To wonder when Black African etc becomes Black British

[Bobbiepin]

I teach in a school where 98% of the cohort are classified as Black African or Black Caribbean even though most were born in the UK and identify as British.

Clearly I don't want to take away anyone's heritage but can someone explain to me why we still insist on people who are not white explaining where they come from? Will there ever be a point where Black British or Asian British etc is a category?

In Cornwall you can tick ‘Cornish’ I used to think that was so great

I'm more interested in when it will ever be acknowledged in the UK that Asia comprises of many more countries than just India and Pakistan. I mean... China and Russia are rather large Asian countries.

@snugglepumpkin
what does a 'Brit ' sound like?

@SimonJT
If it has offended you I apologise because it was absolutely not intended to.
I just assume someone is British if they have a British accent.
99% of the contact I have with people is on the phone so I generally only have what I can go hear to go on.
If someone has a very strong German accent I'd guess they are German if I had to.

As I said, I think they (whoever it is) are the only person who can decide what they are so it's not up to me.

@Ted27

Like everyone else in this country, some with regional accents, some with that cut glass private school accent, some with that Uni accent which you can't really pin down to an area.
Some have an accent with a bit of a different country overlaid (e.g. my ex had lived in Australia for long time & had a bit of that in his accent. People never thought he was Australian, but they always seemed to know he had lived there.)

I never said me thinking someone sounds like a Brit makes them one.

When the people answering the question decide that they are black British,.or black English, Welsh, Scots or Irish.

When people stop making assumptions and use these to influence decisions then we won’t need to tick boxes.

Eg I have a foreign surname therefore I’m always asked to confirm entitlement to nhs, whether I can speak English etc

Can I also point out that there is a difference between ethnicity and nationality.

@MrsPear I used to have a very common Pakistani surname, I used to get asked if documents were okay in English, was I entitled to NHS care, in meetings with new clients people would sometimes say “oh you’re not what I was expecting” (I’m fairly light skinned and get mistaken for being from the med).

I now have a typically British surname, I haven’t been asked if I am entitled to NHS care, no ‘surprises’ in meetings and no one asking “where are you really from?”

hoxtonbabe it’s interesting that your DC despite both being born in the UK identify differently. It IS complicated.

@MrsPear that's interesting, my surname originates from Eastern Europe and I never get asked that but a midwife did ask whether I had had the Tay Sachs test because she assumed (although correctly) that I'm Jewish.

Their accent

Crikey - what has accent got to do with it?

Draw another box or tick 'other' and add on what you are e.g. Scottish

The categories are outdated and not inclusive for sure, however black Caribbean children don’t do as well as black African children so it’s useful to identify and target them. I say this as a mother of a black Caribbean school child and as someone who works in schools. It’s not a judgement, it is a fact. Especially boys.

As @icedgem85 says the outcomes for children whose parents came from certain parts of Africa do much better than children from the Caribbean. It’s very relevant.

@Chillicheese123
In Cornwall you can tick ‘Cornish’ I used to think that was so great

I was stopped and asked to do a survey on biscuits in Shanghai. The survey was in English and along with my age and sex I had to select ethnicity. Han or non-Han.

I guess if you were born in the UK you’d identify firstly as British, however of African/ Caribbean heritage. You’d obviously identify with your African/ Caribbean culture too. My 2c worth!

DH is North African and isn’t always obvious which box to tick. Is he white - other but some N Africans have quite dark skin?. Is he Arab but a lot of N African are Berbers not Arab.

With my last child - 7 years ago - in a major London hospital I was told to bring my passport to my booking appointment. Through the wonders of working ears and eyes I saw other women come in with British surnames and they were not asked. Funny thing is I’m English by birth I just happened to marry someone who isn’t.