Author: Melting Scot Contributor

Reading a book is an enjoyable experience that not only relaxes the reader but allows you to enter completely new lives that may resemble or differ from your own. Reading books allow you to step into the shoes of fascinating characters and enter completely new perspectives. Reading in lockdown has been particularly enjoyable and necessary as the threat of a deadly virus has stopped many of us from travelling and resuming with normal social activities. 

One of my favourite books that I read during lockdown, was actually a book I downloaded many years ago on the first day of January 2017. I had actually forgotten I had downloaded it and when the repetitive days of lockdown began, I decided that I must read it. The moment I started reading the book I was instantly gripped! I thought to myself I wish I read this sooner. I also was able to conclude that general life before lockdown was very fast paced and lockdown for many people was like a well-deserved rest.

The beautifully written book was called: The Girl You Left Behind by Jojo Moyes. Centred around a strong-willed female character who was a French woman during World War 1. The book portrayed excellently the cruel effects and consequences of WW1 in Europe and in particular the impact and devastation it had on a small Northern town in France. Ironically when reading the book, it made me think of the somewhat similar parallels between wartime in Europe and how badly Europe has been affected in the Covid 19 pandemic. 

Upon reflection the past six months in our lives will go down in history. There will be a time in the future when many younger generations ask us what happened during 2020. Sharing our own perspectives of the Covid 19 experience is particularly important as it allows us to share this knowledge with others in the future. 

Reading is not only a vital skill to have, but it also enriches our understanding of the world and provides us with wisdom and empathy for others. 

By Kiran Kaur 

A large proportion of you reading this will have mothers who take on the “housewife” role but as times are changing, with our generation, that won’t be the case. Our ancestors were brought up to think that women should stay at home to cook, clean and have children and carry out other housewife duties, while the man of the house would work and bring in the income. 

There’s a lot of factors that contributed to this idea. The main ones being that women in our society are used to being oppressed and controlled by men. A woman shouldn’t have her own money, right? A woman should rely on and ask her husband to pay for her needs and wants, right? 

I’ve had a few people say to me before that two working parents don’t raise kids as well and that one parent should be spending all their time with their kids. I don’t believe that. It’s just as much a man’s responsibility to look after the kids as it is a woman’s and it’s just as much a man’s responsibility to do basic house chores as it is a woman’s. Everything should be equally split and it should have always been like that. Two working parents who equally split the roles and jobs are more than capable of raising good children.

Looking at it from a man’s perspective, will we again create a generation of men who work themselves into the ground to provide for their parents, wife and kids? A man out working too hard can develop anxiety and depression and a woman stuck at home for 5, 6 or even 7 days a week can develop anxiety and depression. 

The older generations lacked balance. A man shouldn’t be solely responsible for income and I think you would all agree that in this day and age it is difficult to survive on one parents’ income. The world is changing, people are changing.

If you’re a woman reading this and you’re married, I’m assuming you work. If you’re a woman reading this and you’re not married, I’m assuming you will work after marriage. If you’re a girl reading this and you have dreams and hopes, don’t give them up after marriage. We did that. We broke the stigma. 

Let’s not raise our daughters to think that being a housewife is all there is to life, because it isn’t. 

By Aaisha Sabir 

We live in a space where one thinks they are well-travelled by

how many miles they’ve eaten, and how many borders they’ve

escaped; the saying stipulates that travel broadens the mind.

Does it in fact broaden, or merely bloat?

It’s an interesting verb, travel. Its etymology brings us to a word

from the 12th & 13th centuries, that is, to travail, which means to

toil, to labour. Originally, it meant to trouble, torture, or torment,

derived by the Latin term, tripaliare. Why did I bring up the

etymology of this word? Tracing a word’s roots (in our case,

travel), gives us a better understanding of what it means to use

that word. Travel in the middle-ages was an arduous endeavour,

so much so, that its feeling was akin to torture. And so to travel

was not what we see it as it is today, where cargos of humans were

jettisoned onto foreign lands for a sense of escape & adventure,

but something that required great will and motivation.

Coming back to the question, why is it said that travel broadens

the mind? If we invoke the original definition of travel, one would

perhaps say it is because the labour, the hard-work that goes

into travelling, that helps broaden one’s mind. The stress and

strains of camping, hunting, survival, and traversing

differentiating landscapes & climates, is where minds become

broad, and not just merely bloated with data and memoirs. The

modern day pseudo-traveller, in my personal reasoning, wouldn’t

meet this definition, hence I think they are often charlatans of

true travel. They seem aimless, bloating their memories with

places, whilst remaining starved of any mental processing that

might expand, or tint, their cognitive horizons.

I’d like to escape to another point. Does a traveller necessarily

have to physically transport their body in order to be ascribed

that noun, with both early and modern definitions considered? I,

for example, honestly believe that a mind, both broadened and

bloated, is a medium of travel. One can labour (and torture) ones

mind with ease, anyone reading this can empirically attest to

that; such tests have great potential in broadening said minds.

But (contemporary) travel in one’s mind is just as broadening (and

verified) as its old definition. What do I mean by mental

travelling? Minds operate as a tool for travel, which we would label as

imagination and creativity; and the worlds artistic ventures and all

the experiences that stimulate memories into life, are the fuel for

this imagination. People often ask me how I can spend so long in

one place, in one room, all alone in my own company; I correct 

them by informing them that it is not loneliness, but solitude; the

distinction is defined by whether one is able to travel whilst

remaining stationary in one location.

I’ve always had this one belief. Have you ever read a novel,

finished it, and years later treat its memory as something you had

embodied? I’m sure most people reading this have read a book

called ‘The Kite Runner’, so allow me to inquire, does a tiny part

of your life not feel as if it once travelled to the country of

Afghanistan? For those of you who don’t, you’re probably

scoffing at my question, it sounds ridiculous. How can one

compare a physical journey to Asia with an imagining inspired by

words alone? But I can’t deny the emotions I feel, and much like

the feeling I have when physically amongst alien waters, I mirror

those perceptions and thoughts when I travel through

imagination. My passports may tell you I’ve only travelled to a

handful of places, but the divine stenographers recording my

journey know all too well that I’ve travelled millions of miles

across the universe; I could tell you how I once found myself

amongst the spectra of Milky Way nebulae whilst my body was

camped next to a loch in Galloway National Forest Park, for

example.

Coming full circle to my original inquiry once more, travel is

certainly not as black and white as you may have originally

perceived, and do not let the miles of your footprints deceive you

into labelling yourself a traveller; justify the title by

encapsulating what all the definitions imply, because although

we are all naturally defined as travellers by virtue of time, the

labour, twinned with mental journeys, is how one realises the

predicate in the age-old saying of ‘travel broadens the mind’.

By Hashmat Ali

MICROAGRESSION – a statement, action or incident regarded as an instances of indirect, subtle or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalized group such as a racial or ethnic minority. 

These often take the form of “jokes” or “compliments” therefore they usually go unnoticed or unchallenged but in reality they are hidden forms of discrimination and bias. 

Growing up black in the UK I faced a lot of obvious racism as well as more hidden types of racism in the form of ‘microagressions’, this guide is to help other black and ethnic minority youth to identify and call them out. 

SCHOOL/UNI/ WORK

1. Lack of an attempt to correctly pronounce a person’s name – if you cannot correctly pronounce a name ask for the correct pronunciation and proceed to learn it, don’t offer to give them a nickname. If you can correctly pronounce and spell Niamh and Siobhan, then you can learn to correctly pronounce and spell the names of minorities.

2. Mixing up co-workers/students of the same race – have the respect and allow people the dignity of learning their names and differentiating them from other people of the same race. 

3. “Wow your English is so good”– commenting on how people speak is unnecessary and   suggests you see minorities as lacking the ability to communicate effectively… this is demeaning. Identify and fix this bias.

BETWEEN FRIENDS/ STRANGERS

4. “You sound/ act so white” – there is no blueprint on how a person is supposed to act based on their colour or race, this can be a very harmful comment.
5. “You are really pretty for a black girl”- This should be avoided as it is not a compliment, cannot put down one’s race in an attempt to praise that person. 
6. “Where are you REALLY from?…… where are your parents from?” – Extremely intrusive and divisive, if a person offers you where they are from but it doesn’t fit into your assumptions don’t proceed to pry further, if they decide to delve into their heritage then that is their decision.
7. “Can I say the N-word?”- NO, you cannot. 

GENERAL MICROAGRESSIONS 

8. “is that your real hair?” – “can I touch it?” –There is no issue with being curious about a person’s hair but there is no need to touch it, especially those who do so without permission, it comes across as belittling and disrespectful. 
9.  “I have always wanted mixed babies” – It’s become almost a trend to want to date black people on the basis of having mixed babies; this is not normal and is a big example of fetishization, being a mixed child isn’t only about having coloured eyes and curly hair, mixed children come in all forms and not all fit this mould. 
10. Commenting on a person’s skin tone or facial feature in a derogatory/ disrespectful way – describing one’s natural lips as too big or skin as too dark is firstly very racist and secondly very ill-mannered and demoralising. 
11. Perceiving black children as aggressive/trouble- this is a gross misconception that is placed on black youth, avoid projecting such opinions and expectations on minority youth.
12. “I don’t see colour” – “we are all one race, the human race” – as endearing as this statement may be intended, it is actually a very harmful mind-set to have. You can’t be colour blind to something as obvious as race, and when you decide to do so this allows you to blind yourself to the injustices that other minorities face daily, claiming not to see a person’s identity is a lazy way of showing that you don’t choose to see their struggle. 

If you are reading this as a black person or any other minority who relates to these scenarios, don’t be afraid to call this out, there is more harm in just accepting these statements and moving on, instead of correcting this behaviour. Sometimes it can be daunting to call someone out on their microaggressions, so as a solution send them this guide and allow them to correct their own actions. 

And if you can identify yourself as being a perpetrator of these microaggressions then take a moment to question your bias and aim to change such behaviours as they can be very damaging and disempowering. 

By Samantha Likonde 

Rupa is the Director of HR at MacRoberts LLP where she is responsible for managing service and support on HR and employment law requirements at an operational and strategic level to the firm’s Partners, managers and employees. She works closely with the Management Board and Partners on matters such as employee welfare and development, equality, diversity and wellbeing, compensation and reward.

She also has extensive experience in radio, events and media work. And has hosted the annual Scottish Asian Business Awards and the Glasgow Mela (Scotland’s biggest multi-cultural event) as well as various large scale fundraising and charity events.

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One of the tweets that stood out to me on Twitter over the last few weeks or so during the #blacklivesmatter social media campaign was one which said “Thank you for your Black Lives Matter graphic. May I please see a picture of your executive leadership team and company board?” This was aimed at the many corporate organisations who had posted graphics on Blackout Tuesday and started quite an intense dialogue on Twitter. And dialogue is always a good place to start.

Despite many law firms and organisations having made a genuine commitment to diversity with statements on websites and in marketing brochures, the reality is that, it is going to take more than just words to actually be diverse. The Scottish legal profession must keep asking itself why so few women or those from a Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) background or working class background are Partners or in leadership positions across the profession. It has to start by acknowledging all that is wrong and all that has been wrong. Accept the need for change. Accept that you will feel uncomfortable when discussing these issues – and then be prepared to learn, educate and work hard at championing, and being, the change.

Although I focus mainly on BAME people in this blog, the principles can equally apply across other strands of diversity. The concept of intersectionality must be better understood by law firms to be able to provide workplaces that allow employees to be themselves at work. Just focusing individually on colour or gender or someone’s socio-economic background is not enough. There is a need to understand and address, for example, the effect of how these might work together.   The issues that a privileged black man may face will be very different from those that an Asian woman from a working class background will confront on a day-to-day basis. Simply lumping them both in to the same group – BAME – won’t allow the progression that is required.

I am in the fortunate position where, in my personal, and professional life, I speak to many BAME people who are already in the legal profession or who want to get in to it. Much of what they share with me is reflected in the 2018 Profile of the Profession report commissioned by the Law Society of Scotland (LSS). In that, 53% of respondents said they felt that fewer BAME solicitors reaching senior positions was due to unconscious bias. Respondents were asked about changes that the LSS could make to working practices to encourage more BAME solicitors to reach senior levels. The provision of unconscious bias training by individual firms and the LSS was most frequently selected as a way to encourage more BAME solicitors to reach senior levels. Whilst this is a good thing to do, it must not be the only thing that is done. A one hour training session is not going to fix this.

Much more work is required at the grassroots. Children in schools and university students should have access to mentors and role models from BAME backgrounds who are working in the legal profession, at all levels. That will ignite the initial spark. But if there are no role models in the first place, how do we inspire the next generation so that they can enter the profession?

The knock on effect of the lack of diversity in our profession, at not just a senior level but at any level, is stark. We know that students from BAME communities are disproportionately over-represented on the LLB per head of population. However, these numbers are not translating to traineeships and NQ’s. Yes, the traineeship market is generally competitive, but from my conversations with BAME students and research carried out by the LSS via roundtables, the feedback is that it appears more so for them. The perception is that although firms say diversity is important to them, they are not showing it. At the LSS roundtable held last year, one attendee said: ‘organisations talk about the importance of diversity but when you walk into a recruitment fair, the people behind the desks are generally white.’ And that is true. I attended several law fairs on behalf of my firm a few years ago and noted that I was one of two PoC (people of colour) representing a law firm.

The impact on the confidence of a student trying to get a traineeship, who walks in to a room, and sees no other PoC, should not be underestimated. I’ve spoken to a quite a few students/NQ’s (from a BAME background and/or a disadvantaged socio-economic background) who tell me they feel intimidated by the ‘bigger law firms’ – “I could never work there, I wouldn’t fit in” or “It’s too posh for me” or “I won’t be able to do all the fancy schmoozing”. How do you fix that? Rob Marrs (Head of Education at the LSS) has written a really useful blog on ‘How to get a more diverse group of people applying to your organisation’ which has some good tips. The key is to continuously evolve, learn, share, innovate and educate those who need it. The Scottish Ethnic Minorities Lawyer’s Association (SEMLA) is leading the way in actively offering to help those firms and organisations who don’t know where to start. Take the help.

I’ve also had some very honest and pragmatic conversations with BAME students and junior lawyers encouraging them to ‘be the change’. If they are put off by applying for certain jobs when they see a lack of/non-existent diversity and think ‘there’s no place for someone who looks like me’, flip that around and apply for that job. I know how hard that is – I have been there.

Those from a BAME background don’t want to be the ‘token’ BAME person in an organisation. We don’t want to be hired so a box can be ticked and a quota fulfilled. We want to be hired because we have the necessary qualifications, deserve the job, will work hard and would be an asset to your organisation. We also don’t want to be your only source of information. Relying solely on those from BAME backgrounds to be the ones who constantly educate others in the workforce on what it means to be a black/brown/Asian person in the workplace is not acceptable. Asking your Sikh colleague what happens at Eid because you assume they will automatically know about it is very misinformed (true story by the way).  There are plenty of resources and organisations out there to enable every single one of us to understand, learn and improve our individual practices. It’s time to make some demands of ourselves of everyday things that we can all do.

Vocal allies are required and this needs to start at the top – senior leaders must lead the way. If there are structural or institutional policies or practices that are holding your organisation back, scrap them and start again. A prime example is only considering CV’s from those who applicants who attended a ‘good’ university. It was not that long ago that this was the reality in the Scottish legal profession (I really hope it’s not still happening!). Another example is only giving work experience placements to the Partner’s son/niece/next door neighbour/client’s daughter etc. Such policies and practices have affected, and will continue to affect, your people on an interpersonal basis. And if those people feel bound by such structural or institutional policies and are the ones making important decisions in your firm, how will you progress?

The legal profession needs to be able to show BAME representation at all levels. It is no longer about helping people ‘overcome’ the barriers that exist. The barriers have to be removed. I’ve taken the time to actually talk to students on a 1:1 basis, brought them into our firm, shown them around our offices, introduced them to our people, encouraged them to apply for our vacancies, provided feedback – simple steps that will hopefully make a difference.

Yes, there’s a risk that those in law firms or organisations may say or do the wrong thing, but that’s how our profession will learn and grow. Maybe that current photo of your company board or leadership board isn’t reflective of where you would like to be. To that I would say, it’s OK to be a work in progress and not the finished article. The firm I work in is certainly a work in progress. But doing nothing, or being silent, is the worst thing to do right now.

By Rupa Mooker

Brighter days. Less deaths. A reduction of fear and panic.

Covid 19 seems to be disappearing.

The fear to leave the house is starting to reduce.

But remember we are still not out of the woods.

Let’s not take our foot of the gas pedal.

There is still not a vaccine.

Half a million deaths worldwide.

Covid 19 has attacked but let’s not allow it to conquer.

Stay alert they say and stay at home where possible.

I know this can’t be done forever but let’s try and comply.

Light can be seen at the end of the tunnel.

Let’s hope that this virus can die, and we can live as we had before.

But this time with more empathy, love and compassion.

2020 has been a very eventful year for many reasons.

Covid 19, The killing of George Floyd,

Both events demonstrate that Oxygen is all we need to live.

Not fancy cars or big houses.

These beautiful Angels are watching us from ABOVE who died in 2020,

Let’s make them proud let’s all be good people,

2020 let’s make it a year for change and growth.

By Kiran Kaur

Antisemitism is the prejudice, hostility or hatred towards Jews and can appear in many forms, which mainly appear as racial antisemitism. This racializes Jews as ‘the other’ and has been the basis of most of our persecution for the past two millennia; pogroms, expulsions and the Holocaust. 

Jews continue to face systematic racism and persecution throughout the world in countries such as Iran, Libya, Egypt and Iraq, where an estimated 1 million Jews were systematically expelled during the 1950/60s. Antisemitism also continues to be prevalent in Europe and the UK, which has a long history of persecuting Jews and Holocaust denial is still commonplace and Jews continue to be racialized as ‘the other’.

Whilst Christian antisemitism is the oldest form, it is not the only, by far. Antisemitism tends to appear much more subtly; tropes such as Jews being rich, controlling the media, being overrepresented in politics, pop culture etc. It all plays into the canard that Jews are untrustworthy and deceitful, so the only reason behind anything that we do is to gain more power and influence, claiming antisemitism included. This rhetoric does not solely appear in far-right spaces, but surprising as it may be, very often in left-wing, supposedly ‘anti-racist’ circles. To many on the left we’re seen as privileged; rich, successful, overreaching, white – clearly not important enough to be included in many anti-racist spaces as beneficiaries. Antisemitism is often treated as not as important or dangerous – to those who claim this, clearly it was dangerous enough to systematically murder over 6 million of us, it was dangerous enough to cause centuries of pogroms, of expulsions, and still continues to have a real and terrifying outcome for many Jews. This also erases the experiences of Jews who are not white and who experience other forms of bigotry. 

Far-right antisemitism is always much more obvious fare, unafraid to clearly declare their hatred towards us, but left-wing is not so obvious. There is a common tendency to replace ‘Jew’ with ‘Zionist’ in order to avoid critique; ‘Jewish controlled media’ and ‘Zionist controlled media’ are two sides of the same coin. This alludes to the ancient trope that appears in the ‘Elders of Zion’, endorsed by Lenin, Stalin and Hitler. This trope has prevailed into the 21^st century, being promoted by figures such as Louis Farrakhan along with former Women’s March chairs, Jeremy Corbyn, Jacob Rees-Mogg and Boris Johnson. Clearly this rhetoric appears across the political spectrum, but the most devastating aspect is that we expect this behaviour from the right, not the left, not the ‘anti-racists’ who are there to support us, but who see us as not just unworthy of their anti-racist initiatives but as somehow working against them. I have been directly told that Jews fall into a category of “white ethnic minorities who don’t experience racism to benefit from anti-racist initiatives like our own” by a specifically ‘anti-racist’ society. 

Pitting minorities together only helps white supremacy and racists. Include Jews in your activism, otherwise you are not truly anti-racist. 

By Melanie Goldberg

To everyone reading this, I really hope you have amazing set of friends because I surely do! However, for those who don’t, please wait! Don’t rush into welcoming anyone into this precious place called life. Going down the memory lane, exactly three years ago, I came to Glasgow as this naïve international student looking at people with hope and dream filled eyes. I would take at least a minute to stop, stare and smile at groups of friends while silently praying to be the one surrounded with my own friends one day. 

Starting from trying to mould myself to fit in to spending my lunch time just by myself, I just wasn’t content. Disappointment, loneliness and homesickness kicked in hard but thinking about it now, it was needed. I had to learn to wait for the right people and to learn to be content by myself. Thus, to everyone out there, never change yourself for anyone because you ought to be accepted the way you are. 

Friendships are meant to be unconditional just like how they say for love, it should give you all those emotions that one would want to feel with their family. But, coming back to me eventually, as cliché as it sounds, one fine day, a group of people just walked into my life as if I have known them forever and since then I don’t remember being alone at any stage of my life. My friends have embraced me at my worst and stood by me at my best. 

Being an international student, never for once felt like I have no one to rely on, never felt like running back home because I was already home, here in Glasgow with my friends who became my family!

By Sadya Afreen

Here our editor Iqra shares one of her favourite fish recipes:

Welcome to the first recipe on the Melting Scot Blog! Fish is one of my favourite foods (probably why I can never be fully vegan) and what better way to start than with salmon!

Salmon is a fish species of Scotland and a popular meal to have in many different ways. This recipe involves baking the salmon.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• ½ teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic granules
• 1 teaspoon onion granules
• ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 ½ tablespoons olive oil
• a squeeze of lemon or lime
• 4 boneless salmon fillets 

Method

1. First, combine all of the ingredients together apart from the salmon fillets.
2. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (fan) and line a baking tray with baking paper.
3. Place the salmon fillets on the tray (I eat the skin of the salmon since it contains the oils and minerals that are beneficial for us but you can remove them). 
4. Using a brush, spread the mix prepared on the fillets evenly and generously.
5. Bake the salmon for 23-25 minutes on the middle shelf.
6. Serve while still hot! I garnished mine with lime on the side and coriander butter on top!

By Iqra Ali