3 part series (available on RTÉ Player) in which young people talk about their personal experiences.
The Talk – Episode 1– Racism
Overview:
In the first episode, four duos of young people discuss their personal experiences of racism in Ireland.
Each duo are given questions to ask each other, including the infamous question ‘Where are you really from?’ which results in some surprising and thought-provoking responses. They also discuss their experiences of racism in school, the football pitch and the pub and how racism can affect other aspects of their lives including dating, social media and work.
They start off by recalling their school experiences. For brothers Darragh and Conor Buckley, the sons of the late campaigner Christine Buckley, they remember there weren’t a lot of mixed-race people around in the eighties and in school were called “gollywog, the ‘N’ word and poo face.” They also discuss how for them, it was easier if their Dad picked them up from school instead of their Mum. “You know, if Dad picked you up, he looked white, he looked like everybody else, you wouldn’t have to be paranoid about it. If Mum picked you up, you would be paranoid about it. The kids are sniggering, and they might think of a new name tomorrow.”
Both sporty at school, Conor recalls being called the ‘N’ word while playing a football match as a child and looking back, he wonders why the referee didn’t intervene. In recent times, he also remembers watching a rugby match in a pub in Dublin. After chatting to a guy in the toilets about the game, he turned to leave and said to Conor “See you later, ‘N’ word.”
Friends Angel Arutura and Maria Diouf, who met during the Black Lives Matter protests in 2020, both live in Northern Ireland but have differing experiences of racism. Growing up, Angel felt she was going through an identity crisis in school, trying to make herself as white as possible to try and fit in as the only black person in her year. She is half Zimbabwean and half Irish but tried to hide and avoid her Zimbabwean side to fit in. For her, silence was the easiest option.
“I would always stay silent because silence is just the easiest option for me. Because if I was to call out every single experience of racism that I had, I would be completely drained.”
Maria faced other challenges, having moved to Northern Ireland at the age of eleven. Not only was she the new girl in school, but she also had no English so she couldn’t understand what other pupils were saying about her.
Both discuss the type of racist comments they receive from people on their skin tones, with Maria summing up “People are so comfortable with diminishing you. They literally will see a darker person as – that’s the shade of a slave.”
Angel talks about the stark contrast between black peoples’ skin being called “dirty”, while white people put on fake tan and people say it’s lovely.
“Something I’ll never understand is people say the ‘N’ word, they will say all this negative stuff, like people tell me, I don’t know about you, but my elbows and my knees would be a darker colour than like the rest of my skin, that’s just our pigment. People say I rub dirt on my elbows and all this stuff. You’re dirty, you need to go take a shower and as well as that, you rub poo on your skin. But OK I rub poo on my skin to get my skin like this and everyone hates it, but my white friends go and put fake tan on that’s twice as dark as me and it’s really nice, it’s wow, you have a really nice tan but on me, a black woman, it’s not a really nice tan, it’s dirty.”
Maria says “Since a child, my whole life I’ve heard this from family from friends, you’re very pretty for a dark-skinned girl, and I never found that to be a compliment. I’ve always asked people – what do you mean by that? And most people ‘like you know dark people are not that good looking’.”
The next pairing, Ola Majekodunmi and Mamobo Ogoro are meeting for the first time in person, having ‘met’ online after following each other on social media. Broadcaster and Journalist Ola recalls reactions from the outside about her being enrolled in a Gaelscoil while Mamobo talks about how a simple game in school went awry. Looking back now, she can see the racial connotations that didn’t occur to her at the time.
Rapper-Songwriter Maimouna Salif (stage name Celaviedmai) and Singer-Songwriter Tomike J are best friends. They discuss how racism can play a part in dating and interracial relationships. Mai has been turned off dating apps in particular and confides:
“As I’m getting older, I’ve just started to notice this trend, with white men in particular, where it’s kind of like do you like me because I’m me, or do you like me because I’m black and it’s a fetish type of vibe? But this is what I’ve been coming across recently and even if you use stuff like Tinder, ‘Hey ebony queen, hey chocolate queen’ and it’s so cringey. Why is there so much emphasis on the race that I am? Can I not just be interesting for who I am as a person rather than my aesthetic, and don’t get me wrong, I think everyone does have somewhat of a preference when it comes to an aesthetic and I understand that, but there’s so much more to being me than just being a black woman.”
Tomike talks about how she’s only ever been in interracial relationships but mentions how other people are prone to commenting on it.
“I found that like a lot of people though, like even just walking down the road holding hands, or like on nights out when people have had a few drinks and stuff like that, people literally have so much confidence and come up to you and are just like, ‘do you not think you’re watering down the race, like what’s going to happen when you guys procreate.”
Social Media can be a powerful tool to educate people on racism, but it can also have a negative impact. Activist and writer, Angel Arutura, started her Instagram account to educate people on racism.
At the end of the episode, Rapper-Songwriter Celaviedmai sums up the situation.
“These topics, talking about them are great. It’s great that we get to do this and just educate people, but there’s so much more to being a black person that just racism.”
Contributors:
Angel Arutura is an activist, writer and educator on racism from Co. Down.
Maria Diouf was born on the West coast of Africa and lived in Portugal before moving to Northern Ireland at the age of 11.
Conor and Darragh Buckley are brothers and the sons of the late campaigner and activist Christine Buckley.
Ola Majekodunmi is a broadcaster and journalist from Dublin. She is a fluent Irish speaker. In 2018, Majekodunmi directed the short film ‘What does Irishness Look Like?’, which examined the issues around prejudice and national identity in Ireland.
Mamobo Ogoro grew up in Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford. She is currently studying for her PhD in Psychology in Limerick and runs Gorm Media, a digital media platform that provides education and conversation on social issues.
Maimouna Salif, also known by her stage name, Celaviedmai, is a rapper and songwriter from Galway.
Tomike J is a singer-songwriter from Dublin.
Instagram Handles:
@angelarutura
@mariahhbrian
@buckoconor
@dazbuck2017
@ola.majekodunmi
@mamobo96
@celaviedmai
@tomike_j