Reflections of Racism in University

Having run the gauntlet of racist violence throughout my Secondary School years, in school, to and from school, in the community and during my ‘gap year’ prior to commencing university, working nightshift in a warehouse. (This racism was unique working in an almost exclusively working male environment…  which was especially prominent if the England football team lost, blame it on the black/brown guys!)

A different class

Going to university was meant to be an intellectually and culturally enriching experience. Being fortunate (or some may suggest the opposite) that I attended a leading research University in England, it was great to see the diversity of the student body, especially the post-graduate body.

Coming from a small town almost equidistant to Cambridge and Oxford east to west, or for the more diverse, equidistant from Leicester to Luton, north and south, relocating to a large city in the north for three academic years was itself a journey, literally. Until then, I had never met anyone outside of White Britain and the former British Empire diaspora.

Yet what was evident was the class differences which were interwoven into social settings and almost always racially ‘self-selective’. White (upper) middle-class friends would drink (excessively) together and have their social sets around even which venues they drank in and of course which sports/arts they participated in – nearly all of whom were educated in the private sector. Any BAME-UK peers who associated with them would adopt a similar cultural identity and mannerism regardless of their physical skin colour or any non-Anglicised name. [Some may call such people ‘coconuts’ without facing legal repercussions.]

The lower middle-class White students, who may have attended selective state schools, (mainly located in the north of England,) would similarly follow a binge drinking scene, but underpinned with football as their main social connection – along with a lot of racist and offensive language – but I was ‘accepted’ as I was chosen to be the goalkeeper for the six aside football team (winning a national competition too)!

This was the first time I experienced racism with another criteria – how to dress, how to speak.

The insincerity of such associations was clear for transactional friendships. The ‘smile in lectures’ and even sit next to one another, but to be totally ignored and disregarded on campus if ‘seen with their social friends’ even if you made eye contact with one another. The minority feeling socially inclusive to say “Hello” only for it not to be reciprocated by the middle-class White peer. (This happens even now as a School Leader. Attending professional development events or conferences, the same person you may have spoken to at one workshop, (in)conveniently forgets your name or which school you are from or even what role you hold.)

Therefore as a BAME-UK student, you are left to make a ‘choice’ which class do you fit into and what persona or social code do you adopt or adapt to. Be White Middle Class, and hide any sense of ‘ethnicity’ and laugh along with any bigotry, prejudice and fold under one’s inferiority complex (knowingly or otherwise); or choose to reaffirm one’s authentic identity with fellow people of a minority background?

Passport control

The fictional character portrayed by David Walliams comes to mind as a reference here. Ian Foot, a fictional UK Border Patrol officer at the airport (of the politically incorrect) BBC Little Britain show had a scene where he questioned a fellow worker on their ‘Britishness’. His line: “This is a British passport. You’re obviously not British!” is something that resonates to this day, beyond student campus life, now working in the international schools setting.

Class was another barrier but also the passport it would seem. The (White) Home students clear divide with (non-White) international students was rather obvious.

Was this racist? No.

Was it deliberate choice not to socialise with one of your ‘own kind’? Yes.

Then as a BAME-UK student, you are ‘caught’ between two cultures… to use the awful apartheid statement ‘separate but equal’. Added to this, rather blunt stereotypes to choose from:

At one ‘end’, the social set of a liberal promiscuous White Middle Class privileged alcohol-dependent scene and at the other ‘end’ the study set of a more conservative inhibited international (Asian/Arab/African) student scene.

A range in-between would be found, with BAME-UK students immersing themselves in their own fusion of a sub-cultures of music, dress and language, but often with the same vices of alcohol consumption and promiscuity (which they may not demonstrate when at home with their families).

So I chose to fit in between, play football but leave before my White friends went to the pub; meet students from overseas to learn about their social and cultural context even though you had nothing in common apart from a two or three generational removed ancestry, and yet at the same time they viewed you as British – and even used insulting terms against you (in their language where one kid person from that community explains what they are saying about you) as you have very little in common, apart from perhaps, the same religion.

Yet another form of discrimination was experienced whereby some tutors would happily open their office door and provide more access and support outside of lectures and tutorials to the international students, who were paying fees (unlike ‘home’ students whereby university was free… or taxpayer-funded).

Yet when we as home students asked to see the same tutor, the response in an almost inebriated rant was “go away, I am busy!”.

So a quick work-around was to tag along with the international students a study buddy and for once ironically I could ‘blend in’ (with the international students) to ask for any further clarification to the lectures or even collect a spare handout (decades before e-notes and downloads existed!)

Police interaction

Coming from a small market town in the middle of (southern) England, I had never experienced urban policing. Yet I did notice if walking home or to a takeaway (regardless of race, nearly all students couldn’t cook!), the city Police car would slow down if with Asian/visibly Muslim friends, and in one case ask for our student university identity (union) cards.

Yet when I was with rowdy, tipsy (I seldom associated with anyone overtly drunk) White peers and as the sole non-White student, crossing roads, causing a din, moving traffic road furniture (my friends that is, not me!) the Police car wouldn’t even slow down and if anything turn off the road ahead of the crown of anti-social and potentially law-breaking students.

Through my community work, later in my second year at university, I had an audience with the (late) Chief Constable, who did apologise to me for this inconsistent treatment as he called it, but that was not the point. Racist profiling was at best uncomfortable, at worst hostile and can easily lead to further mistrust of the authority of the land.

Public transport, private selection

Bus drivers many who were former coalminers, who did not stop to collect you at the designated main bus stop, but stopping 100 yards down the road at optional bus stops to collect white students. Once could be a coincidence, twice ‘bad luck’, but frequently with a few ‘regular’ drivers one does get suspicious.

So one adapts, to ‘hide behind white students’ whom the bus will stop for to ensure you will also get the ride.

Ticket conductors who would check my ID to see if I was a student, but clearly not check other white (females) … and the irony was he was also of colour – and this was repeated often by the same conductor on that late Sunday night train (especially at the start of a new term or after a public holiday) from London to Yorkshire, stopping on every stop as you recognise fellow university students from each town and city along the 150 mile railway journey.

Half full or half empty?

The first time I came across ‘Cultural literacy’ as a definition was at a campus feedback session where I was invited and I met someone from a much larger city in England, where he was used to a much larger BAME-UK community. He described this campus as being rather White, where as market-town boy that I was viewed the campus as very ethnically diverse.

Isn’t is amazing how the ‘world’ is viewed depending on the lens even if we are from the same ethnic background? A half full or half empty approach to the same query.

Adapt with roots firmly planted

What were the key takeaways from university life?  Adapt not adopt.

The ability to move between different social groups and settings was a skill I developed for surviving rather than thriving, but in doing so it provided a lot of social capital and probably supported my journey to headship in being able to relate to a range of people.

Rather than pursuing a new persona, and forgetting one’s roots, by being able to remain authentic, I was able to suffer an inferior complex but remain balanced, tolerant and welcoming.

What I also noticed was that social class and accent mattered a lot. The first time I really understood what White privilege was. They had a network which ensure postgraduate studies, application for bursaries which were not shared openly and job applications with internships that was not even advertised.

It is the latter which has made me if anything more determined for justice and equity for others. Within England, the many BAME-UK communities that I experienced for the first time aged 21 visiting West Yorkshire, Lancashire and the West Midlands, I realised how education for the fortunate few can indeed break a cycle of isolation, but only if the ones that overcome the barriers, continue to advocate, mentor and hold the ladder to let others also climb with these same values.