Why being defined by ethnicity matters

We can no longer afford to be naive enough to believe that formally being identified as a colour works for African/Caribbeans

ADPAC CIC is a national umbrella organisation established to align, strengthen and promote the African/Caribbean population. We seek to identify our commonalities and emphasise them to our 3 million UK population in order to encourage better African/Caribbean social cohesion.

We must first recognise ourselves as the African Diaspora in Britain including those mixed with an African origin parent. Once we recognise that we are the African Diaspora in Britain (frequently expressed as African/Caribbean), we become an economic group that is clearly identifiable as an ethnicity at an institutional level.

This by no means makes us a homogenous group or erases our cultural or tribal loyalties to a particular nation but instead politically enables us to receive the benefits of being a clearly defined ethnic and economic group better able to access our proportion of economic resources from the UK in line with our contribution to the UK.

Black British Voices aims to give Black people in Britain an opportunity to define ourselves, for ourselves.

Please contribute to the Our Black Voices project to define our ethnicity as ADPAC CIC are partnering to take the results to represent us at a national level. Click here

The term "Black" has become problematic for us as African/Caribbean's in the formal sense (to government and formal institutions) because "Black" is a political term, which traditionally means non-white and any non "white" can self elect to be "Black" and usurp African/Caribbean resources whilst also acquiring their own.

For this reason, we are using our ethnicity to identify ourselves as opposed to our appointed race so that we are no longer relegated to the conflation of BAME (non-white othering) used by the state. Instead, we proudly assert our ethnicity as African-origin British citizens and identify as such to protect and grow our socio-economic interests.

Based on our lack of clarity around being identified as "Black" and what that has historically meant, which is why others have traditionally usurped our share of resources we have ended up at the bottom of every measurable metric. It's time to kick that into touch. We are now effectively echoing the ethos of "know better, do better" by practicing what works successfully for other ethnicities in enabling their socio-economic mobility.

Please take part in the Black British Voices project to define our ethnicity: Link

To start the rollout of this social cohesion we are asking our organisation to use the British African/Caribbean logo as a sign of solidarity when communicating for and on behalf of British African Diasporas.

Please download and use the "copyright free" British African/Caribbean logo within your events promotion, formal meetings, marketing materials etc without hesitation. Nobody has permission to use this logo to malign, insult or misrepresent the British African/Caribbean population.

Service providers please download and utilise the British African/Caribbean PNG