As a white British woman starting secondary school in 1997, Britain’s colonial history was omitted from my formative curriculum. Attending school in Dartford meant that there were a tiny minority of students of colour in my cohort. I don’t recollect instances of racism at school, and in hindsight this clearly indicates my blindness to it rather than a non-racist environment. My school is in fact not far from the same area where Stephen Laurence was murdered in a racially motivated attack in 1993 (De Simone, 2023). I learned about this, not at the time as I expect the young people of colour around me did, but years later through the news as the family fought and the investigation brought institutional racism in the police to light.
A ‘colourblind’ approach, not ‘seeing’ the difference in others is clearly damaging. As, ‘Colour blindness does not accept the legitimacy of structural racism or a history of white racial dominance.’ (Eddo-lodge 2019) I now appreciate that race is, ‘not a valid biological concept,’ but, ‘A real social construction that gives or denies benefits and privileges’ (Smithsonian, 2019) I also understand that, ‘Race is produced by the application of violence’. (Isoke 2016)
Only as an adult did I also learn about colonisation, I particularly remember watching the Channel 4 drama ‘Indian summers’ in 2015. Although dramatised, the show successfully communicated the violence of British rule in India. And in 2016 when I completed a PTLLS qualification as a tutor at Camden working men’s college, A colleague described in her microteach the conference of Berlin in 1884-85 when Europeans decided upon the partition of Africa, Although I am glad to find a BBC bitesize page on it in 2024, indicating that our colonial history is now in the national secondary curriculum.
In 2020 after the murder of George Floyd I began to read more and see some of the ways that I could intervene in problematic conversations with others who share my white privileges. I also understood that the work of antiracism is for white people to do and education has huge power for positive change. In my professional context I educate my students on the ways in which fashion supply chains are for the most part, built to rely on global inequalities. I also include diverse professional practitioners’ work in my lecture materials because, as Asif Sadiq points out, ‘How can I become something I can’t see?’, I must be aware in aiming for representation to avoid tokenism and also know that ‘One person and one image does not describe a whole community’ (Sadiq, 2024) I also try to look for and share funding opportunities for marginalised students.
As someone who has lived and worked in London for many years I also have a cultural privilege to have met, worked and socialised with a wide range of people from different countries, continents and backgrounds. I benefit from the diversity around me in my professional context, in a huge multitude of ways. I am also fortunate to have been told. in confidence, some of the very real experiences of racism and discrimination of marginalised friends and colleagues. When these disclosures are given to me, I validate the experience and offer support as best I can, I recognise that I can always improve in this area to fully enact social justice.
I therefore felt uncomfortable when watching Professor James Orr’s film for the Telegraph. (2022) He describes universities being rewarded by Advance HE for structural change and decolonisation. ‘A vision of society that vast swathes of the public would reject completely’. He interviews people of colour both students and staff and, In my opinion, seeks to patronise the students in particular. The students state that they enjoy free speech, and are benefitting from learning about implicit bias. He also speaks to a colleague, DR Vincent Harinam, who cites a report by the university of Cambridge describing that, ‘Evidence simply does not exist that the university of Cambridge is (uses air quotes) ‘institutionally racist’.(2022)
I try to identify myself as a safe person for people to come to, to discuss their experiences of discrimination. Knowing that Orr’s attitude is exactly why many in academia will never come forward. Institution’s have already judged themselves as not having a problem and often worse, decided that no action needs to be taken if incidents are reported. The Cambridge black advisory hub website (2024), again, I feel patronisingly, states that ‘ Reporting anonymously doesn’t lead to any particular outcome or action but can be useful to help individuals process their experience’. While a link to an ‘End Everyday Racism’ project is included which aims to gather data to present a case to the university.. I believe that more tangibles outcomes are required than this such as accountability from perpetrators and compensation for victims.
I think that the UAL ‘Tell Someone’ (2024) website is somewhat better, describing the people who would guide and respond to a student through their disclosure and promising confidentiality. Although I do not know of anyone who has been through this process. And there are clear reasons why someone who had experienced marginalisation, structural discrimination and erasure would justifiably not be able to place their trust in it. Garett’s observations of racialised minority women in academia describes, ‘Staff leave who ‘barely lasted 2–3 years’ and felt ‘more pressure than a lot more than my white counterparts’. We know that, ‘whiteness is an organisational structural feature, that is affecting the career trajectories of racialised minority PhDs (Garrett, 2024 p12) And, ‘Future generations will not align themselves with an organisation that doesn’t value diversity and inclusion’, (Sadiq, 2024)
Jones and Okun (2001, Cited in Garrett 2024) “Highlight the damaging norms whiteness creates, such as defensiveness to quell new ideas, conflating open conflict with being impolite, desire for individual competitive credit, and believing that those in power have a right to emotional and psychological comfort. These are all elements of what is considered to be a professional work environment, which is also a constructed identity that works to code and maintain the illusion of inclusion, but in reality, serves to preserve white, middleclass models of knowledge, expertise and value.”
‘Racism was about so much more than personal prejudice. It was about being in the position to negatively affect other people’s life chances.” (Eddo-Lodge, 2019) I recognise that I am in such a position, as a privileged white tutor and resolve to continue to listen learn and evaluate myself, my colleagues and the institution using multiple points of data including, the awarding gap, feedback and experiences. I resolve to continually change my behaviour, be grateful for feedback, and speak up when I see, overt, covert and unintentional bias or discrimination. Recognising when I can use my privilege to help others and always trust in the opinions and experiences of marginalised people, knowing that if I feel discomfort in my whiteness this is likely productive. I also believe strongly in financial reparations for marginalised groups and will advocate for this.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Alice Bradbury (2020) A critical race theory framework for education policy analysis: the case of bilingual learners and assessment policy in England, Race Ethnicity and Education, 23:2, 241-260, DOI: 10.1080/13613324.2019.1599338 Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2019.1599338
BBC Bitesize. (n.d.). The scramble for Africa – The British Empire – KS3 History – homework help for year 7, 8 and 9. [online] Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zrfjqfr#zqssf82. Accessed 15.07.2024
Cambridge University, Izuogu, D.C. (2021). Dealing with racism & discrimination. [online] www.blackadvisory.hub.cam.ac.uk. Available at: https://www.blackadvisory.hub.cam.ac.uk/welfare-support/dealing-racism-discrimination [Accessed 30 Jul. 2024].
Crenshaw, K. (1991). Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color. Stanford Law Review, 43(6), 1241-1299. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1229039. Accessed 03.05.2024.
De Simone, D. (2023). Stephen Lawrence case: Disgrace that detectives will not be charged – mother. BBC News. [online] 6 Jul. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-66127025. Accessed 19.06.2024
Eddo-Lodge, R. (2019) Why I’m No Longer Talking to White People About Race. Bloomsbury Publishing.
Isoke, Zenzele, ‘Race and Racialization’, in Lisa Disch, and Mary Hawkesworth (eds), The Oxford Handbook of Feminist Theory, Oxford Handbooks (2016; online edn, Oxford Academic, 6 Jan. 2015), https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199328581.013.38, accessed 30 July 2024.
Smithsonian. (2019). Historical Foundations of Race. [online] National Museum of African American History and Culture. Available at: https://nmaahc.si.edu/learn/talking-about-race/topics/historical-foundations-race. Accessed 20.07.2024
Jones, K. and Okun, T. (2001). White Supremacy Culture From Dismantling Racism: A Workbook for. [online] Minnesota Historical Society. Available at: https://www.thc.texas.gov/public/upload/preserve/museums/files/White_Supremacy_Culture.pdfAccessed 20.07.2024
Osbourne, L., Barnett, J. and Blackwood, L., 2023. Black students’ experiences of “acceptable” racism at a UK university. Journal of Community & Applied Social Psychology, 33(1), pp.43-55.
Rhianna Garrett (11 Feb 2024): Racism shapes careers: career trajectories and imagined futures of racialised minority PhDs in UK higher education, Globalisation, Societies and Education, DOI: 10.1080/14767724.2024.2307886 Available at: https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2024.2307886
University of the Arts London (UAL) (2023). Tell Someone. [online] UAL. Available at: https://www.arts.ac.uk/students/student-services/tell-someone Accessed 30 Jul. 2024.