A little more than two years ago, Liverpool stood in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement demonstrations across the world as nations and communities were r ocked by the murder of George Floyd in the United States.
Since then, the city has been through a turbulent time of its own as Merseyside’s police and crime commissioner branding the region’s force as racist that set her on a collision course with the Chief Constable.
Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson said earlier this year that the pace of change on race issues had been “glacial” but signs of hope are breaking through, with millions of pounds of funding being made available to kickstart the second phase of the Liverpool City Region race equality hub. Among those hoping to accelerate change is Paul Olubayo, Liverpool’s first ever race equality officer for education.
Mr Olubayo, who specialises in human rights, has taken up a role within Liverpool Council to lead on bringing about change to the city’s education sector and make those that work in the trade across Liverpool more representative of its historic and celebrated diversity. He said: “It’s brand new to the council here and to my knowledge I don’t know of any other local authorities that have something to the extent of what my role is and what we hope my role to be.
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“It’s based specifically in children’s and youth services as a race equality officer, so working with schools and relevant partners throughout the city to look at ways we can improve racial equality and racial diversity throughout the city’s education system.” Mr Olubayo, who has human rights organisations in both the UK and the US and completed a masters degree in the field from the University of Minnesota, said he wanted to take a “holistic look” at Liverpool’s education system and “find out the positives and negatives and the ways we can improve racial equality and promote that through our system.”
He said this would come through assessing the curriculum, workforce diversity and diversity in senior leadership with a focus on recruitment of more ethnically diverse governors, as well as bringing in the best, but more crucially, appropriately representative teachers. Mr Olubayo said he hoped his role could provide “strategic guidance” to schools and learning centres throughout the city.
Despite being based in the city council’s education department, he said he saw his role spreading further afield. He said: “I come from a human rights background in what I do so I don’t see it as an education role, I see it as a human rights role.
“This type of work is the kind of thing I’d been doing freelance alongside my day to day human rights job and something I was obviously very passionate and committed to. When I saw the role with Liverpool Council it felt like the perfect marriage and to be the first in this position to make it really positive.”
The new officer, who joined the council in August, said he had began his role on “a mini fact finding expedition, speaking to everyone and anyone I can” to find out their thoughts and feelings towards the city. He said: “I’m not from Liverpool, I didn’t go to school here so it would be ludicrous for me to come in and say ‘we’re doing X, Y and Z.’
“What I’ve found across the board is there’s a real energy and a real want within the city to really do something substantial, long lasting and revolutionary. One thing I hope my role can do is to amplify the successes that are already going on, and a lot of people who have laid the foundations may just need strategic guidance to hone in on those goals and make the long-lasting changes they were talking about a few years ago and they’re just looking for what’s the best approach to do that.”
The Black Lives Matter movement began in July 2013, following the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the shooting death of African-American teen Trayvon Martin. Following George Floyd’s murder two years ago, protests sprung up across the world, including here in Liverpool with thousands taking the knee in solidarity outside St George’s Hall.
Mr Olubayo said: “From my perspective there’s been so many positive strides that have been made, and again it’s about taking it to that next level to tangible actions and tangible results that will make the communities of colour across the city really feel like their voices were heard in 2020. There are so many people I’ve met with who are seriously committed and not just paying it lip service, which is a beautiful thing and so for me to come in to my role when the combined authority race equality hub is starting up in the New Year, and so many other things are happening there’s a real potential for something great to happen in this city in the next few years.”
Earlier this year, Cllr Tom Logan, cabinet member for education and skills, told a meeting of a city council select committee that he felt every school in Liverpool “has aspects of institutional racism” and leaders were “shying away” from the problem. Mr Olubayo, who came into post shortly after, offered his take on the cabinet member’s remarks.
He said: “I think that they’re a strong opinion and they’re his own. From my perspective, one of the beautiful things about me coming in from outside Liverpool is each school has no reputation with me, each one starts at zero.
“Every conversation I've had has been one of ‘we want to work tirelessly to get this right’ and from the council’s perspective to support them on that journey they’re going on.
"I think one of the things that has been recognised is there’s not enough of a diverse population within the workforce within schools and is particularly a problem in Liverpool, when one of the brilliant things about Liverpool is that it is so diverse and has such a rich history of celebrating its diversity.
“That in itself leads to problems when it’s not being translated into senior leadership roles in schools.” Mr Olubayo, who said he was being made aware of any racism allegations made in the city’s schools, said he was heartened by senior leaders’ attitude towards tackling the issue.
He said: “These reports are being made and they’re definitely being flagged up to me and I think one of the things that has been positive about my role so far is the honesty from senior leaders in the difficulties that some of them had and I really appreciate that because it gives me something to work on. It’s something to be celebrated that they’re not shying away from it but they’re looking to address the problems and they feel like they have a resource in the council that can help them.”
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