I, too, am Oxford.

Photo: itooamoxford.tumblr.com

    I'm sure most of you have probably heard of the 'I, too, am Harvard' campaign and the campaigns in Oxford, Cambridge, SOAS and King's that followed as a result, to name a few. Basically, students of ethnic minorities at these universities did a series of photographs holding up boards that highlighted the day to day micro-aggressions that they faced. There are many reasons why I decided to get involved with the one at Oxford. One of them was due to the 'too black' incident, another was the fact that I think at places like my university, there are many ignorant people who are unaware of how insulting their one-off comments can be and campaigns like these are vital in opening their eyes. Also, I wanted to send out a message that the days of 'door mat Kenny' are long, long over and I really think that my university needs to start talking about race and issues like under representation.

  I'm also sure that most of you have also heard of the 'We Are All Oxford' campaign that launched as a counter campaign to 'I, too, am Oxford'. Although they claimed that they weren't undermining our campaign, sadly, that is exactly what they did. They claimed that their campaign was necessary in order to show the 'full picture' to potential candidates, that discrimination is rare at Oxford and that the university 'selects on academic excellence'. What really bugged me about their claims is the fact that they completely missed the point and by doing this, they proved exactly why 'I, too, am Oxford' was needed. Nobody is saying that Oxford does not select based on academic excellence. In fact, I think future applicants would be more put off by WAAO's whitewash campaign. Personally, I would feel more comfortable applying to a university where the students stood up for themselves and spoke out against prejudice than one where students tried to pretend that all was fine. This made me laugh- http://weareallawful.tumblr.com/

Photo: itooamoxford.tumblr.com

  Also, WHY is Access always brought up when ethnic minorities at top universities are discussed? That's another thing/ fail that bugged me about WAAO. Sure, Access Schemes are great but it is very wrong and presumptuous to assume that all POC are at a top university on an Access Scheme, and that's why I put it on my board. Sadly, yet again, it was someone very close to me that asked me that question and she didn't even know that her words had offended me. 

  I keep going on about WAAO because the whole campaign just really irritated me and what made it worse was the fact that I know the girl that was the brains behind it all. Everyone's experience of race and prejudice is subjective so I really don't approve when others try to undermine it and say "Well, I don't find that racist" or "That doesn't sound racist to me." Racism is no longer the segregation and Jim Crow laws of the 1960s but it now consists of little micro-aggressions and asides that one should not ignore. It is best to speak now and let your friends know if you're not comfortable with their words. I am so glad that the campaign got picked up by major news outlets such as the BBC, BuzzFeed, Guardian, Telegraph, Huffington Post etc. I've even been stopped on the streets and in clubs because of it and all of my friends have reacted so positively to it.I think the campaign has really opened up their eyes to certain things that are not okay to say to POC and I am so happy that I contributed to it. 

  I, too, am Oxford and I worked my butt off to get to where I am and I will never ever be made to feel inferior ever again.

PS- I recently found out that my friend, Leo, stalks 'reads' my blog. This is a shout out to Leo and his stalker self x