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CONTENT WARNING: EXPLICIT MENTIONS OF RACISM, DISCRIMINATION AGAINST THE LGBTQIA+ COMMUNITY, ANTI-SEMITISM, ISLAMOPHOBIA, SEXUAL HARASSMENT, AND DEROGATORY LANGUAGE.
Picture by Ashley Gilbertson for The New York Times (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/08/opinion/george-floyd-protests-race.html)
George Floyd has become a symbol for the systemic oppression of BIPOC in the United States of America and world wide. As similar stories are being uncovered, we are witnessing a world wide rebellion.
But what if the horrors from the news aren't far beyond our own doorstep? Perhaps they simply exist in instances of casual racism, normalised throw away comments, entrenched stereotypes, and microaggressions.
Here are the results of a recent survey carried out anonymously by UWCSEA High School students.
Have you faced any discrimination/injustice because of your race/religion/identity by members of our community?
“Someone in my chemistry class: "Do you know what my favourite gas is?"
Me: "No..."
Them: "Chlorine."
Me: "Ok."
Them: "Cause it was used to gas the jews."”
“I’m Muslim and some people harassed me about eating pork. They told me to eat it, and they kept repeating how good it tasted.”
“They were calling me a useless gypsy.”
“Guys have harassed me in school and online - one guy even told me that he didn’t want to use the urinal next to me because I was ‘too gay’.”
“People have made jokes to me about how i can't speak english because i am not white (even though
I am british...)”
“Indian teacher was assumed to be a sub.”
“Mom was assumed to be a domestic worker by other parents because she is Filipino”
“A girl told me that she “already had too many Indians in her life” as an excuse to not hang out with me and be friends with me.”
“3 girls in my grade made a pact with each other that they would never date guys that are east asian, indian, black, hispanic, middle eastern and basically anyone that was a person of colour.”
"At an event at which mostly UWC students but also other international school students were present, after I left the gathering an incident happened where a dark skinned person was harassed by a UWC student in my year both verbally and physically."
Did any of these statements surprise you? For most of us this is our reality. We are only beginning to acknowledge the extent to which systemic injustice and instances of casual racism present themselves in our daily lives.
“I feared to be open about my sexuality in a school that focuses on acceptance. These jokes, comments and attitudes were also made by white male teachers particularly. I faced a direct, named attack on the uncensored account created to anonymously harass people, that was homophobic about my sexuality, misogynistic and objectifying me.”
“One of the things I've noticed is that when we would get into trouble for things like bad behaviour/ swearing (although never anything serious), teachers would often make comments suggesting that it was wrong to see girls acting in a way that seemed rebellious. For example comments like "I'm shocked especially for a group of young girls", whilst I noticed more of a banterous conversation towards the boys. In terms of the 'popular' boys in the grade, I've been on the receiving end of countless derogatory comments. I also noticed a large majority of the boys use the N-word extremely casually as well as "gay" to anything that seemed stupid, or as an insult. It makes me sick really, especially considering how the school educates students in line with their mission statement.”
“A British guy started telling me that I should be grateful that Britain colonised India because they 'brought civilization to India'. This was very hurtful to me as an Indian girl because Britain’s colonisation of India also brought the systematic famine and massacre of many Indians and still affects Indian society today.”
“When I was in K1, I remember a girl telling me that I couldn’t play in a certain area of the playground because I was Indian, and in junior school, my friend told me that in her opinion, she wouldn’t like to be Indian.”
“I am a Pakistani Muslim and have faced discrimination from Indians throughout my experience at UWC. When I was in 10th grade, I visited the boarding house common room to see my friend and heard a few Indian 12th graders sitting nearby talking in mixed Hindi+English and insulting me directly + calling Pakistanis dirty/disgusting. They knew I could hear and understand them, especially because almost everyone else in the room also spoke Hindi and went silent - it was really embarrassing. This was only one of the instances, but that one was particularly shocking as I was new to the college and didn’t know so many people had such strong feelings against my country (I was told by other boarders that they regularly brought my name up in conversations with other people to express their hatred for me even after that). Even in my senior year during UN Night, I was watching dress rehearsals and heard some insults thrown around when the Pakistan dance came on. I think that because the Indian-Pakistani ratio is so disproportionate in UWCSEA, this is really common and people don’t care whether they’re being hurtful or not which is quite sad.”
“My roommate would say unpleasant things about my country (India). For example she would say things like “I would never go there it’s full of rapists and disease”. She would also say things about the Middle East and Muslims being terrorists when I would come back from holiday (I live in Egypt). I’ve also been called a “paki” by another kid in Boarding.”
“I’ve been made fun of for being a Muslim since I was in middle school. People would tell me to just bomb something or kill someone and people also blamed me for the science block fire. It isn’t like violent bullying but it is annoying and unnecessary”
"On a confessions app I once mentioned something about it being a Jewish holiday, the following days I received several disgusting comments containing antisemitic slurs and holocaust jokes, including statements like 'I am going to gas you at *name of party* you jew'. Every viewer of my Snapchat story was a UWC student."
“Once in drama, a group of students made a performance based off of Islam for the “give peace a chance” unit. They performed religious practices in the incorrect manner and used nerf guns and black hoodies to look like terrorists. I was deeply appalled and didn’t know what to say.’”
“Someone wrote on my school notebook in permanent marker when I wasn't looking in class: "Gas the Jews".”
“As a closeted member of the LGBTQIA+ community, I get very distressed whenever people in my grade insult others by calling them f*gs, and when they call me or others ‘gay’ as an insult. Even though I am not black, I have gotten very angry and frustrated when non black people in my grade randomly say the n word in a completely unnecessary context. In terms of religious discrimination, an incident that occured last year comes to mind, when someone in my grade insulted my (Muslim) friend, saying something along the lines of, “peace will never be achieved if we don’t eradicate Islam”. In addition to this, I distinctly remember someone stating that they “only found half white half asian people attractive”. In terms of discrimination against South Asian people, there were two incidents that stood out to me when I was younger."
We as a community claim and believe wholeheartedly that UWC students are aware and actively anti-racist. However students graduate from the United World College with this mentality deeply ingrained in them, accepting that the idea of "casual racism" is ultimately inevitable. Many leave with severe disconnects to their cultural identities, without having been taught to fully change their existing racial biases, something that we can and MUST pursue all steps in avoiding.
It is now time to strive for true change.