Activists criticise 'tokenistic' efforts after rebrand of Royal Mail postboxes

Tokenistic gestures are being made in place of real-world action to improve the lives of black Britons, activists have complained, after Royal Mail marked Black History Month by dedicating four postboxes.

The boxes were painted black and turned into billboards celebrating the stories of four prominent black people, including Sir Lenny Henry and the nursing pioneer Mary Seacole.

Tyrek Morris, co-founder of the All Black Lives UK movement, told the Guardian there was nothing wrong with the postbox campaign on its own terms and called for the stories of more prominent black figures to be taught.

But he said Royal Mail and other firms could take more immediate practical action by paying more attention to the greater risk posed to black people by the coronavirus pandemic.

Morris said his group had been campaigning for a series of practical reforms that are yet to be taken seriously across British society, saying firms could help push for more useful change. The group’s demands include ending racial prejudice in the criminal justice system and reforming the education and healthcare systems to end racial disparities.

The postbox campaign was ridiculed by the comedian Munya Chawawa, who joked that Royal Mail would next unveil “Postman Brap and his black and white wap” to appeal to black audiences.

“Why not turn BLM into BLMAO,” he said in a satirical video posted online, in which he played the character of a senior Royal Mail manager speaking to Royal Mail’s “only black employee”. Asked “how does this do anything for us?” and told the post box plan “doesn’t mean anything, it’s just tokenistic”, the fictional manager replied: “I don’t know what that means because I don’t speak Yoruba.”

Unveiling the postboxes, Royal Mail’s head of diversity and inclusion, Peter de Norville, said: “Black History Month is a great opportunity to celebrate the contributions that black people have made to this country over many generations. We are also using it as an opportunity to celebrate the vital work that our black employees do throughout the nation, from the mailbag to the meeting room.”

The aim is for the postboxes to help people mark the success of black Britons, Royal Mail said.

A QR code can be scanned to bring up a full list, and a dedicated online gallery on the Royal Mail website, of black Britons who have appeared on the special stamps over the years.

A Royal Mail spokeswoman said: “By marking the contributions of prominent black Britons, we also wanted to mark the contributions made by our own black colleagues in their local communities. We are very proud of our BAME network, who were involved in creating and developing this idea and have celebrated black history month across the organisation for a number of years.

“As a diverse and inclusive business, we run a series of mentoring and career progression programmes and other initiatives to help our BAME colleagues fulfil their potential within our business. Royal Mail is politically neutral given the role we play in facilitating elections. As such it would not be appropriate for us to comment on matters of public policy.

“Since the start of this crisis, we have spent more than £40m on personal protective equipment, including hand sanitiser, gloves and masks. We have also put in place a range of preventive measures to protect both our customers and our colleagues.”