Trailblazing British Vogue editor Edward Enninful racially profiled by his magazine’s security guard and told to ‘use the loading bay’
Edward Enninful. (Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images)
Edward Enninful, British Vogue‘s gay, Black, barrier-breaking editor-in-chief, claimed he was racially profiled Wednesday (July 15), being mistaken by security staff for a delivery person.
Enninful, 48, was refused entry to Vogue House in the elegant London neighbourhood of Mayfair, he claimed on social media. The mass media company has since fired the guard.
“Today I was racially profiled by a security guard while entering my work place,” he wrote on Twitter.
Today I was racially profiled by a security guard whilst entering my work place. As I entered, I was instructed to use the loading bay. Just because our timelines and weekends are returning to normal, we cannot let the world return to how it was. Change needs to happen now.
— Edward Enninful OBE (@Edward_Enninful) July 15, 2020
“As I entered, I was instructed to use the loading bay.
“Just because our timelines and weekends are returning to normal, we cannot let the world return to how it was. Change needs to happen now.”
Edward Enninful says Condé Nast guard was ‘quickly dismissed’ for racial profiling incident.
As Britain begins to reckon with its brutal, lucrative history of slavery amid the Black Lives Matter movement, examples of racial profiling are increasingly rising from the woodwork.
“Karen” or “Ken” might be a wry way to describe a certain kind of white privilege, but this language, coupled with social media making everything visible, has given civil rights activists new ways to expose the racial discrimination that has been going on for centuries.
This confrontation might prove uneasy for some, but for those discriminated against, a sense of emboldening. As much as the constant visibility of Black pain can prove triggering, it has provided key examples of the racism that continues to exist in Britain, whether in its police force or historic initiations.
Edward Enninful speaks on stage at the Pride In London Gala Dinner 2019. (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images for Pride in London)
Enninful added in an Instagram caption to his one million followers that Condé Nast, that own British Vogue, “moved quickly to dismiss the security guard.
“But it just goes to show that sometimes it doesn’t matter what you’ve achieved in the course of your life: the first thing that some people will judge you on is the colour of your skin.”
Indeed, Enninful is one of achievement. Born in Ghana and raised in West London, he was long rumoured to get the top job at the fashion magazine in 2017 – unsurprising, many said, considering he was made fashion editor of i-D aged just 18 and held the position for more than two decades.
His work at British Vogue has gone beyond hemlines and was awarded an OBE the year prior for his services to diversity in the fashion industry. Enninful ranked in Powerlist’s Top 10 of the most influential British people of African Descent in both 2019 and 2020
