Wow, you got into Oxford, were you a diversity candidate?ġ4. Any “coloured” descriptor ( I’m not a box of crayons). You’re not black, you must be mixed with something, because you’re so light-skinned.Ĩ. I didn’t realise black people could grow real eyebrows.ħ. Can I touch your hair? ( OR they lunge in without asking).ĥ. Some readers may be alarmed by what is yet to come, so take a deep breath, relax… then imagine living it daily! Appearanceġ. Irrespective of race, most will have the human capacity to appreciate the absurdity, and, to some degree, the farcicality of this terrain of insults that black people are forced to traverse. Further, offensive comments are hard to address without causing offense to the original offender, and so often, the gravity of the situation goes unnoticed, and inappropriate comments persist.Īlthough some tropes may resonate with other ethnic communities, this is a small step toward making clear what things are not appropriate to say to black people (even in satire). This epitomises the common misconception that people have to be racist to say or do racist things. Overall, contributors shared a difficultly in addressing this manner of discourse composed and straight faced, since they appeared bizarrely innocent, or were intended comically, and yet were wildly strange and grossly ill-informed. There was also evidence of message assimilation, echoing content from major media outlets and scientific discourse about societal inequalities. Surprisingly, despite discernible racial undertones, many contributors added that much of what was said came from the most unexpected people who, by all other intents and purposes, were educated, kind, and even actively anti-racist. While I initially chuckled at some of the shared experiences, my reaction ultimately reflected an internal discomfort at their sheer absurdity, and the demonstrated oblivion to true experiences of black people in Britain. For brevity, we report the 50 most staggering. Results included 101 unique entries omitting those of an explicit nature. Eligible responses were first-hand made by non-black individuals. Contributors were male and female professionals, aged 22-60, middle or working class, of an African American, Caribbean, Latinx, or East, West or South African heritage. The putative prevalence of this issue spurred me to create an informal 12-hour online poll to quantify and qualify the experiences of a small, yet diverse selection of black people in Britain. It can create an embarrassment and a discomfort in interactions that may cause hurt, offense, or just an utter confusion over the legitimacy of the question, and whether it stems from a sincere place of unknowing or is fully intended as a racial slur. An ignorance that can restrict authentic and respectful relationships between black and non-black individuals. We seldom speak of how segregation in Britain (geographically, but also apropos social structures, and a curriculum that emphasises Eurocentric ideals as normative) develops into cultural ignorance. She says that, although painful on both sides, honest conversations are necessary. She captured 101 distinct comments and here presents the 50 most heinous or recurring ones. Odessa Hamilton developed an informal online poll to hear from black people the kinds of comments they have heard first-hand from non-blacks. Black people are habitually exposed to harmful discourse, even by those who by all other intents and purposes are anti-racist.
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