BAME, Anti-Racism & Communities

Whilst the term BAME can still be used to demonstrate systemic racism, it is not a useful term for rehabilitation. 

The environment, including its experiences mediates poor health outcomes rather than ethnicity or race. This is an important distinction as it will force urban planning systems, health care strategies, policy makers and government to take responsibility for the poor health outcomes that led Black and Asian communities being disproportionately affected by Covid-19.

Identifying which communities are living in unhealthy environments (and what makes these environment unhealthy) will help create an anti-racist rehabilitation strategy as it will help redistribute resources for community, mental health, and regeneration programmes to those who need urgent care. 

To do good work, we must look beyond the labels of BAME and see specific communities, people, experiences, and environments. 

This means that we have to do intersectional research to build a full picture, for example, of how the Covid-19 pandemic and its mental health consequences have affected communities. For example, Black trans women would be a community to look into with urgency as they are often the most exposed due to unstable income, housing, and medical assistance.