Coronavirus has dominated our conversations at home for several months now. As the news, social media and conversation has moved towards race demonstrations and protests in the USA, UK and around the world, we would like to support you with the conversations you might be having at home with students.
Vocabulary
There are certain words and phrases that have been used recently. Most of them are not new, but will have come to students’ and adult’s attention.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-52892949In this article, the BBC explain the terms ‘white privilege’, ‘ally’, ‘white saviour’, the use of the phrase ‘All Lives Matter’.
Another term that we would like to address:
‘colourblindness’ While this is a well-intentioned phrase, intended to show that you see the person, not the colour, it can be problematic. ‘Colourblindness’ takes discussion of racism off the table and supresses racist experiences and racial inequalities. For students and adults, if we see colour, then we can hear if somebody is making a racist comment and we can address it. This encourages us to be more than non-racist, but anti-racist.
History
An issue that has been raised in the past and has come to light more recently, is a lack of awareness among many of us relating to black British history. It is important to understand the history of contemporary racism in order to support the conversations we are having at home.
BBC Newsbeat has put together some useful information on this https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/newsbeat-52939694