This post isn't so much about media representations as the ongoing consequences of negative representations of race. Many today will argue that we no longer live in a racist society; Britain has moved on. There may be some truth in that, but clearly the UK hasn't become an utterly idyllic society, as
the following example sharply demonstrates - one taken from a West Yorkshire town...
'If you are allergic to black people, don't come in' – at first I balked …
Cafe owner Martha-Renee Kolleh's defiant response to insidious racism is preferable to constantly doubting your own experience
 |
| Martha-Renee Kolleh,
who owns a cafe in the town of Ossett, Yorkshire, has put up a sign
telling customers she is black because she is fed up with people walking
out when they see the colour of her skin. Photograph: Gabriel
Szabo/Guzelian |
Increasingly in today's Britain, the word racism conjures up two
very differing images for white and black people (I use black here in
the political sense). When I explain to white friends that certain
things that I have had said or done to me are racist, it is more often
that not met with incredulity. How can that be racist?
The truth
is the most prevalent forms of racism, which many black people
experience today, are the insidious kinds. The sideways looks in
predominantly white areas suggesting your presence there is beyond the
norm. At work, your position of authority undermined by the all-too-easy
questioning of your knowledge and experience. And, in the case of Martha-Renee Kolleh,
the knowledge that the reason your cafe has such a low footfall is
because you are black; the sight of your skin and not the menu explains
why potential customers won't be dining with you after all. Her
reaction? To create a sign warning the following: "Attention! Everyone
be aware, I am a black woman, and always will be. If you are allergic to
black people, don't come in!"
I initially balked at Kolleh's
move. I feared it played into the hands of those who long to dismiss the
very real problems she is attempting to highlight. She's would be seen
as just another angry black woman. Yet, if so, her anger is justified.
Though I cannot speak for all black people, I know, from workshops with
the group Black Feminists, that far too many feel the same desperation and desire to speak back to the insidious racists.
Though
born in London, I consider myself a Yorkshire lass. A few weeks ago, a
trip to a popular Dales village reminded me of why being in all-white
areas is increasingly something I am reluctant to do. I was with a
disabled pensioner in his 80s and my 10-month-old. We needed a place to
park that would be accessible. Two white, middle-aged male cyclists
occupied the available spot. I walked over with a smile and while
pointing to the car, a few metres away, asked if it was OK for them to
move so that we could use the parking space. They looked at me, then at
the car and continued to talk to each other. As I was standing there
numbed by their rudeness, a white man in an open-top sports car pulled
by and asked them the same question I had seconds earlier. They genially
replied "oh, yes". It all happened so quickly that onlookers would have
been fooled into thinking that they had simply not heard me. I won't
even mention the number of stares I got just walking around the village
and, no, it had nothing to do with my attractiveness or indeed lack
thereof.
The room for doubt is what makes this subtle form of
racism so deeply damaging. It calls into question your understanding of
reality and further delegitimises your experiences in the eyes of others
and sometimes yourself. Its nebulous nature means that the moment and
wounding has, more often than not, come and gone before you are able to
articulate your anger and frustration. It is so hard to challenge. If,
indeed, you are able to confront the subtle racist, you are told that
"you see racism everywhere", as if to say, it isn't. Worse still, you
are called aggressive and if you are particularly lucky, told that you,
in fact, are the racist.
Kolleh made a necessary and brave choice
from a set of limited options. She chose not to remain silent. Not to be
labelled as paranoid, or blowing out of proportion what she knows and
feels to be true. Not to accept that she is in denial about the quality
of her restaurant. Not to be "objective" when the umpteenth person
walked in and then swiftly out after catching a glimpse of her black
face. She chose a much more difficult, yet rewarding option. She chose
to remain and confidentially challenge. And in speaking back with
defiance, she has opened a space for the little town of Ossett to engage in a dialogue. People are now discussing the subtle forms of racism some of its inhabitants enact upon others.
Let
us not, however, pretend that such racism only exists in sleepy
northern towns and villages. Buying a birthday card in an upmarket gift
shop, on one of the most fashionable high streets of Hackney, "one of the most racially diverse areas in the UK",
I was "unseen" when a cashier attempted to serve a white customer
before me. This despite the fact that I was at the counter, with my
wallet in my hands. We are either all too visible or conveniently
invisible.
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