I remember when I was younger being told that one day I would look back and realise that the school years were the best years of my life. I’m not too sure about that. They were great in the sense that I was free of bills and major responsibilities, but I’d hardly call them the best. They were ok.
I most definitely wasn’t one of the ‘hot’ or ‘popular’ girls but I wasn’t a loner. I had a good mix of friends/acquaintances, a few I’m still in contact with on Facebook albeit not very often. Recently I received an invite to attend a secondary school reunion and with that in mind and current stories floating around, it got me thinking of an incident from my school days.
Before I tell you my tale I’ll recap on the stories that caught my attention. The first is of Rufaro Chisango, a Nottingham Trent University student who, as the media put it, ‘believes’ she was targeted with racial abuse. Now considering she was the only Black person on her floor and they were stood right outside of her room chanting ‘We hate the Blacks’ and other such ish, AND she’s got it on video, I would say it’s more than a belief.
This happened on a Monday evening and was reported straight away, by Wednesday night she had heard nothing back so took to Twitter. Funnily enough Nottingham Trent took an interest after that and 2 men have since been suspended and arrested. Lovely. But if she hadn’t taken to social media to highlight this when were they going to make the time to address it?
The next one is of a student at De Montfort University who was invited out on a girls night by course mates only to have them sing Eeny Meeny Miny Moe to her. One then later went on to call her a n****r to her face. She reported the incident but has since been suspended herself because of a second, apparently more serious accusation of intimidation on her part. The university says, ‘It is an extremely sensitive issue. There are a number of aspects which need to be explored.’
I totally understand that, but what I don’t understand is why it took over a month for the Black students complaint to be addressed, and when it was they focused on the second complaint made afterwards by the White girls and suspended her. If accusations have been made by both sides why not suspend them all until their investigation is complete?
The last being the one of seven white teenagers who chained a Black student to a lamppost and whipped him in a mock slave auction. He was hit with sticks and racially abused as they discussed their trade. In response to this they were all suspended for 2 weeks whilst 3 of them were expelled by the headteacher, however that decision was overturned by the board of governors in accordance to their statutory procedure, so the outcome has been they get to do the crime and get 2 weeks ‘time’. 2 weeks off school.
I’m sure they were absolutely devastated and have definitely learnt their lesson. They get to breeze back to school and think nothing of it. Has anyone taken into account how the victim feels having to come into school and face them 5 days a week knowing his suffering meant fuck all in the long run?
But that’s just the thing – our suffering means nothing to them in the long or short run. The same old rules and statutory procedures were not made with us in mind. I guarantee that if a bunch of Black boys had done the same to a White boy there would be no hesitation in expelling all of them.
It would be nice to think that the parents of those boys spent time out explaining how wrong their actions were but I highly doubt that happened and I’m not concerning myself with it. The best thing we can do is not sit around and presume others are raising their kids right.
I’m not sure how the victims parents have dealt with this situation, but if it were my child they would not be stepping foot back in that school and shit would be going down! I really don’t business. Yes, I know I’m repeating myself when I say this, but we need to prepare our kids for today’s times and they need to know OurStory. Don’t sugarcoat because the other types won’t be and I’m telling you they are looking for their time to come around again. #ItsAllJustALittleBitOfHIStoryRepeating
Now for my tale. I went to a predominately White school, with Asians being the largest minority and then Blacks. I was one of only two Black girls in my year, but by the time I left there were a fair amount representing. There were more boys in comparison but not that many. Personally I didn’t experience a lot of racism in school but there is one incident that I’ll never forget.
We lived in Chalvey and our school was in the next village of Cippenham, and the difference between the two places back then was noticeable. Chalvey had a majority of ethnic minorities and Cippenham was predominantly White. Back in the day we weren’t getting dropped off to school by our parents or taking a bus – we had to walk our ass through Hell or high water.
By the time I was a couple of years into secondary school there were a fair number of us (Black children) who had grown up together so we’d meet up on route and roll in together – safety in numbers and all that! For those of you old enough I’m sure you can remember starting secondary school. The kids in the years above you seemed grown in comparison to your just left middle school self. They have that air of authority because they’ve been there that little bit longer than you and naturally some like to show it. This was the case at my school too, only because they now had this invasion of Black boys it was open season on the brothers.
There was one particular group who were relentless in their taunts, bullying and verbal abuse. There’s no 2 ways about it – they were blatantly racist. Now you need to remember that the Black boys they were picking on were just that – boys. Puberty hadn’t set in yet and the only threat they bore was the colour of their skin. They used to literally chase them down, but that was soon to change.
A group of our peers got told about what was going on and weren’t having it! They sprung a little surprise on them after school and let’s just say they proved that day that White men can jump! There was no real damage done – a few got a little shaken up but nothing major, just enough for the fuckers to never try it again! The irony is one of the abusers now has a Black partner and has tried to make amends to a couple of them. He doesn’t understand why they are not receptive.
It could be the fact that it didn’t occur to him to do it 20 odd years ago, albeit better late than never, but he still puts it down to schoolboy ‘banter’ that should be water under the bridge. What he fails to see is his banter was their nightmare. It wasn’t fun for them you fuckwit, like it wasn’t fun for you when you were chased by a bunch of bigger boys that had you giving Usain Bolt and Woody Harrelson competition. You know you were out of order, own it! If you can’t come correct don’t come at all and even then, if you do, don’t expect to be forgiven.
I was lucky to grow up in a time where we had each other’s back – young, old, big or small. The sad truth is that if the same were to happen to a bunch of kids nowadays their peers probably wouldn’t be coming to help them but to take advantage somehow. Somewhere along the line the message of unity has been lost.
The above goes to show that it doesn’t matter how young or vulnerable they are they’re not exempt from the hatred. Reading, writing and arithmetic are not the only lessons they are learning. What makes it worse is the fact that a lot of our youth are helping the haters by living under the misguided sense that they own the streets and not realising that we are stronger and can achieve more together. It’s senseless and pathetic and I honestly fear for my daughters innocently getting caught up in those idiots escapades. They’ve got it hard enough already.
Parents I’m hollering at you…again! I’m talking specifically to the ones who don’t even try or turn a blind eye. No one said life was going to be easy and we’ve gotta do what we can to survive, but some of y’all are making it even harder for us by encouraging or enabling the bullshit.
EACH ONE TEACH ONE! It’s not just about reading, it’s about life!
R.I.P to all those who have lost their lives this week.
Can anyone tell me what happened to Spring?☃️
Each One Teach One! Stay Blessed & #CelebrateLife