to eliminate racism. It requires work and considerable effort and goes beyond simply not being individually racist or discriminatory. Changing ingrained structures can cause fear, due to a perceived loss of the status quo. We need to move past that and actively target, challenge, and remove the systemic barriers that enable racism.

“I strive to be antiracist by sponsoring and advocating relentlessly for colleagues. I notice barriers in application processes, absences in leadership teams, and gaps in healthcare that contribute to health inequalities. I speak up and do my best to overcome these challenges and to embed change. Once you start looking through an antiracist lens, you notice things that are difficult to unsee. The current systems were built by a demographic that doesn’t reflect the current population and workforce. We have the power to change that.

“You can be antiracist by building awareness through learning and listening, without challenging someone else’s experience by sharing your own. Recognise that your career path may have had fewer obstacles and may not be aligned to the experience of others. Be an active bystander and an active ally, and call out racism whenever and wherever you see it.

“It can be subtle, so notice if people of different religions, ethnicities, or cultures seem to have their points overlooked in meetings or validated by someone else repeating them. Who climbs the career ladder? Who gets the benefit of the doubt? Whose behaviour is, and isn’t, challenged?

“Racism, whether subtle or overt, exhausts the people on the receiving end, leading to burnout. Support them. Make them feel seen. Anyone can do this, whatever career stage you’re at.

“Leaders, including those with minority protected characteristics, have opportunities to dismantle discriminatory structures, open doors, sponsor talent, and share their platforms. Being antiracist is everyone’s responsibility. We must all feel accountable.”

“Challenge your own biases”—Partha Kar, consultant in diabetes and endocrinology

“We all have biases, and among them stands our bias about race. The question is how we challenge that, how we become better, and how we act when we see something happening in front of us that’s racist in nature.

“When I talk about challenging one’s own bias, I’m talking about racism being more than a white versus non-white issue. Colourism, for example, continues to be an issue in my own South Asian community, and antiblackness isn’t a concept confined to people of white ethnicity. How we challenge ourselves on that and how much we stand up to those issues is very important for our own development. It certainly is for me.

“As regards understanding or pushing oneself to be antiracist, I quote the great John Amaechi [psychologist and former NBA basketball player]: ‘There’s a big difference between being not racist and being antiracist.’2 To put it simply, a non-racist person can look at a racist incident and decide to keep quiet and not rock the boat. They understand that the incident is wrong, but they do nothing about it. An antiracist person makes sure that they push back against a racist incident—respectfully yet firmly, in public—making it clear to all around that the incident they witnessed was racist.

“I would encourage you to think about how you can be that antiracist person: how you can turn into that lightning rod that others look at; how you can be someone who will stand up and help the person who may not have the same privilege as you or the strength to speak up against the racism perpetrated against them.

“It may feel as though you can’t change the bigger picture, but this shouldn’t stop you speaking up when you see something offensive or racist. Be a vocal ally: that’s what antiracism is fundamentally about. It’s not about hashtags or PowerPoint presentations.”

“Say it. See it. Sort it”—Evelyn Mensah, consultant ophthalmic surgeon, London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust

“Say it. See it. Sort it. These three steps are my framework for antiracism, providing a clear pathway to move from acknowledgment to recognition and then to action.

“Racism is a problem we can’t solve unless we name it. Yet many people struggle to say the word racism, skirting around the issue with euphemisms. ‘Say it’ means acknowledging that racism exists and understanding that antiracism is not about labelling individuals as racist but about tackling the systemic policies, practices, and procedures that uphold racial inequities.

“The US physician Camara Jones defines racism as ‘a system of structuring opportunity and assigning value based on the social interpretation of how one looks.’3 This construct, developed in the 16th and 17th centuries, continues to shape our NHS and society today. Systemic racism is not abstract but rather is evidenced year after year.

“‘See it’ requires looking at the data. NHS England publishes the Workforce Race Equality Standard, highlighting the disadvantage faced by minority ethnic, or global majority, staff. The same structural inequities affect patient outcomes, as seen in disparities in maternal mortality4 and survival rates in prostate and breast cancer, for example. Recognising these patterns moves us from personal discomfort to systemic accountability.

“Antiracism is not passive but is a continuous process. ‘Sort it’ demands action. It requires dismantling systemically racist structures within institutions. Essential to this journey is self-education, and I consider the following books to be foundational reads: The Anti-Racist Organization by Shereen Daniels5; Divided by Annabel Sowemimo6; Legacy by Uché Blackstock7; and The Good Ally by Nova Reid.8

“But reading alone is insufficient, so individuals and organisations must actively develop and implement action plans to challenge inequity. Whether through policy changes, equitable recruitment practices, or leadership accountability, the goal is racial equity.

“Racism denial obstructs progress and prevents us from achieving an antiracist NHS and society. If we refuse to confront racism, we ensure its persistence. Being antiracist is about advancing racial equity: to be frank, it’s literally a matter of life and death for our patients and the NHS workforce. The health effects of racism include increased morbidity and the cumulative stress of systemic racism that shortens lives.

“Antiracism requires courage, so please join me on this journey of ‘Say it. See it. Sort it.’ Anything less is complicity, and that’s unacceptable in 2025.”