Racist statues and ‘free speech’: Stop giving a platform to racists in society

Content Warning: Discusses racism and racial violence

It is of no doubt that British history is one that consists of the extreme and violent exploitation and colonisation of Black and Brown bodies and areas, but it is also clear that this truth is erased from our education systems. As we are learning British values and Britain’s ‘heroic’ history, we are increasingly becoming detached from the true, racist nature of this country’s history, as well as the racist nature of the many institutions we see today that have developed from such history – inherent with racist and discriminatory foundations that illustrate institutional racism in British society.

Allowing such offensive statues to remain on a pedestal is overly justified by individuals like Robert Jenrick suggesting that monuments are ‘best explained and contextualised’.

Is that best explained and contextualised as an ethnocentric and whitewashed version of British history or as the truly violent, oppressive and racist nature of this country’s history?

Too many times the former is what is meant and is what is reproduced by our education systems, rather than the acknowledgement that such monuments represent the reproduction of a violent violation of Black bodies and express support for an individual that has been involved in such atrocities.

This is extremely dangerous, traumatising and terrifying to the many Black people who have to walk past the Colston statue, live on Colstondale road or in Colston towers – where what they walk past or where they live implicitly supports and praises someone who lived off the pure violation of their bodies.

(In article image courtesy of  Dave Betts, BBC )

The huge saviour complex of people like Robert Jenrick have in supporting their violent, oppressive and racist white ‘heroes’ is very prominent in British society and represents the ignorance many people have concerning British history.

Living in a society that upholds racist and oppressive values as represented by monuments of people who reproduced those very values is traumatising and taking down such statues is the way to go if we want to become a truly anti-racist country.

Attempting to say that the existence of such monuments should be protected due to freedom of speech is  another concerning issue that is arising – where in this version of ‘free speech’, there are no consequences for hate speech 

“Once someone challenges those views, there are always consequences that prevent the necessary anti-racist movements from speaking the truth.”

Using your free speech to reproduce racist values is often met with no consequences, but once someone challenges those views, there are always consequences that prevent the necessary anti-racist movements from speaking the truth.

It seems as if free speech is reserved only for white privileged men and women in society who use it to justify their racist and ethnocentric comments. This is not just seen through the many racist statues that are continuously allowed to remain but also in educational spaces, particularly in universities. 

With free speech laws being introduced into universities where academics, students or staff are able to sue universities for breaching their freedom of speech. This is could be very dangerous.

“This means further silencing of the oppressed who want to make true social change in university spaces.”

As I have already suggested, the idea of ‘free speech’ is often used as a way for white supremacists to spew racial hatred without no consequences, whilst someone going against racism and being visibly anti-racist facing harsher consequences. This means further silencing of the oppressed who want to make true social change in university spaces. 

With the greater mobilisation of student advocacy and social justice towards anti-racism within university establishments and the empowerment of student union in mobilising the tuition fee strike, for example, this inaccurate, Conservative notion of freedom of speech can prove harmful as individuals are often encouraged to play “Devil’s Advocate” against such beneficiary measures, and therefore work to uphold the elitist, classist and racist institution that is the university system. 

As well as this, even without this free speech law, many ethnic minority students know that university is already a space in which they are met with many microaggressions and outright racism. White supremacy and racism are still prevalent in university settings.

We can only expect the attitudes that are allowed to flourish through the new freedom of speech laws will be those that support the reproduction of classism and the further discrimination and othering of minority students in university settings.

“To be a minority in the UK is to be exposed to the everyday racism, both interpersonal and institutional, that is ingrained in UK society.”

University is already an uncomfortable experience for ethnic minorities as they often feel out of place. With greater so-called freedom of speech laws can come greater freedom for individuals to further alienate and discriminate against minority students under the guise of a false notion of free speech.

To be a minority in the UK is to be exposed to the everyday racism, both interpersonal and institutional, that is ingrained in UK society.

Even when wanting and attempting to challenge this racism, whether it be through taking down racist statues, or calling for the defunding of the police, we find that such voices of anti-racism are punished and made irrelevant by those in power.

This attitude is reproduced in many settings, within the education system, within housing, healthcare and within university spaces, where to be a minority student now means having to share your platform that represents trying to end anti-racism and centuries worth of dehumanisation, with someone wanting to reproduce elitist and racist values, all under the notion of ‘freedom of speech’. 

Nida Rafiq

Feature Image courtesy of Ian262 via Flickr. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image