David Sedgwick wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 4:30 pm
Foe some reason my first two attempts at posting in this thread today have not succeeded. I hope that this third attempt will be more successful.
I shall respond to the posts upthread only by taking the liberty of pointing out that some years ago Jack Rudd cited me on the S&B blog as an example of inclusive Toryism.
I have spent a fair amount of time trying to help with the development of chess in West Africa and I exchanged friendly greetings with a Nigerian contact only yesterday. None of the people whom I have met has mentioned racism within the chess community as being an issue for them.
However, I was called to account for subconscious racism by GM Maurice Ashley when we were in Côte d'Ivoire. I changed a decision and apologised.
David, thank you for your brave, personal contribution. I would agree that my view of chess in England is that racism isn't a burning issue; I am willing to be corrected on that, though, as I am a white, and I would not naturally note any racism as quickly as non-white colleagues might. I would say, though, that sexism in chess in England is a huge issue, and one that many in the community would both deny and attempt to thwart any attempts to address. However, I would prefer not to hijack a thread about racism to deal with sexism, as I am sure that there are from time to time words or deeds (or indeed policies) of racism in the chess commmunity: it is unfortunately human nature to be seek an advantage at someone else's expense.
As someone in the know of the ECF, the Chess Arbiters Association and of FIDE, could you point out what policies these organisations have to deal with racism?