Introducing...me!

Hey! I realised recently that my blog doesn’t really show you what I’m up to, and who I am. Surely if you’re reading my blog you wanna know who the hell you’re reading about? Don’t worry, this won’t be too much like an “about me” page on LinkedIn, but more like my motivation for writing the articles I like to write about, and a little what I’m up to and what I’m planning in the future.

So, as I’ve already mentioned a million times, I am a graduate, about to embark on the rocky path to employment. You may notice I write a lot on race, and I do so because issues concerning race cause the strongest reaction. I am half Jamaican, but my father was born in Yorkshire, and is without a doubt, the most Yorkshire man you’ll probably meet. Basically, all he’s just missing is his flat cap and whippet.

I don’t deny I am “white-passing”, which means you’d probably mistake me for being white and as a result, I can “pass for white” if I chose to. Despite this, I have still experienced racism. I’ve been casually called “n*gger” more than once, had people downright refuse to believe I’m mixed race, someone saying my mother must be “as white as a ghost”, even been made to overhear a group of classmates talk about, amongst other racist topics, killing mixed race children on arrival.

I have even had mild institutional racism thrown at me, take for example, the time I was told I need a special helper at school because of my Afro-Caribbean heritage. All children of African or Caribbean descent were offered helpers, who sat in at least one lesson. Funnily enough, she sat in on an English lesson, where I was top set. I went on to achieve a 2:1 degree classification in English and Film. Let’s just say, she was a little bored and never came back.

I think it is important to emphasise that I don’t pretend to know what it is like to be black. I know how privileged I am, the most racism I experience is when I tell people I’m mixed race. However, I think my experience is important to take note of, because it shows how this “colour blind” notion, that assumes race is just about skin colour, is actually a load of rubbish. If I, an undeniably white-looking woman, can still experience racism, then how can racism simply be about skin colour? A blind man can still be racist, as he is still in contact with society and can form judgement based on what he hears and feels. There is a Dave Chapelle sketch that illustrates this quite well actually.

So, enough about race for a while, if you wish to know more, please ask me in the comments, and I’m more than willing to answer. I quickly want to mention I am a feminist, as I think most politically-aware/interested women should be. I used to be completely anti-feminism, right up until A Levels. What is important to understand about anti-feminists, is that the vast majority of the time, they do not know what feminism is. For me, I assumed feminism was an out-dated movement, trying to be equal to men when we already had everything we needed. I was made to mention it in class once, and even as I spoke I couldn’t form a legit answer as to why I hated feminism.

These two previously mentioned factors, as well as being your average, politically-minded unemployed graduate motivate me to write. I don’t feel that I have anything ground-breaking to announce to the world just yet, as my opinions are still growing and forming. However, the best way for me to understand my opinions is to write them down. Maybe nothing will happen, I’ll get a job with a furniture company and write about chairs for the rest of my life. Or maybe I have the possibility to become like my favourite journalist Gary Younge, who is a highly successful black British journalist in America, and has written a few books. Don’t get me wrong, my plans for the future involve marketing and advertising, but I like to keep my career options open.

So, what you can expect from me in the future is hopefully more on this blog. I am throwing myself into writing this summer, and have already written tonnes for Wireless Magazine and Grads blog. I am three quarters of the way through ‘No Place Like Home: A Black Briton’s Journey Through the American South’ by Gary Younge, so I plan on writing a review of that, as well as more book reviews.

I also want to try and implement a weekly news round-up, where I sum up my take on the week’s news. I tried doing this before, but then the Wendy Davis filibuster happened, along with the Minority Voter's court ruling, possible UK student fees privatisation and a whole lot of important events. I ended up writing a huge article before realising there was too much happening at once. If I do start that, it will be on a Friday evening or Saturday.

Lastly I want to include something about my time here in Switzerland, where I’m learning German. However, I’m not sure how to implement that, so we’ll see later how I fit some of that in.

Anyway, I hope this wasn’t too lengthy and vague, but I just fancied a change of tone. From now on you’ll see a lot more of “me” in my articles, not some cold opinion pieces from somebody you don’t even know. I really hope this “new tone” breathes fresh air into this place, and brings in some more readers!

Thanks for reading!

The British Trayvon Martin: Mohammed Asghar

George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin could have been British. Many people I know, British people, write off the case’s outcome as another failing of the American government. Comments such as ‘America is a joke’ and “I hate America!” are thrown around by most. What people fail to mention is that institutional racism also takes place in Britain, and recently too.

Here is a list compiled by the Institute of Race Relations (IRR) documenting deaths with a known or suspected racial element. One in particular caught my eye because of its similarity to George Zimmerman’s case; Mohammed Asghar. Here is his entry:

07/00, MOHAMMED ASGHAR, 43, HUDDERSFIELD

Stabbed to death outside his restaurant. In May 2001, an all-White jury found Jonathan Fairbank not guilty of murder, accepting he had acted in self defence.

The striking thing is, a search of his name followed by "huddersfield murder" has brought up just two articles about this case, and not from any mainstream news outlets, but from the Socialist Party and local paper the Huddersfield Examiner. The articles expand on the above, talking about Fairbank’s racial abuse of Asghar that took place over several weeks. Fairbank returned one day with a knife and plunged it into Asghar’s chest, killing him almost immediately.

What happened next is amazingly similar to the acquittal of Zimmerman. Everyone, including Fairbank’s lawyer, were convinced he would be charged with murder. However, the jury was also made up of white people, and he was also acquitted because he was acting “in self-defence”. The case also prompted protest, albeit, smaller and more locally-based.

Lee Rigby, victim of the Woolwich attack

It’s hard to quickly summarise why Trayvon Martin received more attention than Mohammed Asghar. Perhaps it is related to the scale of the reaction? The black civil rights movement in America is rather strong and influential, raising awareness for a case like this is not beyond them. Another aspect could be to do with the “war on terror”. This would explain why the racist backlash to the Woolwich murders has been scarcely reported, whereas Channel 4’s decision to broadcast the call to prayer outraged many.

In trying to summarise the reason the two cases received different levels of attention, I tried to explain the differing nature of British and American racism towards differing minorities, but the number of complexities and historical information that I could and should write about could lead to a whole book. In the end, the question is not really important. If people are being murdered because of their race, why should we bother explaining these intricate details that make our oppression different from somebody else’s?

What we should be asking, is when are British people going to respond to the troubles closer to home? It’s important to protest against corruption in other countries, but shouldn't we also be battling against the corruption in our own society? Millions know Trayvon Martin’s name, but how many know of Mohammed Asghar?