Sophie Duker
French & English
Wadham College
What do you call a black man who flies a plane?
A pilot, you racist. So what do you call a black girl who goes to Oxford University? Statistically unlikely.
In 1969, Nina Simone sang Weldon Irvine’s immortal lyrics:
“In the whole world you know/There are a billion boys and girls/Who are young, gifted and black/And that’s a fact!”
These lines are inspiring. But they don’t change a fact I recently discovered; namely, that out of over 3,000 undergraduates admitted to Oxford in 2008, only I and 23 others identified as black African. Admittedly, there could be a few who chose not to identify themselves, but I doubt anyone bothered. You see, the thing about being black African, or Caribbean, for that matter, is that you’re fairly easy to identify, whether or not you ticked a box on your personal statement. You can’t hide your ethnicity by buying a polo shirt from ‘Fabulously British’ Jack Wills or by adopting the word ‘yah’ into your vocabulary-if you’re the only black girl in your lecture, you will stick out like a little cocoa-coloured anomaly. Interestingly, it seems to be a slightly different experience for black boys than for black girls. It’s largely due to The Obama Effect, mixed up with reminisces of Save the Last Dance. If you are a black boy who isn’t a rude-i.e. no ear piercings, good diction, good grades, a belt and no sharp pointy bits of metal about your person – you are automatically a young Barack. You are the future, you are breaking down barriers, you are setting an example. And everybody fancies you. None of this, by the way, is intended as a dig at either Iwu or Chigbo (current and elect presidents of Oxford & Cambridge student unions, respectively) who are both so accomplished and good-looking that comparisons to the American president are wholly unsurprising. One might think that at Oxford, an institution which prides itself on being a meritocracy, ethnic minority students would naturally not make their background an issue. Au contraire. As Yosola Olorunshola, a fresher studying French and History at Jesus College points out, “Quite a few of the other black students I’ve met from Oxbridge seem to embrace being ‘the only black in the village’-it’s a way of inverting your insecurity about it.” She continues, “If you’re going to stand out, it might as well be on your own terms.” Banter, which has alternately been translated to mean ‘ignorant bigotry’ and ‘witticisms between friends’, is a touchy subject, but something I believe it’s possible to defend. Just for clarification: a rugby team ‘blacking up’ is not banter. I doubt anyone would dare to do it in Acton-for fear of getting lynched-and it is definitely both alienating and offensive. Being able to have a conversation with someone who’s relaxed enough to joke around with you and isn’t afraid to be politically incorrect is liberating. What’s not is being around people made uncomfortable when you play the race card. Humour is one of the gentlest and nicest ways of educating people about their prejudices. It does much more to challenge people’s assumptions than just about anything else. Blending into the background, while obviously a literal impossibility, can be achieved to a certain extent though sheer bloody-mindedness-a refusal to acknowledge the colour of your skin, whether positively or negatively. But forsaking such a blatant part of your identity leads to identity crisis, whether or not you feel, or want to feel, a part of a greater black community. Some might think it’s unhealthy to fixate on difference. But it’s equally unhealthy to live in denial. Out of Simone’s ‘billion boys and girls’, only about 30 actually made it here, to one of the most respected academic institutions in the world. I see more black faces in one place behind the Sainsbury’s counter on the alcohol run than I ever have in my JCR. So, what can we do? (By ‘we’, I here mean everyone in the university, regardless of pigmentation.) Well, what anyone would hope we were going to do anyway. Laugh at each other, learn about each other, lovingly trade insults. Have a sense of humour without being insensitive. I don’t want to be constantly reminded about being black. But neither do I ever want to or will I ever be able to forget it. Africa bops are a great idea… but if someone can’t muster up enough imagination to come as something other than a blacked-up savage straight out of Heart of Darkness, it just shows they haven’t had enough exposure to the thirty or so black individuals who joined Oxford’s ranks of young and gifted last year.
Ravi Thambapillai
Founding President
International Relations Soc
You can have your British Prime Minister in any colour- as long as its not black. Or indeed any colour other than white. Yet, in America, that seems to no longer be the case. With the election of the first (half) black leader of the United States of America, the inevitable question has to be raised; why hasn’t it happened here?
Trevor Phillips has famously said that institutional racism in key governmental organisations, including, for example, the Labour Party, would prevent a young, intelligent but non-white candidate from rising to the top. Ironically, there are systemic constraints on ethnic minorities, but they are not institutional in the way that Trevor Phillips thinks. When we ask whether a black person could become Prime minister, we are really asking can an outsider become Prime Minister. Many educated people feel there is no important race relations question to be addressed here in Britain; saying its just a proxy for class. This is false and missing the point. Many affluent ethnic minorities put ethnic under-representation down to a question of class, that really the colour of your skin isn’t the main factor, but your socio-economic background. And it just so happens that, through no fault of the current British system or population, many more minority citizens hail from a lower socio economic background than their white counterparts. No doubt this plays a part, but it is not the only factor. In poorer regions, but particularly in the north in cities like Bradford, intra-class ethnic tension, segregation and conflict reaches levels that urbane Oxonian-Londoners could not begin to understand. However, even the wealthy southern institutions have worryingly white compositions.
Oxbridge is disappointingly un-colourful. There is a real problem regarding the ethnic composition of applications that come in the Oxbridge’s direction.
A discerning eye would see that the most likely explanation is that not enough ethnic students are applying. But while state school application ratios are now (at last) rising (too slowly), a recent Times article states applications from Indian and Chinese UK students are falling.
Yet the even more interesting issue is how insidious ‘tribalism’ is in our society. Even in the enlightened, educated land of Oxford, the Chinese students have a disproportionate number of Chinese friends, and the ‘brown’ students have a disproportionate number of brown friends. The ‘brown’ vote is even considered a demographic bloc in Union politicking. It shapes unconscious networks in Oxford, and outside in poorer regions it segregates people and breeds ignorance and contempt. It also shapes careers. Is it a total coincidence that the highest concentration of black faces in central Oxford are behind the counters on Cornmarket’s fast-food restaurants?
Even the hugely talented have race based influences on their careers. For integrated families, who have experienced success in a variety of different fields, medicine is one of the most respectable and impressive career choices. For many isolated Indian ones, it is the sole or preeminent pinnacle of achievement.
Reading Obama’s autobiography, ‘Dreams from my father’ provides an interesting contrast to UK ethnic minorities. The route that Obama finally takes to discover his Americanism is one that simply isn’t open to the British. Obama finds his patriotism and American identity by feeling the resonance of quintessentially American rhetoric about ‘the land of opportunity’ and ‘the audacity of hope’, looking in himself and finding his mindset to be, powerfully American.
No such mindset exists in the British people. There are few tangibly British qualities that ethnic groups can attach themselves to and really identify with. What does exist holds much less potency than its American version. Instead, if those who feel dislocated look inward in the search for their own national identity, they often find shared features with those of their skin colour, like the experience of battling a distinctly exotic cultural upbringing in the (generally unsuccessful) attempt to be part of the ‘cool group’ at school. These problems beset Obama as much as any UK Asian – but for him the solution was to be found in the distinct American identity. That solution simply does not exist on this side of the pond, leaving many British Asians to identify themselves, deep down, as Asian British.
It’s a popular opinion that racism in the UK is a thing of the past. It’s a popular opinion that is wrong. While overt and intentional discrimination is now fairly rare, a subtle insidious racism is an ever-present part of society. How many Asians have been pressured, albeit subtly, by members of their extended family, to prefer an Asian girlfriend or boyfriend? How many also, whilst dating white partners, have experienced monumental cultural ignorance or even some badly concealed discomfort at the hands of the families who shudder that a black ram might be tupping their white ewe?
Such notions are at once comical and tragic. Attitudes are changing, as a more intermingled population matures. Those like Lammy and Iwu will, without doubt, go on to be very successful black politicians. But they will still be very successful black politicians.
