London bans white people from offering internships – RT World News
The communications position at Transport for London requires the candidate to be of “black, Asian and minority” background.
A paid internship offer at UK government transit body Transport for London restricted to non-white applicants sparked widespread outrage after it was posted on social media on Saturday.
The Stuart Ross Communications Internship, which pays a total of £21,824 ($27,134) for 11 months of “Hybrid job based in London” with one or two days a week in the office, requires the candidate to be “of Black, Asian, and minority ethnicity, defined as having African, Afro-Caribbean, Asian, or other non-White heritage.”
Racial qualification is listed before the requirement that the candidate be “either an undergraduate or recent graduate on track to receive, or have already earned, a 2:2 in any degree.”
The program will also take non-graduates with less than a year of experience in the communications industry, but the racial requirements appear to be less flexible.
The advert boasts that Stuart Ross interns have taken up permanent positions with Transport for London as well as jobs with the Metropolitan Police, Crossrail Ltd, Marks & Spencer, the Arts Council and National Health Service, as well as local government . The internship was set up in 2006 to address the alleged lack of diversity in the PR industry, according to TfL’s website.
Nigel Farage, the former leader of the UK Independence Party, responded to the post with a tweet urging “End Racist Ads” while Reclaim Party leader Laurence Fox said: “if this ad said ‘black people don’t need to apply’ […] there would be justifiable outrage from all corners of the vapid media.
The ad was just the latest of many racially-charged job postings to gain attention in recent weeks. An advertisement for two £51,000/year ($63,300/year) teaching positions in Glasgow open to applicants only “who identify as black, Asian or from a minority ethnic group” appeared earlier this month on Glasgow City Council’s official government website, which removed the advert after public outcry.
The board claimed the announcement was made public accidentally and was only meant to be run internally, but defended the idea behind it, arguing that the purpose was to “Provide our young people with positive role models.
A document explaining the controversial hiring policy points to the Equality Act 2010, which allows “positive actions” favoring minorities such as “It is not illegal to hire or promote a candidate who has equal merit with another candidate, if the employer reasonably believes: the candidate has a protected characteristic that is underrepresented in the workforce.”
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