Racism in Schools

[RedMarauder]

First a disclaimer

Just in case this thread pops up in “Active”. This is a contribution to the Black Mumsnetters board which was established to be a safe space for black women and allies to discuss issues of interest black women, from racism to African history, from black hair care to culture-specific issues in relationships. If you feel triggered, nothing here is an attack on you. I would hate for a thread centering black experience to be hijacked so that it ends about centering those who may have hurt feelings because this discussion may be uncomfortable for them. Thank you!

On to my issue

The Guardian has been doing a series of articles on racism in education in schools. The voices of both black pupils and teachers are heard. The articles are worth a read as for those who don't have personal links to schools but went through the school system here, as they illustrate that schools have not improved over the decades in their attitudes to racism and inequalities.

This is also why, as I pointed out on another thread, it is not good enough just to have a black minister, whose portfolio covers some of these equalities. We need one who went through the state school system here so understands the racist attitudes black children and teaching staff have to deal with.

• Exclusion rates 5 times higher for black Caribbean pupils

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/24/exclusion-rates-black-caribbean-pupils-england

• ‘I was terrified’: pupils tell of being victimised in UK schools

www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/24/i-was-terrified-pupils-tell-of-being-victimised-in-uk-schools

-‘Systemic racism’: teachers speak out about discrimination in UK schools
www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/24/systemic-racism-teachers-speak-out-about-discrimination-in-uk-schools

-British schools are institutionally racist. That must change fast
www.theguardian.com/education/2021/mar/24/british-schools-are-institutionally-racist-that-must-change-fast

HmmmmmmInteresting

They didn't just say it - they wrote a letter stating it and gave it to me to give to my parents.

My parents weren't the type to be intimidated - especially my Dad, he is Rastafari and very spiritual. I'd barely shown him the letter and he went off striding to the school.

I hear you, about parents not wanting to get involved with the haircut issue at school. So panicky about 'not making a fuss' they do their own children a dis-service.

I'd feel so small if my children witnessed me being passive in the face of discrimination against them. Children and their minds grow quicker than we think, and they "see" us. It's just not something I would ever want to demonstrate to them.

Including that their beautiful hair, that grows naturally from their heads, is somehow no good compared to others' hair. Not on my watch.

I hear you too on racists who come to BMN to be heard. Nothing edifying whatsoever so yes, giving them zero energy is the way.

@LookingThroughTheTrees apparently white people can't experience racism so black posters can say pretty much what they like against them. It's an attitude that doesn't really help foster positive relations.

Indeed

@HmmmmmmInteresting

Did they really say your hair 'promoted black power'?😳

In the 70s/80s that was the one of the commonest excuses for policing natural hair both in schools and workplaces (with the latter adding "unprofessional looking" as a bonus prize).

I hear you too on racists who come to BMN to be heard. Nothing edifying whatsoever so yes, giving them zero energy is the way.

This.

A lot of people would have been intimidated/not wanting to make a fuss. When I took the school on for the hair cut thing a lot of parents didn't want to get involved.

I have some friends who would behave like that. They live in the sticks, so their DC are usually the only Black DC in their class, sometimes in the whole school year. They are terrified of calling out any questionable behaviour, lest the school brand them as the Black troublemakers, and urged me not to say anything when I was talking about my DS's name situation.

It's their DC I feel sorry for, as they are still in primary school, and would already be aware that there's no point complaining about any othering behaviour in school, as nothing ever happens to change things.

Reading about some of your experiences regarding your names and hair issues at school, and work is eye opening and sad. I remain hopeful that real change will happen. Voices are getting louder and injustice is being laid bare. I want to hope that we are working towards a fairer society, where everyone will be treated equally.

There is something that my workplace has recently adopted, along with many others called the Halo Code, which seeks to end discrimination against Afro hair in the UK:

halocollective.co.uk

halocollective.co.uk/halo-workplace/

I have some friends who would behave like that. They live in the sticks, so their DC are usually the only Black DC in their class, sometimes in the whole school year. They are terrified of calling out any questionable behaviour, lest the school brand them as the Black troublemakers, and urged me not to say anything when I was talking about my DS's name situation.

That’s really sad but I can see where your friends are coming from. If you are the “only one is the village” of anything be it MR, gay, BAME, different religion, there is often the feeling of wanting to belong, to not rock the boat and to be seen for your personality not your “thing”. It’s very, very hard ( I’ve been there) and for some it does just take time and confidence.

@Orchidflower1

I have some friends who would behave like that. They live in the sticks, so their DC are usually the only Black DC in their class, sometimes in the whole school year. They are terrified of calling out any questionable behaviour, lest the school brand them as the Black troublemakers, and urged me not to say anything when I was talking about my DS's name situation.

That’s really sad but I can see where your friends are coming from. If you are the “only one is the village” of anything be it MR, gay, BAME, different religion, there is often the feeling of wanting to belong, to not rock the boat and to be seen for your personality not your “thing”. It’s very, very hard ( I’ve been there) and for some it does just take time and confidence.

I really feel for the DC when I think of the impact it could be having on the mental health of DC whose parents take this approach.

This type of internal damage only usually manifests and presents in adulthood, at which point, it's too late to repair.

I totally agree @Starseeking that was how I was brought up; never feeling like I quite “fitted” but not sure what to do about it. I have had episodes of severe anxiety and depression. Thankfully due to faith, family and friends I’m loads better but it’s there in the background.

I do think that my mum suffered with mh issues so there could be a genetic link but I think she struggled trying to keep her culture alive when my dads family took a long time to accept her.

This has got quite deep hasn’t it. 🙂

As the white mother of a dual heritage (white/Black Caribbean) child, I’ve actually been pleasantly surprised at my son’s primary and secondary school attitudes to his natural Afro style which he is very proud of.

I was extremely anxious particularly about the move to his grammar school which is known for its strict rules as much as it’s excellent academic achievements, that his hairstyle was going to be a problem for the school. I hate confrontation and tend to back down too much on things and then hate myself for it, but my son is super stubborn and has amazing innate confidence 😂 So he refused to let me reduce the size of his Afro before starting the new school and said that if the school had a problem with it that was their issue. And they have never breathed a word about it. The secondary school is very mixed, I’d say white pupils are hugely in the minority there (unlike his primary school where he was in a definite minority although not completely alone). So I am possibly benefiting from previous black parents arguing for their children’s hairstyles and I appreciate it.

I have to say I have also been very encouraged that any racist incidents have been immediately seized upon and taken very seriously indeed by both schools. One boy in year 6 started calling him “coke” and “coal” and got suspended. And he got so fed up with people wanting to touch his hair that the teacher told the whole class that he didn’t like people touching his hair and it wasn’t allowed (which obviously made it ramp up initially but they kept on top of it and handed out severe punishments for those that did and then nobody touched his hair after that).

And in secondary school a group of children started calling him “Bush” because of his “bushy” hair. They all got prolonged detention time and a serious talking to about racism. Which my son said they were very aggrieved about because the children involved were of South Asian heritage and were muttering “how is that even racist, we didn’t say anything about his skin colour and anyway we are brown ourselves?!”

I also wanted to say to I think it was Starseeker who said why would white people think that we do something to our hair for an Afro, I must confess that in my younger years I genuinely thought this 🤦‍♀️ I was brought up in part of the UK where we had very few ethnic minorities and when we did see a black person, their hair was often relaxed or they were wearing a weave etc. Until I married my ex and learned more about the black community I never even realised that weaves and wigs were a thing. I thought that was their real hair. And genuinely thought the Afro was just a particular style choice rather than the result of letting black hair grow naturally. Sounds crazy but it’s true. I’m better educated now!

[quote Benelovencd]@HmmmmmmInteresting

[/quote]

😉😁

@HmmmmmmInteresting the YouTube link won’t let me access it. It says it’s restricted. Is it my iPad or has it stopped working for you now? What was the gist please.

Hi @Orchidflower1 it's working for me

Google 'ted talk Uzoamaka'. It's really good. Only 2 and a half minutes.

@Orchidflower1

I totally agree *@Starseeking* that was how I was brought up; never feeling like I quite “fitted” but not sure what to do about it. I have had episodes of severe anxiety and depression. Thankfully due to faith, family and friends I’m loads better but it’s there in the background.

I do think that my mum suffered with mh issues so there could be a genetic link but I think she struggled trying to keep her culture alive when my dads family took a long time to accept her.

This has got quite deep hasn’t it. 🙂

I'm sorry that you had to go through that, and it's good that you have a strong support network @Orchidflower1.

I remember reading that statistics show that Black people disproportionately suffer from mental health issues, and I do wonder how much of that is due to:

• overdiagnosis by the predominantly white professionals who work in that space
• the impact of trauma suffered through racist incidents which have been buried
• natural predisposition of individual people

Perhaps a combination of all three, but what seems clear to me is that more needs to be done to provide Black people with support, rather than gaslighting us by pretending racism doesn't exist.

I read a thread on twitter where people were talking about how colonisers gave us their names and when black American people try to make up their own names, eg. Shaniqua etc, they get mocked. Just look on any baby names thread on Mumsnet to see the derision for so-called 'younique' names.

This racism in school threads has made me think about things like that. How our kids are made to feel ashamed of their Nigerian or whatever names, and want an anglicised name to fit in, but names like Ivanka and Schwarzenegger etc are the acceptable face of foreign names.

I'll look to see if I can find the thread

rather than gaslighting us by pretending racism doesn't exist.

Apparently there's no systemic racism in Britain. Boris said so after he commissioned an investigation headed by people that don't believe there is such a thing as institutional racism. Result of the investigation came out yesterday.They used token, self-hating brown people too, so it must be true

This is who headed the commission; a woman who doubts the existence of institutional racism and blames previous enquiries for fostering a 'culture of grievance':

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jun/15/dismay-over-adviser-chosen-set-up-uk-race-inequality-commission-munira-mirza

Good work, Boris you absolute fucking twat. You don't even need to hide your racism because you've been given a mandate by the British people.

Thank you @Starseeking I’m MR and have a forces Dad so we moved around a fair bit until I was a young teen so I think that combined with the race made me just want people to see the me behind me if that makes sense. As an aside my favourite therapist I saw ( I know how odd that sounds!) was Portuguese so although not MR she wasn’t white British. Bless her was lovely and helped me unpack my trunk loads of baggage!

Thanks @HmmmmmmInteresting I’ve just watched it on my laptop- DH thinks I couldn’t see it due to restrictions we’ve got on the iPad for ds. The video was interesting- I love a Ted talk! Thank you.

@HmmmmmmInteresting there was an interesting thread on here the other day about the pronunciation of names/ asking how to pronounce names.

Pre marriage I had a hyphenated surname one part was easier for western tongues to say than the other.

Eg orchid hardername - very easy name

Now I’m just

Orchid unusual married name

So I have had what’s always been deemed by some as a tricky name one way or the other! I would always, always prefer people to ask if they don’t know how to say my name.

I have some friends who would behave like that. They live in the sticks, so their DC are usually the only Black DC in their class, sometimes in the whole school year. They are terrified of calling out any questionable behaviour, lest the school brand them as the Black troublemakers, and urged me not to say anything when I was talking about my DS's name situation.

That, the Pimlico School situation and what happened to me at infant school is why I won't move out of a city while my child needs to go to school. I know like my parents if I have to make a stand against a racist teacher they will have form and I won't be accused of making it up.

When my parents took the headteacher of my infant school to task with the local education authority they discovered there had been previous complaints about her actions towards other non-white children. My parents then ensured other parents were aware of it, so when she targeted yet another child she retired.

Funny thing was it became known which parents who had complained. All the parents were older parents like mine.