During this Black History Month we are currently working on our Maths Techniques so I thought it was apt to write a little about Black Mathematicians.
Whilst I am a stickler for keeping UK Black History Month focused on UK Black History, I will have to stray from this focus for this topic of Black Mathematicians as even though these Black Mathematicians may not have all been from the UK or spent time in the UK, they certainly paved the way for Black Mathematicians today in the UK.
Africa is the home to the Worlds earliest known use of Mathematics and Calculation. Africans were using numerals, algebra and geometry in daily life, this knowledge spread throughout the world after a series of migrations out of Africa beginning around 30,000 BC and later following a series of invasions of Africa by Europeans and Asians (1700-BC- present).
The oldest Mathematical instrument is the Lebombo Bone, this is a baboon fibula used as a measuring device and named after it's location of discovery the Labombo Mountains of Swaziland. The device dates back 35,000 years, judging by its distinct markings it could have been used to track menstrual or lunar cycles or merely just used as a measuring stick.
More can be found out about this early African Maths from The Ta Neter Foundation which brings to light the ancient and medieval History of Africans in Africa.
Whilst we do know that Africa is the birth place of Mathematics and we can pinpoint its origins, not much is actually known about individual Black Mathematicians before the Greeks who developed maths like Archimedes
a Greek who is known as the greatest mathematician of all time, although it is known that the majority of Greek Mathematicians studied in Egypt.
In modern Mathematics there has been and are some notable Black mathematicians although there has been no Black Winner of the Fields medal, the "Nobel prize of mathematics" which started in 1936 and non that could match the genius of Carl Friedrich Gauss 1777-1855.
Benjamin Banneker
(1731-1806) is often recognized as the first African American
mathematician; however, ex-slave Thomas
Fuller's (1710-1790) and the Nigerian Muhammad
ibn Muhammad's (16??-1741) activities predate Benjamin Banneker. None of these men had formal degrees.
Clifford Victor Johnson (born 5 March 1968 in London) is an English theoretical physicist and professor at the University of Southern California Department of Physics and Astronomy. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education listed Clifford Johnson as the
most highly cited black professor of mathematics or a related field at
an American university or college.
Katherine Adebola Okikiolu(born 1965) is a British mathematician is known for her work with elliptic differential operators as well as her work with inner-city children.
Elbert Frank Cox(December 5, 1895 –
November 28, 1969) was an American mathematician who became the first
black person in the world to receive a Ph.D. in Mathematics.
Euphemia Lofton Haynes (1890 - 1980), 1st Black Female Mathematics PhD she faced three obstacles in
becoming a PhD mathematician. She was female, she was Black and she was
in her 50’s.
Ali Mostafa Mosharafa (1898-1950) The first African to earn a
Ph.D. from the University of London in
1923 and 1924
David
Blackwell(1919-2010)At
the age of 22, becomes the seventh african american
to earn a Ph.D. in Mathematics (University of Illinois). He may
well be the greatest black Mathematician.
J.
Ernest Wilkins(1923-2011)At
age 19, becomes the eight african american
to earn a Ph.D. in Mathematics (University of Chicago). He is
certainly one of the greatest black
Mathematicians.
Clarence Ellis(1943-2014) is the first African American to earn a Computer
Science Ph.D
Abraham Manie Adelstein. (1916-1992) Mathematician, Scientist, Statistician, became became the United Kingdom's Chief Medical Statistician.
There are obviously many more but not as many as there should be to add to this list, especially British Black Mathematicians of which the reasons are discussed in the book Beyond Banneker by Erica Walker.
Well no, it's not all academic really round here, but we do certainly put some in every now and again, more so lately as I want the twins to be prepared for taking exams when they are coming up to secondary school age.
The initial plan was to home educate until secondary school, if they pass the exam to gain entry into the local Grammar they will begin their school life, if they do not then we will have to work towards GCSE and A Levels by ourselves.
Financially it will be a killer for me to get exams paid for, so Grammar is my best hope, failing that I will have to be scraping the barrel for exam money and working very long hours to afford them, but I do know there are other roads in so I wont worry just yet, what is important is that the twins are able to positively prepare themselves for exams.
We talk a lot about jobs and what they want to do, we go from Paramedics to Vets to Nurses to doctors to police Men to Secret Agents, so there are a lot of options right now but each one has the same thing in common and that is further education and exams.
We have always done some sit down formal learning amongst their autonomous child led learning but we are now starting to ramp things up.
They read everyday and maths has always been a part of life, we do times tables as a game and work on money facts and lengths and measurements, weights etc all throughout the day, everyday things essential to life are taught as we go along about our day and they use Khan Academy regularly, but now we are learning concepts decoding and really understanding those numbers.
To do this we have gone back to the beginning, well not quite the beginning but the level of complex beginnings, that which is beyond the everyday use.
We are starting to revise what we already know but in a sit down academic fashion, we have been using workbooks for this, which they are not too keen on when they start the books but within 10 minutes there is no stopping them.
They find that once they start, what they have already learnt outside academic books is built upon, instead of verbally demonstrating their knowledge they are having to write it down, this has been far more pleasant than I expected.
Olivia is very keen, she speeds along with the maths, Oliver is less keen, not that he struggles but he sweats about the small stuff, Oliver is very pedantic in his manner anyway and due to this I have decided to throw in some various maths techniques.
Oliver is impatient yet very meticulous, he gets bored very easily particularly when he cannot do something as fast as he wants to, so I think trying a few different techniques to see which one suits him better will get us better results.
We are starting with throwing in some Vedic Maths. Vedic maths has application in Finance and Information Technology,Vedic mathematics brings quick solutions to tricky calculations
has application in finance and information technology.
Vedic maths is
the world’s easiest way to solve maths problems — and a great way of
getting over the maths phobia that several children, and even adults,
suffer from.
I think Oliver will enjoy maths much better once we get stuck in with some Vedic maths as it will suit his impatience.
You can find our more about Vedic Mathematics from Wikibooks here and you can pick up some Vedic mathematics books from ebay here
Vedic Mathematics" refers to a technique of calculation based on a set
of 16 Sutras, or aphorisms, as algorithms and their upa-sutras or
corollaries derived from these Sutras. Its enthusiasts advance the claim
that any mathematical problem can be solved mentally with these sutras.
We have been mixing this up a little and we have started by going back to basics and re-learning place value, partitioning and rounding in an academic way, as although they can do it verbally in conversation they have never really experienced doing it on an academic level, working in tens is giving them a good starting confidence as they are very confident in working with 10's, so that is a great start.
So far we are enjoying what we are doing, lets see how long the enthusiasm lasts!...
I love reading about the history of blacks in Britain, I come across all sorts of interesting bits of information, this website is one of my very favourites.
Created and researched by Historian Jeffrey Green based in South London, Jeffrey chronicles the life and times of Blacks in Britain from Andrew Bogle 1802-1877 a servant at the household of the Tichborne family and played a major part in one
of the longest and most controversial trials of the 19th century, to people such as Robert Branford, 1817-1869 who was a: London police superintendent, amongst the many others detailed in 180 separate entries of life in Britain for Blacks..
Jeffrey
Green offers a fascinating detailed insight into the lives of Blacks living in
Britain. Click on the picture above to find out more.
The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography has published over thirty of his articles, and he has contributed to several American reference works
Some of my personal favourites within the stories are:-
They tell a fascinating tale of what life was like in earlier eras, how people lived in ways we would not expect from what we have been taught about history.
These well researched articles show us life lived up and down the country of ordinary people living extraordinary lives!
Black history month 2017 is upon us here in UK, this falls in October as opposed to Black History Month in USA which takes place in February. I generally cringe when this time of the year comes around. Not because I don't like the month, but because I love the month. The month is very revealing of current attitudes within society that ironically reinforce the continued importance of Black History Month.
October is a month of negative attitudes and bigoted comments that always surface during this time which always make me cringe and shows clearly why we certainly do still need to celebrate black history month. Carter G Woodson and Akyaaba Addai-Sebo reasons for starting Black History Month in their former formats are as relevant now as they where back in 1926 and 1987 when they started.
Historian Carter G Woodson was the creator of USA Negro History Week in 1926, himself a son of former slaves, a poor autodidact who went on to become a head teacher, political activist, Author, African American Historian amongst many other intellectual titles.
As noted in Wikipedia:-
Woodson noted that African-American contributions "were overlooked, ignored, and even suppressed by the writers of history textbooks and the teachers who use them."[16] Race prejudice, he concluded, "is merely the logical result of tradition, the inevitable outcome of thorough instruction to the effect that the Negro has never contributed anything to the progress of mankind."[16]
In 1926, Woodson pioneered the celebration of "Negro History Week",[17] designated for the second week in February, to coincide with marking the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass.[18] However, it was the Black United Students and Black educators at Kent State University that founded Black History Month, on February 1, 1970.[19] Six years later Black History Month was being celebrated all across the country in educational institutions, centers of Black culture and community centers, both great and small, when President Gerald Ford recognized Black History Month, during the celebration of the United States Bicentennial. He urged Americans to "seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout our history."[20]
It was not until 1987 that Black History Month was first celebrated in London, United Kingdom. It was organized through the leadership of Ghanaian analyst Akyaaba Addai-Sebo, who had served as a coordinator of special projects for the Greater London Council (GLC) he created a collaboration to get it underway.
The inspiration for this came from his recognition of the failure within society of
such which made a child question his identity as an African or being black within UK society. The full fascinating interview and story can be found here (akyaaba addai sebo interview)
Black History month being in October has a few significant meanings:-
Addai-Sebo states in his interview:-
We decided on October as the month to celebrate black history because apart from its significance within the African calendar - the period of the autumn equinox in Africa - October is consecrated as the harvest period, the period of plenty, and the period of the Yam Festivals. It was the time in history when Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia for example were the cradle and breadbasket of civilisation. October is also a period of tolerance and reconciliation in Africa, when the chiefs and leaders would gather to settle all differences. This was also the time to examine one's life in relation to the collective and to see if the targets set for oneself and the group during the past year had been achieved or not. You know that Africa gave the world the calendar. Our ancestors built the Pyramids, knowing about mathematics, architecture and astronomy. October was therefore chosen because of these factors. Black history Month is a reconnection with our source.
This October we will see many lists of great black pioneers and influencers the most common that make the list are Nelson Mandela, Mary Seacole, Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Marcus Garvey.
I want to give my top 10 celebrated heroes an airing too, so here is my list of my great Black British Influences;-
Lionel Ngakane - Born in Pretoria he created a film against a background media narrative suggesting ever-worsening racial tensions, Jemima + Johnny offered a refreshingly optimistic take on black/white relations in a post-riots Notting Hill. Jemima + Johnny won its director an award at the 1966 Venice Film Festival, the first black British film to be so honoured. The Film can be watched here in its entiretyhere
Ambrose Adekoya Campbell - Born in Lagos Nigeria, is credited with forming Britain's first ever black band, the West African Rhythm Brothers, in the 1940s. One of his last interviews was conducted by Nigel Williamson of Guardian in 2006, 6 months before Campbell's death. You can read his fascinating story here
Pastor G. Daniel Ekarte - Born in Nigeria opened orphanages for the rejected mixed race children or the then term of 'mongrels' resulting from the American GI and white women of Liverpool during the first world war, you can read more about his amazing work here
Francis Williams - Born in 1702 in Jamaica, William’s successes in mathematics and verse earned him recognition amongst his supporters. At the same time, there were deep prejudices held against him, against the colour of his skin, that would prevent him from taking up his deserved place in science and society. Read more here
Cyril Lionel Robert James (C.L.R.JAMES) - Born in 1901 James was a Historian, Socialist, Journalist. His works are influential in various theoretical, social, and historiographical contexts.. You can find out more about him here
Stuart Hall - Born in 1932 Hall was a Jamaican-born Marxist cultural theorist, political activist and sociologist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom from 1951. You can watch the BBC video of Stuart Hall in his own words here
Dame Shirley Bassey - Born in 1937 Dame Shirley Bassey had a turbulent start to life (find out more here) her rags to riches fame is well deserved, she is multi award winning and generous philanthropist. (find some of her charity work here)
Margaret Busby OBE - Born 1944 Busby is a writer and editor who was also the UK's youngest and first black woman publisher when she co-founded Allison and Busby (find out more about her here)
Dr John Alcindor - Born 1873 Alcindor attended medical school in Edinburgh, graduating with first-class honours in 1899. He worked in many hospitals and in 1907 established his own practice in Paddington, one of the first black general practices in the UK. He was instrumental in the formation of the Pan African Congress (Find out more here)
Mary Prince - Born 1788 The first known British Black Woman to recount her narrative of slavery, Prince was recognised as a national hero of Bermuda, her narrative had a galvanizing effect on the anti slavery movement (learn more here)
Finally as a bonus and a tribute to the late James Berry, a pioneer poet from the Windrush generation, who sadly passed away June 2017. (see more about him here)
We ventured to the twins first ever experience of a full Shakespeare play, a full 2.5 hours of Macbeth.
This production, filmed at the original Liverpool Everyman stars
celebrated stage and screen actor, David Morrissey in the title role and
Julia Ford as Lady Macbeth.
This was a bit of a gamble on my part but the digital screening was a free event at the Library so I thought we could leave if they got too bored, but to my surprise they lasted the whole performance.
Oliver was more interested than Olivia was, she spent quite a lot of time drawing and took notice to bits and pieces of the play. Oliver was more engaged and spent most of the time actually watching it to my surprise.
I think the London trip had some influence on that result as they had seen the Shakespeare Globe Theatre and seeing this in the flesh has given them a boost in interest of Shakespeare.
I asked them when we came out if they understood what the play was about and we had a chat about the plot and some scenes that were happening throughout the play, they both said it was boring but they enjoyed it, there were quite a few people who left throughout and never got to the end of the play, I do have to say it wasn't a great adaptation of Macbeth but I still enjoyed it and the kids said they would go to another performance, so win win all round really.
They both said that the play was much better than my Othello reading in the kitchen with my silly voices that I submit them to on occasion when I am in one of my crazy moods, I have to disagree and think my Othello readings are far better performances than the Royal Shakespeare Company members, my acting is far superior!..
Its been a busy few weeks with work, birthday parties, decorating the twins bedroom and workshops and we have even fitted in a trip to London which was fabulous.
My son treated the twins and I to a weekend in London for my birthday and we got to do the things we all really wanted to do.
We started with a trip to Parliament grounds as we got to London quite late so we decided to take a peek at Big Ben before we went over to the hotel, the first person we saw after getting out of the car park was Nigel Farrage doing a television interview in the Gardens of Parliament, unfortunately my boy needed a wee so we never got a chance to go over and have a chat, Oliver was ecstatic.
We stayed at an apartment in the East of London not far from Upton Park Tube station so getting to and from central London was easy.
The following day after having a good nights sleep we ventured into Parliament where we took a guided tour of the House of Commons, House of Lords and Westminster Hall.
Oliver was overwhelmed at seeing the famous green chairs all the way round he kept asking are we going to the green chairs yet?. Our guide was fabulous, he was very informative and witty and went well over the 90 minutes and ended up staying with us for two and a half hours.
We had a walk along the river over towards to Tower Of London so that we could take a look at the Crown Jewels which Olivia was very excited about, along the way we did some sight seeing and took in the enormity of the Shard and a few monuments.
Once we got to the Tower we were delighted to find there was a BBC Food Festival going on so we ended up taking in a few tasty samples after seeing the Crown Jewels.
We had a fabulous walk back up the river and got to do some more sight seeing and stopped for something to eat.
There was a lot to see and it was a long walk so we called it a day when we got to the end and headed back for the hotel to refresh for our last day.
We all woke up very excited to be going on the Buckingham Palace Tour, Olivia was very overwhelmed and excited.
It was a fabulous trip and we ended off with a walk on Trafalgar Square for something to eat from the Japanese Festival.
And then we headed off back home and waved goodbye to a wonderful weekend in London.
I was so pleased that although still not feeling too well we made it to the Alan Turing Shift Pattern Craft Workshop, celebrating the early work of Alan Turing lead by Gemma May Latham and David Whale. .
We had so much fun, cracking codes and the best part was meeting David Whale who is the technical advisor to The Institution of Engineering and Technology (The IET) for the BBC micro:bit project, and has written a number of the resources used both by the BBC and The IET to name our favourite the BBC Dr Who and the Dalek Coding Game.
Call us geeks but we were very excited and even managed to get his autograph.
The workshop was lots of fun and as it was a very small group of only 4 kids and 3 adults we got to ask as many questions as we liked and spend as much time on what we were doing without having to rush onto something else before the kids had got to grips with what they were already doing.
Both Olivia and Oliver got suck in and it was lovely seeing the fruits of our labour coming to fruition again, as although we have covered some coding concept over the years it is not something we have covered in any depth and the knowledge they had of what they were doing was pretty impressive, it was another confirmation moment that home education does work and the kids pick things up all the time and are able to apply that knowledge when needed, as long as they are exposed to various concepts at some point they will pick it up without realising.
So again as with the recycling centre, I am very pleased that we braved it despite not feeling great.
It has been a hard week this week, we have all been struck with a tummy bug.
Saturday was a touch and go day but we managed to go to the Caravan and Circus Raj performance, by Sunday Olivia was throwing up like a good un, so Monday was a day of pitty and a lack of sleep, Tuesday was pretty much the same as by this time Oliver started throwing up throughout the night.
By Wednesday I had completely lost what day it was and by Thursday I started feeling pretty rough myself but I had a client dropping off some stock and I knew I had to go and do some buying for work so peeled us off the couch to get some fresh air and get some work done.
We decided to brave it and go to the recycling centre tour, which was brilliant and I am so glad we braved it for the day. I got to see another home edder who I had not seen for about 3 years, it was really lovely bumping into her there, after the tour we came home, dumped off the work stuff I purchased earlier in the day and spent the rest of the day vegged out on the couch followed by throwing up myself the rest of the night.
Friday was a complete wright off and I had given up by this point and the twins did not even get to Badgers.
I received a call earlier on in the day finding out why we had missed this weeks lessons on the photography course I had completely forgotten we had booked onto. I didn't even have the energy to call or email them back.
Saturday we had planned to go on the heritage open day, where we get to go to places you wouldn't normally get to go, but, feeling like we do I think we will try that one next year..
We will have Saturday off and just go to the Shift workshop celebrating Alan Turing's early work on Sunday instead, we all should be feeling slightly better by then,.
I can firmly say this week has been a total washout, we have all been moody and short tempered and quite frankly we are all starving, beans on toast and soup just doesn't cut it with these kids, although I have not eaten anything all week, I cannot wait to have a proper cooked meal that will stay down.
Lets hope we get a better week next week as it is going to be busy catching up with work and getting back into the swing of things, I was about to redecorate the kids bedroom this week, but only ended up sorting through and throwing away their old clothes, the toy cull can come next week when we are all more in the mood, trying to clear their room out to decorate is hard enough without being ill at the same time.
Onwards and upwards and looking forwards to a better, healthier week...
I entered into a conversation the other day with a white person about why 'black face' is viewed as being racist', any black face not just selective black face such as the incident in Aberaeron which you can read about here.
The unfortunate thing about being educated on these things is that it is tiring and draining trying to educate others on why these things, time and time again come up as offensive. Despite people being told time and time again that these things are offensive, these things still continue to be done and vehemently defended.
That tells you racism is ingrained and alive and well, people stay ignorant and continue to repeat the same behaviours trying to preserve it's normalcy. Racism is part of the system and some people do not even see it.
The same with golliwogs, both blackface and golliwogs are famously known as being viewed as 'racist' yet you will still find people defending it to the hilt as to why they are not, despite never producing any evidence to the contrary, yet receiving lots of evidence why they are. These people usually end up just confirming their racist tendencies and biases that they refuse to even admit to possessing, usually due to being blinded by that white privilege they posses that keeps them all safe and warm in their little bubbles, after all it is not them being offended, so why should they care about the views and feelings of this lesser species called black people or people of colour...
Usually the ignorance is astounding and despite explaining in as simple terms as possible and providing evidence instead of rhetoric which is all you usually received back, they exert their white supremacy views even more forcefully without them even being aware of doing just that.
For example they usually without even a thought or pause to even think about what they are actually saying, end up telling you that you should not be offended by traditions that have been ingrained in society to ridicule and put down blacks, devised in a time when black face was used to perpetuate demeaning stereotypes and continues to this day. You usually find them talking over you like you are invisible in the conversations with daft statements, in the last conversation I reference at the beginning of this blog post 'we're not allowed to be offended by black people whitening up, yet, we're offending people in reverse'.. Not that I could get a word in edgeways with their little tag team, that may be their opinion but it certainly isn't mine, in case they had not noticed I am a black person and I do not agree with white face either, it is equally abhorrent despite it not being racist, by them saying that statement it just makes them sound vindictive with off base tit for tat, if they are so offended by white face then they should surely know how offensive black face is, the fact that was even brought up highlights their racist core.
For those with an education in racism, power is at the heart of black face, specifically, using one’s power to take something important from someone else and use it for ridicule or entertainment. Both black face and white face is equally vile in my opinion. The Bacup Coconuters in Lancashire is anther example, they have been told it is viewed as racist, yet you will still get those people that will defend it, the ironic thing is they don't even know the true origins of the costume of black face the morris dancers wear, they have theories skirting round the fact that the origins are unclear, (see here) so they have no way of educating the public on the origins, unfortunately for them, today whatever its true history is, the act is now seen and associated as racist. Being interested in history I have my own theories on the tradition, marrying it up with the period in the first half of the 1600s, Barbary corsairs - pirates from the
Barbary Coast of North Africa, authorised by their governments to attack
the shipping of Christian countries - ranged all around Britain's
shores. In their lanteen-rigged xebecs (a type of ship) and oared
galleys, they grabbed ships and sailors, and sold the sailors into
slavery. Admiralty records show that during this time the corsairs
plundered British shipping pretty much at will, taking no fewer than 466
vessels between 1609 and 1616, and 27 more vessels from near Plymouth
in 1625. As 18th-century historian Joseph Morgan put it, 'this I take to
be the Time when those Corsairs were in their Zenith'. Morgan also noted that he had a list, printed in London in 1682'
of 160 British ships captured by Algerians between 1677 and 1680.
Considering what the number of sailors who were taken with each ship was
likely to have been, these examples translate into a probable 7,000 to
9,000 able-bodied British men and women taken into slavery in those
years. Not content with attacking ships and sailors, the corsairs also
sometimes raided coastal settlements, generally running their craft onto
unguarded beaches, and creeping up on villages in the dark to snatch
their victims and retreat before the alarm could be sounded. Almost all
the inhabitants of the village of Baltimore, in Ireland, were taken in
this way in 1631, and other attacks were launched against coastal
villages in Devon and Cornwall. Samuel Pepys gives a vivid account of an
encounter with two men who'd been taken into slavery, in his diary of 8
February 1661.'...to the Fleece tavern to drink and there we spent till 4
a-clock telling stories of Algier and the manner of the life of Slaves
there; and truly, Captain Mootham and Mr Dawes (who have been both
slaves there) did make me full acquainted with their condition there.
As, how they eat nothing but bread and water.... How they are beat upon
the soles of the feet and bellies at the Liberty of their Padron. How
they are all night called into their master's Bagnard, and there they
lie.' The very casualness of the account makes it clear just how
commonplace unfortunates like Moontham and Dawes were in 17th-century
Britain. Britons in later years have boasted that they 'never will be
slaves,' but during these years they were enslaved all too often. Maybe that is the forgotten story these dancers are telling, their reference to Cornwall is certainly correct and correlates, as that was the main place the Algerian pirates took their British slaves from or maybe According to the American Morris News (2005), "It is most
commonly thought that the origin and function of blackface in Morris
dancing lies in primitive disguise rather than an imitation of black
men. However, this is not definitely the case. Accounts of the Morris of
Shakespeare's time make no mention of blackface, while the border teams
contemporary with minstrel shows typically blacked up. American
minstrel shows, if not the actual origin of blackface among Morris
dancers, at least contributed to its popularity." Robert Hornback (2008) has a different viewpoint, comparing border morris to crude parodies of African tribal war dances,
and cites the blackface of Morris dancing as part of racist practices
in Britain that predate American minstrelsy and, in fact, contribute to
the minstrel tradition Being someone who respects history it would be sad to stop the tradition, I say carry on the tradition but remove the black face as part of the costume, then no one can be offended. It is time people respected others and the offence caused, particularly when there is no solid evidence of its origins and considering those origins are marred in the depressing fact of why black face was used in more recent times.
So what about people who say they are using blackface as a form of homage?
Here again, we should return to the question of power and control. Regardless of intent, you can’t separate blackface from its colonial
history – because the negative effects of this history still shape
people’s lives today. Should people have the right to take someone
else’s ethnicity for a day, use it for their own purposes and then drop
it? The dominant (white) culture has, for so long, taken things from
people of colour – whether it be stories or treasures – because it
could. .The history of blackface has shown us that, regardless of intent,
this practice cannot be seen as respectful and will offend people.
So therefore anyone in this day and age using black face does so with full knowledge of the offence it can cause whether intentional or not with that in mind those that forge forwards and do it anyway can be firmly classed as a racist.
The usual conversations with 'white people' will always defend 'black face'.. you get lines like 'it is traditional'.. yes well we all know it is traditional and why, so when are you going to move on from the old colonial ways and get with the current times and respect the fact that it is now deemed offensive.
Once you have been told the reasons why something is offensive you would think the education they have just received will sink in and they will change their racist behaviour but sadly this is not always the case as white people fail to see their own ingrained racism and will continue to exert their supremacy by insisting that the person of colour has no rights to be offended... just as the typical supremacist thinks, blacks are not human therefore have no rights to feelings and should shut up and put up with racism as long as it does not interfere with their own sensitivities.
Its like banging your head against a brick wall, people of colour are telling you it is offensive, is it only the supreme white race that can decide what is and what is not racist?, it would appear so in the grand scheme of things and the way these people talk.
If we want to have a more harmonious society then we should stop doing
these things as they are offensive and distressing to some citizens. this is what they fail to hear!.
I have come to the conclusion that it really is a waste of time trying to educate those that are racist without realising it due to the ingrained racism in society that people are brought up with, it's just far easier to let them continue, sit there and smile and get comfortable with the white supremacy world we live in.
I thank wholeheartedly those that came before to raise these issues, otherwise I would still be facing 'no blacks , no dogs and no Irish signs all over the place, like there were when I was younger, in the 80's prejudice was very high in Britain.
The Black People’s Day of Action on 2 March 1981 brought around 25,000
people onto the streets of London to protest against the massacre of 13
young Africans in a fire, suspected to have been caused by racists, at a
birthday party in New Cross in South London. Protesters also attempted
to highlight the misconduct of the Metropolitan Police force in their
subsequent investigation, the bias of the press, the inadequate response
of the government to the tragedy and the generalised racial
discrimination in British society. Added to the problem of racial
discrimination, the Conservative government’s economic programme was
making conditions worse in many poorer communities in inner city areas.
Between April and August that year there was violent urban unrest in St
Paul’s in Bristol, Brixton in South London, Toxteth in Liverpool, Moss
Side in Manchester, Handsworth in Birmingham, and elsewhere in the
country. Covert and overt racism continues plainly in sight of all to see continuing to create controversy whether done for attention or not, people seem to be in denial about it, when they should be horrified.
You get a sense of what those that came before fighting these issues where up against, I appreciate their struggles and can often imagine those everyday conversations with people defending why blacks had no right to vote or why those racist adverts are not racist.
My heart always sparks for those that fought the good fight and continue to do so, there is a long bumpy way to go but my heart always dies a little when I get into conversations with people about something racist they are defending, the ignorance rings in my ears and the supremacist attitude they take makes me feel nauseous during the conversation, I always try to continue explaining but it always becomes clear they are blinded by their white world they live in, I live in hope that I will penetrate their white walls around them, but seldom this happens.
I have always been afraid throughout my life of expressing why something is racist to a white person, I usually nod the head, smile and the moment usually passes on and the white person being racist continues on in their ignorance, I try to not upset their white fragility when they are confronted with realities but as I get older it has become clear that every person of colour should speak up instead of waiting for the moment to pass, people need to be educated that is what our forefathers did for us and we owe that to the next generations to do the same, the freedoms we have gained over the past 50 years have not come from people staying quiet, it has come from people speaking up and challenging damaging behaviour.
Being brought up in a white family and having mainly white friends and living in a white world teaches you to put up and shut up for fear of upsetting people by correcting their behaviour or pointing out why they have offended, you always hear the 'well I have a black friend' or 'I have a black relative, like it is some kind of well done badge'..
Can I touch your hair, or I've never tried a black girl. Conforming to the stereotype and talk about cooking chicken for an hour. The where do you come from, no where do you really come from? question. You are not like a black girl, been followed in shops and accused of shoplifting, been called nigger, paki, wogg, finished by a boyfriend for being black as his family was not happy with my skin tone, my children stating they wish their mummy was white, sacked from a job for complaining about a racist email, been avoided by people just because of the colour of my skin, been labelled as an angry black person when speaking out against racism, been randomly shouted at with racist derogatory words on the street by random strangers, had racist graffiti sprayed on my car, my child called a dirty little black bastard by one of their own relatives. I have sat and watched so called friends post racists memes, comments and jokes, I have been employed in jobs to make up the 'ethnic numbers', had a neighbour shouting expletive racist remarks to the point I had to move house, been told I am not allowed to be offended by something that is racially offensive, while working as a care assistant told they didn't want a dirty black bastard touching them I was to get a white assistant instead, had an intelligence test during my adoption process as a child in the 70's based on my skin colour to try to prove black adoptees are thicker than white adoptees, been told to go back to the jungle, told by a social worker not to report abuse because no one would believe me a), because I was a female and b), because I was black, I have been told I am racist because I am pointing out racist behaviour, the list goes on.
So while some white people want to deny that racism exists, I can testify that it does so the next time you want to tell me something is not racists when it actually is, check your own white privilege of not having to deal with it and constantly wait for the next event to add to the list.
Don't start telling me about your experience of racism in an attempt to make my experience meaningless, stop with the reverse racism card, it is a myth and makes you look silly, Prejudice against white folks is not racism, it's prejudice or discrimination. Racism is far more complex than one person not liking another, racist and prejudice is not interchangeable, racism is a concept that operates on both an individual and institutional level, You wouldn't know what racism feels like unless you lived in South Africa. All you do is reveal your deep rooted racist beliefs more when you pull out that card. People of colour should be able to celebrate their black history, culture and heritage and protest in support of their rights without it being labelled as an attack on white people, prejudice is never acceptable, I think that white people who feel
victimized by progress need to understand that people of colour are doing
what they can to be seen as equal in a system that is strongly biased
against them. White people will never be on the receiving end. Instead of feeling
threatened by the efforts made to create an equal playing field for
people of all races, white people need to relinquish their positions of
power and do what they can to fight against the systemic oppression of
people of colour. I am not the only person that feels like this there are many people who express the same things across the web. A recent article entitled why I am not speaking to whites about race states exactly what I am saying but in simpler terms,
I can no longer engage with the gulf of an emotional disconnect that
white people display when a person of colour articulates their
experience. You can see their eyes shut down and harden. It’s like
treacle is poured into their ears, blocking up their ear canals. It’s
like they can no longer hear us.
“This emotional disconnect is the conclusion of living a life
oblivious to the fact that their skin colour is the norm and all others
deviate from it.
“At best, white people have been taught not to mention that people of
colour are “different” in case it offends us. They truly believe that
the experiences of their life as a result of their skin colour can and
should be universal. I just can’t engage with the bewilderment and the
defensiveness as they try to grapple with the fact that not everyone
experiences the world in the way that they do.
The rest of the article can be read here I feel the same, tired, exhausted with 45 years of the same thing and many more to come, it is exhausting and I will never again fall for the show me proof of racism request
that many white people resort to whenever a
person of colour expresses their experience with racism. Despite all the studies and research papers, video after video and experts after expert and scholar after scholar, every academic, every journal, every scientific institution, every personal experience story told, it is still ignored and dismissed anyway.
The emotionally insidious and pathological deflection strategy
designed to protect white people from encountering any reality that
doesn’t make them feel like the most special and innocent snowflakes at
the dead centre of the universe, it is a complete and utter waste of my time and energy. There are much better conversations to be had than just stating facts when someone does not want to accept them and just end up subjecting me to the predictable Godwin's Law. Nelson Mandela said, "Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." he missed out the point that education is only useful if people want to learn.. Zita holdborne states
We have to tackle the roots of racism or we will continue reacting
rather than preventing. We have to break down the barriers that divide
us and expose racism. Nobody is born racist. It's a disease - the longer
you leave it, the more it spreads, but if you cut it out when the first
signs emerge you have a better chance of curing it. We must be
confident and empowered to challenge racism as soon as it rears its
head, because each time we ignore it, the racists feel emboldened. We
will never cure every single person of racism but we can tackle the
roots and make it clear that it will not be tolerated using the tools
available to us - not just laws and policies but the goodness of the
human heart and our united strength - to overcome.
I have some very good friends who listen and those that attempt to understand and learn more about a person of colours experience with racism, those allies are precious to me, they make me feel like there is hope for the next generations and one day no person of colour will have to suffer any kind of abuse due to the colour of their skin, no person of colour will feel the effects of passive racism by having their own feelings, views and experiences denied at the expense of a white supremacists own emotions. I have hope that one day the colour of ones skin will not determine how they progress in life, the same as many people that have come before have also hoped for....
I watch every day the discourse of racism unfold, the way minorities are spoken about in the media and on social media and generally throughout every day life, the way they are demeaned, ridiculed and dismissed only to have that outright racism denied by their authors, as we see in in Teun A. van Dijk paper on Denying Racism:- Elite Discourse and Racism paper where it states:-
Racism, defined as a system of racial and ethnic inequality, can survive only when it is daily reproduced through multiple acts of exclusion, inferiorisation or marginalisation. Such acts need to be sustained by an ideological system and by a set of attitudes that legitimate difference and dominance. Discourse is the principal means for the construction and reproduction of this socio- cognitive framework. At the same time, there are norms and values of tolerance and democratic humanitarian-ism, which may be felt to be inconsistent with biased attitudes and neg-ative text and talk about minorities. To manage such contradictions,white speakers engage in strategies of positive self-presentation in order to be able credibly to present the others in a negative light. Dis-claimers, mitigations, euphemisms, transfers, and many other forms of racism denial are the routine moves in social face-keeping, so that ingroup members are able to come to terms with their own prejudices. At the same time, these denials of racism have important social and political functions, e.g. in the management of ethnic affairs and the de-legitimation of resistance. We have seen that, especially in elite dis-course, for instance in the media and in the legislature, the official versions of own-group tolerance, and the rejection of racism as an implied or explicit accusation, are crucial for the self-image of the elite as being tolerant, understanding leaders. However, we have also seen how these strategies of denial at the same time confirm their special role in the formulation and the reproduction of racism.
If you do not stand up and speak out about racism, then you are part of the problem, if you do not even attempt to understand beyond your comfortable white world something that you can never imagine, if you continue to deny something is racist when you have been quite plainly told that it is, then you are part of the problem.
Yes I am done trying to explain nicely with fear of upsetting your white fragility, I am done being called a racist when I point out your racist behaviour and you know no better than to defend your racist supremacist viewsin that ignorant white bubble, yes I am done trying to discuss racism with white people, because until white people want to listen, learn and understand, then people will continue to bang their head against brick walls.
How refreshing it would be to hear people admit that he or she has
occasional racist or misogynistic thoughts and recognise the need to
counter them with meaningful and effective action instead of hypocritical denials and deflection. I doubt that will ever happen in my lifetime.
Racism is complicated and it is more than just name calling, or denying someone a job or the opposite due to their skin colour, or speaking about someone badly, or wearing 'black face and selling Golliwogs, it is a whole system of events, the fundamental social mechanism that generates inequalities in society, the racists who are conscious and the racists who are not self conscious and the institutional racism all make up critical aspects of racism. It is time to wake and people will not stop 'moaning' until that social mechanism is torn down and burned.
What I will do is continue to learn and continue to share my experience and continue to speak out, what I wont do is engage with white people in a conversation based around Godwins law, denial and blame.
My responsibility is to myself, my own self development, my own self-responsibility, my own education and understanding of racism, my own fight with internalized racism and my own improved navigation of an existence living in a racist world, my responsibility is not to those sick outwardly vile racist people who think their denials and pathetic attempts to disguise it actually works, because it doesn't, it just invokes a pity in me that wonders what it must be like to live with so much hate towards someone just because of the colour of their skin, sad, very sad but it makes me grateful I am me and not you because that would be totally awful to live with so much hate.
Akala Sums up these everyday micro aggressions nicely, so next time you want to defend black face and Golliwogs, be honest and admit to yourself what kind of racist you are, a conscious racist or a not conscious racist and then do yourself a favour and get educated.
