I had a trully upsetting and shocking experience today. I just feel so angry about it. I have two students of afro-carribean descent. I'll call them Julie and Tommy. Julie is from a rather well to do family from London. She speaks in very pronounced English and is a lovely, kind intelligent woman. Tommy (my fav...shush) is a 21 year second generation Nigerian from Manchester. They are fab students and I am proud of them both. They are just coming to the end of an 11 week placement where they have been racially abused every day. Called the N word, monkeys, asked if their hair was real or if people could touch their skin. Julie was even asked why she speaks so posh as N...... don't talk like that! I almost cried when she told me. She said for the first time in her life she wished she wasn't black! I am just trying to process this. Obviously they have been pulled off that placement and official processes will now take place but I having been trying to understand what I felt. I just realised it's guilt. I am so sorry. Julie said she had never experienced this in multi-ethnic London, I hate that anyone would think this is normal for the north of England. I feel terrible that my student got told to leave a country that she was born in. That people are so ignorant and so cruel. You know what, she even tried to defend them. I am so sorry for what we did...when I say we...I mean us, the white anglo saxon Europeans. We did this. Both these guys are heading for very high class degrees. Tommy particularly is very bright. I am disgusted that he was told the only things black lads can do is play football or box. (His ethics assignment got 93%!) I am white, ginger, professional and I suppose reasonably priveldged. However for the first time in my life I trully feel angry by how damaging racism is. I would appreciate your thoughts because all I want to do is cry.
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38 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.so those high class degrees mean what, really? is that important in this context? White folks love to attack "hate" but are very reluctant to attack white supremacy.. even deny it exist..
Touched
Level 4
Mar 8, 2019
1
High classification. 2:1 or 1st.
I have marched against white supremacists. They exist. They have no place in modern life. You are attacking the wrong ally.
@Amisja racism is a part of WS.. like a Venn diagram that touches upon one another..white supremacy is further down the rabbit hole..most whites don't even consider what they are doing to support it because it's "normal" for them and makes sense to them..I'm not saying you support these things because I don't know you, however capitalism, religion, school curricula, police, seemingly benign laws, inheritances, ownership of land and resources, political structures..i could go on and on
The ameriKKKan Racist Approach had been Exported to Other Countries. People act Surprised when I tell My Story that I didn't Learned Meaning of the Word Nigger until I was 27 Years Old. We Live in Such a Sad World... Mankind is Doomed.
GipsyOfNewSpain
Level 9
Mar 7, 2019
0
I hope not Mr Gipsy
BD66:
I'm curious why you would blame the USA for racism in the UK. The English were involved in the African slave trade 40 years before there were any English colonies in the USA. It seems like (if anything) the English should be blamed for racism in the USA:
@Gooniesnvrdie ,
divide & conquer. trump is succeeding with it.
@Amisja I don't know if we are doomed, but, here, in the states, racism has been on the rise once again. It disgusts me. "Everyone" says one step at a time, but that isn't working. Those at the top need to be held accountable.
As a teacher, in some cases, and I do not take pride in my actions, but if I saw bullying, especially racist bullying I spoke up. And if nothing was done, and I could, I hate to say this, but I bullied the bullies. I am sure it did worse things in the world of Karma if such a thing exists. I am proud of the times I stood up. I am proud of my students who thanked me. I am proud of their achievements.
Sorry for what you are seeing. Another one of those no simple answers for a complex problem.
@Gooniesnvrdie I am Puertorrican, Born and Raised in the Island. I never been Racist toward Mexicans... Why Would I? When I visited England with the Navy... I wasn't white or black, I was simply what I was... a Representative from the West Indies. I learned from My European GFs that there is no white, yellow, red or black skinned... Only in ameriKKKa. I dildn't learned the meaning of the word Nigger until being 27 and in US Navy Boot Camp... But You Speak as a True Apolologist that see Racism Everywhere so... Can't be that Bad... Thank You for Representing AmeriKKKan Racism as a Normality. Here it is... EXHIBIT "A".
Why would someone who's the target of such ignorance apologize? I'd like to introduce you to Julie's negro mentality. Did you know that years ago, and perhaps today, Blacks from other countries are encouraged to forgive white supremacy and are told they are different from American Blacks? So you feel anger because it's close to you.. like having that one black friend who was called a N? This entire system should make you angry. what is wrong with white folks are they just on another planet? I guess that's part of the privelige they experience.. I sound angry and hateful, but that's just seeing and expressing a view form a place different than yours. one that's been discounted.
Touched
Level 4
Mar 8, 2019
2
Woah
I don't have one black friend. I am academic advisor for 18 students 7 of whom are persons of colour. My sister is mixed as are her children. She has rarely encountered racism or indeed hostility. I am opposed to any form of hatred perpetuated on people for something they can't change. I tried to explain how upset and angry I was to be academic advisor to two students and the guilt I felt at being unable to protect them.
@Amisja some of my comment is not personal.. I think, not sure because I'm not white, that such response making it personal is a feeling of guilt. that's not necessary..the "apologizing" was a question directed at the girl and boy. the one black friend can be 18 or more out of 40 million..this hinges on ideas, feelings and stereotypes, along with paternalism wrapped up in white supremacy..complicated social views implanted by centuries of White and Black peoples forced and internalized status..
@Touched Well you are the same age as my aged P! I joined Antifa and laterly hope not hate in order to protest against racism, notions of white supremacy and antisemitism wherever I saw it. I was a young teen and very vocal in my condemmation of hate. I know who I am. I know I am not better than any other living creature and I will fight to my dying day to oppose hate. I live in a diverse multi-cultural part of England and we got this way on the backs of thousands of working people before me. In the 1860s the cotton workers of Blackburn suffered a cotton famine due directly to the Revolutionary war in USA. People in my home town chose to remain out of work (1000s starved) rather than work on the backs of enslaved persons. This was the first time I have directly encountered racism as I thought we'd all grown the fuck up. (Sorry for swearing Dad!). This is why it upset me. Not just because it exists but because I was niave to think it didn't.
[hopenothate.org.uk]
I am trying to understand. In my life today I'm aware that I have done a complete 360 on many things and this issue is one of them. I have a few black friends. My ex of 12 years was Kenyan. My radar picks up on whites talking trash and some of them do it unawares. Some are flat out racists. I'm aware that Julie and Tommy can be as intelligent as anyone else and they should be allowed to be anyone they want to be. Yet, I find ignorant whites arguing on how they would feel if "god had made them a black man." It's insanity! I don't want to cry about this issue or feel any guilt. I do feel badly about it and I avoid anyone who is racist in any way whether they are aware of it or not.
DenoPenno
Level 9
Mar 8, 2019
0
I do understand this. I think that was kind of my point. I have a mixed race sister, my ex was Jewish American, my cousin's wife is Puerto Rican. I hate racism. I hate it intellectually but I never felt it before. When my nephew comes and stays with me, he is my little chap. He is who he is. His race never even occurred to me. This has been the first time I felt it. Like really felt angry at other people's ignorance before.
@Amisja I have a neighbor who lives in the apartment complex next door. I no longer talk to him much and the reason is that once he told me all about blacks. He has no idea that my ex was black but he says "look at all the money we have spent to educate them." People like this are too frigging stupid to even know they are racist and they are a waste of my time. They are a disgrace!
I know you realise that 360 degrees is a circle which would leave you right back where you began. Perhaps you meant a "180 degree" which would leave you totally opposite from where you began.
@Countrywoman Thank you for the heads up. I always was bad at math. 
Sorry to belabor a point but your comment of having done "a complete 360" literally means that you made a full circle and returned to the point of origin. Might I ask if you did not instead mean that you did a 180º - opposite of your original stand?!?
maybe the fact that they were doing so well on the course had something to do.
callmedubious
Level 8
Mar 7, 2019
2
What do you mean?
@Amisja ,
maybe the other students couldn't handle the fact that people they like to think are inferior get better marks than them so they try to put them down.
@callmedubious You misunderstand. These were students on a clinical placement. The people being abusive were patients and some of the HCAs.
@Amisja omg!
@Amisja , you're right i misunderstood.
Not being a Brit, I do not know what you mean when you say, "I am white, ginger, ...." What the hell is "ginger"?
Other than that, I don't see an end to racism anytime soon.
My first serious girlfriend (in the U.S. Army), was 1/2 white but I was unaware of that (she looked and passed for the most part as white and I did not really care. However, some of the white solders took it upon themselves to inform me that she was Black. "You do know she is Black", etc., as if, if I knew, I would break it off with her. Things did not work out...I as at a very bad point in my life and the relationship did not progress (my fault, not hers), and we made no plans to stay together when I was discharged. Things have come full circle and my son is engaged to be married to a real nice (intelligent as hell, very involved in bettering the world), Black girl.
dahermit
Level 7
Mar 7, 2019
2
Ginger=person with red hair
Awww we need pics when they marry. My sister is mixed race. Her one boy has a white dad her youngest's Dad is black. Her current chap is white. They are family.
@Amisja Brothers and Sisters = Family. My Brothers and Sisters = MY FAMILY. There are two other Light Skinned Sisters not in picture.
Not surprised at all. Ignorance is everywhere. The kids will develop coping mechanisms to deal with non-blacks, and hopefully they will maintain a balance of seperating the low-lifes from normal people. Fact is, they will always remember those experiences and they should. As opposed to trying to shield them, which never works, a dialogue should be opened up on the subject. Another point, is I personally think it is a terrible idea to have black children in a completely all white/non-black environment. Kids can be terrible and the black/brown kids's scaring far outweighs any academic and intellectual stimulation. I raised 3 daughters and I have a daughter that was exposed to that level of ignorance for a brief time. She is a high achiever now, but she bitterly hates the teacher involved.
Now, I honestly believe things are worse now, than before and that is saying something.
BrentMBA2004
Level 6
Mar 8, 2019
0
They are adults 25 and 21
@Amisja they were from the Caribbean or an area there were majority black, then that explains a lot. An unfortunate part of life. They will adjust.
@BrentMBA2004 Nooooo they are English adult undergraduate students
@Amisja amazing they went that long without experiencing something like that. Too bad.
@BrentMBA2004 I know. Thats the upsetting thing
Do not feel guilty, racism is an irrational feeling, ignorant people and idiots are racist.
Williamcristiano
Level 5
Mar 8, 2019
2
i'm sorry but not for me ...racism is a component of white supremacy and it's not a feeling at all, but a reality for us..
@Touched there are black racist too
@Williamcristiano do I have to explain this to someone who already knows that Blacks can be racist? Tell me, why do they have meanings for prejudice, bigotry, discrimination when none of those things are racist or institutionalized because you need POWER to enforce ideas of racism and what power do Blacks have of final appeal and independent decision that are made by and enforced by them?
Tell me have you ever read anything from Abdias do Nascimento?
examples"
Africans in Brazil: A Pan-African Perspective Nov 1, 1992
by Abdias do Nascimento , Elisa Larkin Nascimento
Brazil, Mixture or Massacre?: Essays in the Genocide of a Black People Oct 1, 1989
by Abdias do Nascimento , Elisa Larkin Nascimento
@Touched I did not read about it because I was born in 1992.
But anyway thank you very much for tell me about it, i am learning with you about my own country....
The ONLY thing any of us can do is call it out when we witness it.
Influence the people in our lives as much as possible.
Refuse to accept it, and make those we catch acting that way, feel as
terrible as possible about it.
Shame them for being assholes.
Use your anger. Channel it into not remaining silent.
KKGator
Level 9
Mar 7, 2019
5
Oh I spent 6 hours writing up reports and collecting evidence. It might mean the nursing home gets closed down if they believe it is endemic.
I read somewhere that an effective way to handle racists, sexist, homophobic comments/jokes was to feign a lack of understanding and ask the speaker to elaborate as to what they meant.
Keep pretending to not understand until they either admit their motivation or become embarrassed.
If only I could remember to do this rather than lose my shit and call them dicks
It's is horrible the way some people behave. I have come upon racism myself. As I am originally from Europe but live in Australia. I speak with a slight Scandinavian accent and sometimes at work when people call they want to speak to an Australian they say, they want to speak to my supervisor or someone higher up. Well I don't fall for that, I straight away pull them up about their racist remarks and ask them if they are Aborigines to have a right to question my nationality, most of them just hang up, some start swearing but they I end the call.
Jolanta
Level 9
Mar 7, 2019
5
"ask them if they are Aborigines to say and act like that"
Is that a joke or are you a racist?
@jerry99 Sorry I did not write it the way it should have been written. You can disapprove about someones nationality if you are an Aborigine all others come from somewhere else. Just like you, unless you are a native Indian, you to come from somewhere else and should not ask someone in a derogatory way if they belong or not.
@Jolanta I have a cousin in Australia,born there, and he is a lovely fellow but maybe I have been a bit unlucky in some other Australians I have met. The term "well balanced, a chip on each shoulder" fitted them perfectly.I met a couple recently and the woman went on at length in derogatory terms about the "ten pound Poms" I should have asked her how many generations her family went back. To Botany bay possibly? but I thought that would be unkind.
I too used to not get it til I went to college n had a few close black friends/band mates, saw how police treat em, shop owners etc. the extra things they have to worry about in rural areas are unreal. The movie Green Book was supposed to be a historical account but people of color still damn near need one to find safe passage in the backwoods parts of our countries.
White people just can’t see/hear/believe how POCs still get treated until they spend enough time in proximity to see it for themselves. Telling educated people they don’t “sound black" is common here too and I can imagine little else that would be as insulting. If someone said that to me I would wind up on the news real fast. When even white people are getting tired of white peoples nonsense...
Try not to internalize your white guilt and beat yourself up but use it to recognize your privilege and use your privilege to speak up for those without. That’s all you can really do that I know of. Create those glares and awkward silences when people assume you’re as provincial as they are and tell an off color joke. Let other white people know how ignorant they sound and that we don’t do that anymore. Another useful tactic when someone starts going down a vaguely racist path of reasoning is to pretend not to know what they’re talking about and keep asking them to explain further until they get uncomfortable and stop. A wide eyed innocent look helps here if you can keep it up.
The type of person that you’re talking about may never be made uncomfortable though. I don’t know what to do about them other than reconsider our position on eugenics. if they’re still that openly racist in this age, I think I’m ok with sterilizing them.
Wurlitzer
Level 8
Mar 8, 2019
0
"openly racist?????"
@Touched yeah, the type of person that would call people n words and monkeys to their face? What else do you call that? I realize that the entire system in the US and likely UK has a lot of baked in racism and that more “discreet” racism isn’t any better, but that’s the type we can do something about. The ignorant hicks that will just yell at someone are in a league of their own, dunno what to do about them other than take the warning labels off everything n let nature sort it out.
Shocking...and yet I’m not really surprised. In the areas away from the large metropolitan areas, where there are very many less black and ethnic minority people than you would find in any of the bigger cities, the amount of racism is high. I think it’s always been there, but it wasn’t always so obvious before the Brexit Referendum. The leave campaign seemed to unleash a flood of repressed racists....it was as though they were just waiting for permission to vent their ideas of hatred and bigotry. This government are not in control of anything, and the Police Commissioner has just stated that funding cuts are affecting the ability of the police to prevent and prosecute crime. I’m sure raciallly motivated crime is hugely on the increase, but the chance of the authorities getting to grips with it, especially preventing and countering it, is remote at present. Sad for people such as your students.
Marionville
Level 10
Mar 7, 2019
5
This is a reasonably diverse part of UK. The NW always had a good reputation. This has shocked me to the core
@Amisja It didn’t come from nowhere...it was just lying dormant...Brexit has brought it to life!
The "I hate you because you're different from me" attitude is the inner working of a small, ignorant mind revealing its fears and insecurities. Consider the source and dismiss it for what it is; the verbal diarrhea of an idiot.
These people and their stupidity are beneath the rest of us. Don't give them the power to upset you.
Sgt_Spanky
Level 8
Mar 7, 2019
2
Unfortunately it can't be dismissed. This was a healthcare environment and as such are overseen by a public body.
@Amisja I understand this happened in a professional environment and there's likely going to be HR involvement. My advice was meant for you personally since you referenced crying and being upset by their behavior.
Though racism is very much alive, it is my belief that is is dying a slow death. It is the people like you with empathy and compassion that's gonna play an important role in the necessary changes coming about. Thanks for sharing this experience here.
Unity
Level 7
Mar 7, 2019
6
and people will say "why don't blacks achieve as much?" This is why... minorities and those perceived as different are systematically beaten down from childhood in small and large ways.
I'm sorry they suffered that. I hope they rise above it and take their places wherever THEY choose to be. I hope they succeed and never look back and most of all I hope their children never suffer that abuse.
Knitfreak
Level 7
Mar 7, 2019
5
Why are they the ones having to leave?
That is adding extreme unfairness to what they have already endured.
Especially if they are so close to the end of the assignment.
BufftonBeotch
Level 8
Mar 7, 2019
1
Very sorry to hear that, and more than sorry to hear that you are upset by it , as you naturally will be. But you must keep the stiff upper lip both for the sake of your students, and because if you allow it to ruin even a small part of your life, then you are letting the racist bullies win a small victory, since they no doubt would like to hurt you for your crime in their eyes of not being racist, nearly as much as they would like to hurt your students.
Fernapple
Level 9
Mar 8, 2019
1
So sad. This is why the Black Lives Matter movement is important.
LiterateHiker
Level 9
Mar 7, 2019
5
Its not really a movement here. Its not something I have encountered before. Trully. My home town is very diverse. Just struggling with it
I honestly don't understand it either. It's truly mind boggling to me how people can discriminate others based on their skin color. Something that is literally determined by the sun and how close your ancestors were to it. It's an adaptation, nothing more.
Kynlei
Level 8
Mar 7, 2019
1
Those colours are so beautiful aren't they?
Tell them their best revenge is to succeed at what they are striving for. I am one person rooting for them. I have students of all colors, backgrounds, etc. That makes me feel so free. Please give them hugs for me.
think-beyond
Level 7
Mar 7, 2019
6
Thank you. They will suceed. It just shouldn't be like this, they are learning to be nurses...to care for others.
Your guilt is unearned. Don't be so hard on yourself. Your anger over the issue, however, is spot on. It is unbelievable that we are still dealing with this shit in the 21st century (and I would lump religion in with bold, bullying racism and all of the other backwards thinking that still affects human societies. =[
IAMGROOT
Level 7
Mar 8, 2019
2
Thank you
It's terrible. Our current political situation, with Brexit over there and Trump over here seems to be making people feel justified voicing these racist views. It's such a step backwards.
Stephanie99
Level 8
Mar 7, 2019
6
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