Racism: Schools accused of ignoring or denying problems

Schools in Wales “ignore or deny racism,” according to a UK equality body.

Race Equality First said there had been a steady increase in reported cases and schools were “very rarely taking action”.

Rapper Duke Al said he faced a lot of “blind racism” at school and was often the subject of racial jokes.

The Welsh Government has said it is committed to building an anti-racist Wales by 2030, including an anti-racist education system.

Speaking to BBC Wales, Duke Al said he has an “amazing” group of friends, but as one of the few ethnic minority pupils he recalls plenty of good-natured banter.

“It got a bit tiring…but I never really said anything because I thought life is simple like that,” said the spoken-word poet of Dinas Powys, Vale of Glamorgan.

“It wasn’t until I got older that I realized I actually had to endure quite a bit of… racism,” he added, the murder of George Floyd and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement making him reflect on his experiences.

Looking back, the 28-year-old said he now knew he had faced “blind racism” where people had made offensive or unacceptable comments that were not meant to be harmful.

“I want to be a voice for young people to basically say it’s okay to stand up for yourself and actually say, you know, you’ve probably gone too far there… it’s wearing me down.”

He said he had faced malicious racism, including offensive racial slurs, at sports games, but was reluctant to report the incidents.

Race Equality First said reported cases of racial bullying in schools, colleges and universities have increased, from 13 cases in 2019 to 17 in 2020, then to 19 in 2021 and to 21 last year.

The charity’s executive director, Aliya Mohammed, said the incidents ranged from physical violence to verbal abuse and subtle prejudice from teachers.

“Often we see institutional racism embedded in a school’s culture and we see ignorance and we see outright denial that racism took place,” she added.

She said official figures might not tell the whole story if some incidents weren’t recorded by schools worried about their rankings.

“Tackling racism in schools is no longer just about providing teachers with anti-racism training… School teachers and principals need to make sure students are held accountable,” she said.

Her comments come after Raheem Bailey, 11, lost a finger after reportedly running away from bullies who his mother said racially and physically abused him.

Nirushan Sudarsan, from Cardiff, said he faced micro-aggression during his school days, including indirect, subtle or unintentional discrimination.

For example, the 22-year-old said many students and teachers either didn’t learn how to pronounce his name correctly or stereotyped it because of his South Asian origins.

“There were comments about how dark my skin was … during my education, and I didn’t think it was a big deal until I got a little bit older and understood how racism affects me and my identity.”

A Law and Political Sciences student at Cardiff University, he said that micro-aggression and systemic racism needed to be recognized as a real problem, by putting in place more training for teachers and mechanisms so that when a student reports an incident, they can be confident that that this is the case will be properly dealt with.

“You want school to be a welcoming environment … You go there to learn, to make friends, and to build relationships,” he said.

“But when… these things are said about you, you start to question yourself and your belonging.”

The Welsh Government said it “expects allegations and incidents of racism and racial harassment to be fully investigated by schools and appropriate action taken”.

A spokesman said the new curriculum will include mandatory classes on the history and experience of Black, Asian and minority ethnic people.