Racism and related undertones

When the verdict for the George Floyd case was announced, I was relived but at the same time I realised that we as people of colour still have many battles we endure daily. I was compelled to write about some of the events that have highlighted the micro-aggressions and racist slurs that occur. There are some day to day racist remarks which are said, be it due to ignorance or malicious intent, but sometimes we are unable correct or address the issue. These can be at a personal level or at organisational level. How do we react to these incidences without appearing petty. How do we educate the world so that our children do not have to inherit these issues that can stifle their confidence in who they are.

When such things happen in Schools

When our older daughter first attended school in the UK, first week into the term, she brought home work with someone else’s name, the name was Caucasian. Her father asked her why she had another child’s homework, our daughter told him that the teacher was finding it difficult to pronounce her name and had therefore asked my daughter to pick an easier name. My daughter did not see anything wrong with the situation and defended the teachers intentions. This made us realise that you can never prepare your child for such situations.

Her father then wrote a letter to the teacher and also to the headmaster informing them that we were not happy with this situation and also quoted Kunta Kinte in the letter. He also stipulated that we would appreciate it if they did their best to call our daughter by her name at all times. The school was very understanding and they wrote a letter to apologise.

We then made a conscious decision to encourage our children to be proud of who they are, we also enlightened them of the way we as Africans tended to give our children Caucasian names but the Caucasians never gave their children African names. We bought the movie Roots and our children got to watch it and also encouraged our children to read books about African history and the scramble for Africa through colonisation.

Challenges at work

At work a doctor rang the department request information for a result for the “negroid patient ” he was looking after. My jaw dropped and I asked him to repeat what he had said. He repeated the same statement and I asked him not to address the patient with that term as it was racist. He did not back down and informed me that they use the term in his department all the time. I asked him if they used this term when doing ward rounds and he said yes all the time. I tried to explain to him that that term was politically incorrect and he said I was being petty. I gave him the result and left him to it as I realised that if I continued to argue with him I would not be able to continue my shift in the right frame of mind. Luckily an Asian doctor who worked in my department walked into the lab and I explained to him what had happened, he understood me perfectly and he was mortified and went straight to that ward where the other doctor had called from. Within a few minutes, the doctor who had argued with me earlier called back and apologised.

At work another African lady joined the team and one day I answered the work phone for the first time that day and the caller just continued a conversation and insisted that she had spoken to me in the previous conversation earlier that day. I insisted that I had not spoken to her. She continued to say that I had spoken to her. The lady on the other did not back down no matter how many times I told her that I was not the one, I then insisted that I speak to her manager as I felt that this was uncalled for. I tried to tell her that she was being racist by assuming that I was the same person, she then said that I was being sensitive. Then I realised that this lady was convinced that there was nothing she had done wrong. I asked if she had taken the name of the person she had spoken to earlier, she said no but the person had the same voice as me and I told her that there were other africans in the department and therefore her a

What happens in Shops

A friend of mine mentioned how on several occasions, she has bought expensive make up from department stores and then get offered some freebies. She noticed that the freebies are never ones that people of colour are able to use. Even the make up companies that also have a make up range for people of colour She insisted that she would not be able to use the freebies and asked for a freebie that she would be able use, the store attended insisted that she take the freebie and pass it onto someone else. This was even more shocking as it seemed as an undertone of not wanting people of colour to shop in their store by insisting that my friend pass on the freebies to her friends, giving more freebies to people who are not people of colour.

Do Shops these shops deserve our money?

I walked into a local reputable pharmacy to buy Afro hair products, when I got to the shelves that had afro products, there was a sign on the shelf that stated that shop lifters will be prosecuted. It got me wondering if I was seeing racism where there is no racism, so I walked around the shop to see if these signs were on other shelves. The other shelves did not have such signs. I asked the store assistant why the sign was only on the afro products shelf, the store assistant told me that it was just randomly placed. I tried to alert the store attendant that that was definitely a racist sign as it insinuated that only black/people with afro hair needed to be warned that they would be prosecuted. It also implied that they were the only cohort of customers who would steal from the shop. How do you continue to shop in places like this?

How do we equip our children?

How do we prepare our children to be able to react appropriately to these situatons. I always believed that I am strong enough to deal with these situations but at times I found myself lost. Its even more challenging for our children if they are born in this society and they have never known how it is to live in a society with people of colour alone. The normal they know is having a multiracial society. How do you show them how to be proud of who they are without being aggressive. Lets face it no matter how hard we try, there will always be a cohort of the population who will not appreciate and embrace different races. Some may make racist remarks without knowing that the remarks are racist. Some may speak and act in racist ways towards other races. I believe you can never force anyone to like you, you can to only educate them and let them know if you are offended by their actions and words.

How are you navigating the racism situations in whatever country you are in? What ways are you equipping your children to deal with racism. Are your children proud of who they are and can stand strong no matter how other people treat them?

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