ReBlog: Racism, prejudice and changing the guard at Buckingham Palace

For nine years Dwight Pile-Gray was proud to be a guardsman, one of the soldiers who march at Trooping the Colour. Then a junior colleague’s …

Racism, prejudice and changing the guard at Buckingham Palace

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This blog post was an excellent reminder of how as we, Black people, navigate our way through predominantly White spaces, racism and prejudice are close behind. One part of this post really stood out to me:

Eventually the charity Centre for Military Justice took up his case and he made his own service complaint against the two men. At the hearing, the guard said he now felt “anxious” dealing with Afro-Caribbean people and the garrison commander claimed while other black and minority ethnic soldiers were “super-polite”, Pile-Gray was “highly sensitive” to racial bias and “harbour[ed] injustice”.

Repeating Islands

😳 “…while other black and minority ethnic soldiers were “super-polite”, Pile-Gray was “highly sensitive to racial bias and harbour[ed] injustice.” 😳

Why should we be polite and not sensitive when we are attacked by White people who are showing racial bias and racism? Of course we are going to be sensitive, upset, angry, and frustrated when we are the victims of racism. It isn’t up to Black people or other ethnic POC to be nice and polite to the person who is racist.

We May choose the moments to call out racism in our workplaces and educational institutions. That doesn’t mean we won’t be upset, highly sensitive, or angry at racial attacks.

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