🩺 When the Mask Slips -What a “Slip of the Tongue” at the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) Reveals About Racial Bias
- Anika Ola
- 21 hours ago
- 4 min read
“Black nurses take longer to learn,” they said
confident, unblinking, as if it were a matter of fact.
The room stilled. My breath caught.
And just like that, the mask slipped.
In professional regulation, words aren’t just statements - they’re signals.They tell us who is seen as credible, who gets believed, and whose experiences are undermined.
That’s why what happened at the NMC hearing on 24 April 2025 matters.Because in a single moment, the mask fell off - and it revealed more than anyone was prepared to admit.
A Frontline Truth
I was acting as a non-legal representative for a Black nurse Lydia who has endured years of professional scrutiny, institutional obstruction, and unequal treatment.
We were nearing the end of her hearing. The NMC case presenter was delivering closing submissions.
And then it happened.
The False Quote That Revealed a Real Belief
In there closing speech in support of the case against our Black Nurse Lydia, the NMC case presenter confidently declared to the panel:
“When Lydia told you in cross-examination — my cross-examination — that Black nurses take longer to learn…”
It stopped me in my tracks.
Why?
Because Lydia never said that. Not once. Not in any transcript. Not in any evidence. Not in any recollection of the many who sat and listened.
This was a total fabrication - but worse, a fabrication that relied on an old, racist trope: the belief that Black Nurses are inherently slower, less capable, more in need of help.
What does it say about a system when racist assumptions don’t need to be proven only projected?
I responded the only way a representative should: by asking for a source.A page number. A quote. Anything to support what had just been said.
What followed wasn’t an apology.
It was an accusation.
“Passive Aggressive”: When Challenge Becomes a Threat
Instead of responding to my request for a transcript reference, the NMC case presenter said:
“Chair, I am not going to respond to passive aggressive questioning.”
A professional, evidence-based request — made in public, during a public hearing - was reframed as an attack.
This moment didn’t just expose defensiveness.
It exposed bias. Because this is how racialised systems operate: when you hold power to account, they flip the script.
Suddenly, you are the problem. Not the false quote. Not the damaging narrative. You.
“Rolling Your Eyes” — Policing the Black Female Body
Then, moments later, as the case examiner continued their submissions, the NMC case presenter again turned their attention to me. This time their attention turned to policing my facial expression:
“I'm sorry, Miss Bennett — I see you rolling your eyes — but this is not an opportunity for you to interrupt while I am making my closing speech.”
There it was again. Tone policing. In real time. Let’s be clear — no one accused the NMC case presenter of tone when they raised their voice, interrupted others, or spoke uninterrupted for hours.
But when I — a Black Nurse — reacted nonverbally to a false and damaging statement, my body became the focus.
When I calmly asked for clarification:
“Did you accuse me of rolling my eyes? I just wanted to get that on the record…”
The NMC refused to confirm or retract:
“Can we just move on please? This isn't helpful.”
Helpful to whom?
This wasn’t about professionalism.This was about control.
It was about discrediting my presence, my challenge, and my voice.
Slips of the Tongue Reveals Racial Bias Underneath
Some may argue that the NMC case presenter simply misspoke.
But slips of the tongue aren’t random.They emerge from what lays just beneath the surface: belief systems, tropes, racial biases, assumptions.
For the NMC case presenter (during a hearing) to falsely attribute a phrase like “Black nurses take longer to learn” to a Black nurse — without hesitation — is to reveal you believe it’s something a Black nurse would say. Or worse than that but you yourself believe it’s true.
That’s not just a misstatement.That’s bias made audible.
Tone Policing as a Systemic Weapon
Both the “passive aggressive” label and the “rolling your eyes” accusation serve the same purpose: to reframe justified scrutiny as incivility.
It’s a well-worn playbook - one that Black Nurses know too well:
Challenge | Label |
Ask for evidence | “Aggressive” |
Express emotion | “Unprofessional” |
React visibly | “Disrespectful” |
These are not neutral observations.They are tools of racialised control - ways to suppress accountability and shift attention away from uncomfortable truths.
From Sojourner Truth to Serena Williams, Black women have always been told their dignity is too loud. Their truth, too much. Being a Black Nurse is no exception to this rule.
🧍🏾♀️ A Live Demonstration of What We’re Fighting Against
What happened that day wasn’t theoretical. It wasn’t abstract. It was a live demonstration of the very dynamics Black Nurses have been fighting at the NMC for years.
When a Black Nurse representative or Black Nurse themselves asks for evidence and is met with accusations…
When facial expressions are policed more than falsehoods…
When institutions deflect rather than reflect…
That is not due process.That is protectionism, not professionalism.
Who gets to be passionate and credible? And who gets reduced to a problem to be managed?
✊🏾 What We’re Asking For
We’re not asking for favours.
We’re asking for fairness.
We’re asking for:
The right to question power without being pathologised
The right to be treated as credible when we raise concerns
The right to challenge racism without being called difficult, disruptive, or aggressive
Because when the mask slips — and it did — we all have a duty to say what we saw.
And what we saw was racial bias.Not just in what was said. But in who was allowed to say it — and how the system reacted when they did.
📣 What You Can Do
If you’ve seen the mask slip too - in NMC hearings, in hospitals, your place of work and in boardrooms — speak up and contact Equality 4 black Nurses on 0208 050 2598 or matron@equality4blacknurses.com
📤 Share this post.🧑🏾⚕️ Support Black nurses.⚖️ Stand with those calling for transparency and reform in professional regulation.
Because the system won’t fix what it refuses to face. And we won’t stop until it does.