REPEATED PHRASES PEOPLE OF COLOUR HEAR ON CAMPUS

Deputy Print Editor Chloé Jarrett-Bell interviews several BAME students at the University about their experience on campus, alongside discussing important ideas concerning race.

Racism isn’t just racial slurs and violent physical attacks; it’s also about microaggressive comments and questions. The “micro” in microaggressive refers to the subtle or indirect nature of discrimination - it does not describe the scale of the effect that these comments have on people of colour.

Below you’ll see some of the repeated race-related phrases that Black, Asian, Native, Aboriginal, and other ‘ethnic minority’ people hear from white people. These phrases can be heard anywhere, but at one of the whitest universities in the UK (nearly 90%), they are often heard much more regularly on the Exeter campus.

“The phrase I hear most is ‘I don’t mean this in an offensive way but ...’ Although most people genuinely want to be educated on a topic, I’ve met a few people (mainly when they’ve had enough to drink) say something blatantly offensive to my creed and culture and top it off with ‘I don’t mean you tho, you’re sound’. It happens more frequently working in a bar.”

Jeremiah Devadhas, Psychology student.

“I haven’t heard too many phrases but what I have experienced is people asking ‘where I learnt English or how I’m fluent in English’ which sometimes feels like a back-handed compliment because another international student who doesn’t come from a third-world country was not asked the same question.”

Tamara Darby, Law student.

What’s the purpose of this article? To complain? To villainize? To police speech? If you thought of one of these, then I would suggest you ask yourself why? No, the purpose of this article is to share. To share knowledge, frustration, and perhaps work towards being a campus with a greater awareness of how our words affect other people.

I asked BAME students what repeated phrases they heard in and around campus. Let’s read what some of these students thought:

“That’s [a] difficult [question]. The culture in Streatham Campus and St. Luke’s campus is very different. In Streatham you’re more exposed to the environment that breeds racism all in the name of ‘dark humour.’

St. Luke’s is more reserved. That doesn’t mean racism doesn’t exist there, but people are more reserved in general. There isn’t as big of a ‘lad’s culture’ in St. Luke’s as there is in Streatham.

‘Where are you from?’ That’s not a bad question in and of itself. If it was written in a book you would have to read in between the lines to find the issue. There’s a tone that comes with this question, connotations around it that just feel… It irks me. Not an anger but an irk or an ick, almost.”

Odera Dim, Medicine student.

“‘I never knew someone like you would study something like this!’” Phrases like this make me feel confused because if I wasn’t Black and female, would you still have those same views?”

Ruth Taveres, BioMechanics and Human Movement Sciences, PhD student.

“One of the phrases that I have come across would be ‘I am so amazed by the way you speak English’. This makes me wonder, as an international student, if it is meant as a compliment or if there’s a subtext to it?” polaroids: rawpixel.com