Ally Interview: Mike Winter

SEE Co-Founder Heather Gillette has known professional event rider Mike Winter for several years. They competed against each other for a long time while he was based here in the US. Mike has been in the UK for several years with his wife and children, where they are regulars at the horse trials and produce lovely young horses. Mike’s photo of his Flex-On Stirrups with #Blacklivesmatter on them made Heather want to know more about why supporting BLM is important to him. This is the conversation they had.

How did you become an Ally? Was it a growing awareness of racial inequality or a light bulb moment? How has being an outspoken Ally affected you in your everyday life?

I am the grandson of Holocaust survivors, as well as having a great grandfather whose parents put him on a fishing boat alone at age 11 to escape the Russia pogroms (persecution and massacre of Jews). He landed in Canada and found work and grew to have a family but never saw his parents or siblings again. My parents are very socially conscious and always have been, so this is how I was raised. My brother is a university lecturer (UK) professor (USA) and is an expert on racism and the far right. My family including my children play a huge role in my strong views on racial injustice and systematic racism.

I remember when growing up, how people in my Canadian suburb treated Chinese immigrants, using racial slurs and stigma attached to their ethnicity. Many of these people don’t see themselves as racist, including those who insist on using outdated language when referring to certain people (like coloured), and reference their parents as using those terms and that “they were not racist”.

It was things like these that have led to a light bulb moment when moving to England. Let me elaborate; when Emma and I lived outside Atlanta Georgia racism was very obvious and in your face. However, when moving to England it reminded me more of my childhood in the Canadian suburbs. There was far more racial “tolerance” but not “acceptance”. Like enjoying ethnic food at a restaurant and acting like friends with the owners (tolerance) but not happy to have your children date or marry (acceptance). This is how the equestrian world is functionally racist, like a functional alcoholic.

I have become more aware that racism and racial prejudice is everywhere. It is in almost every relationship in my life and if I don’t call people out on every single incident, I feel I have failed my family, my friends and the world I am leaving to my children.

Just the other day someone said to me that taking a knee was no longer productive and was causing racism. I said this was not the case and perhaps he was confused; taking a knee and Black Lives Matter perhaps was antagonising racists and provoking behaviour that was part of an already existing belief.

Have you had any conversations with our fellow riders regarding Diversity issues and what have you taken away from them?

I have and it is difficult, some are completely unaware of global issues or anything outside the equestrian world, to those who think the whole thing is blown out of proportion and people are too sensitive. I think it is the lack exposure to these issues and failure to see or care how bigger social issues affect them. I think the reaction to EN article about Plantation Field is an important reflection of how our sport functions with complete ignorance of the issues and reactionary offence when they feel under attack without understanding the issues. The understanding of white privilege could be achieved through greater self-exam and understanding of BIPOC folks involved in our sport.

What advice would you give to folks who are just learning to be Allies?

I think people need to have confidence to call out racism and not compromise with people spewing it. It is not a “difference of opinion” it may be a difference of someone’s “point of view”, literally the point in which they view the world….and getting people to recognise that their prejudice is rooted in their perspective of the world, which may be contaminated with unconscious bias from their point of view. And that a greater understanding of others perspective, of whom they may have never met, but must learn to empathise and identify with.