A Facebook page posting anonymous experiences of racism at the University has hit 1000 likes. Started after the success of similar pages such as Spotted: Sexism at Exeter University, the page aims to help people ‘notice occurrences of racism/ignorance’ and provide a platform for those who have experienced racism to speak up.
For example, one person submits “a close friend and his housemate drunkenly tell me (a mixed black and white girl) that they just don’t really find girls who aren’t white attractive. But apparently I make the cut, because I’m ‘still kind of white’.” The page also posts many examples of unconscious racism both by Exeter students and in popular culture.
The founder of Spotted: Racism commented by saying: “I knew from the beginning that the page would face a number of angry white boys commenting on the posts (they haven’t failed me). I wasn’t sure what the positive reception would be like, or if there would even be any. When I first set up the page, people sent in loads of anonymous messages about experiencing racism and micro aggressions. As time went on and more trolls commented on the page, I think they were scared off . You can have a scroll through the page if you want some concrete examples of white boys derailing threads. Now I just post articles and the occasional comment, which have generally had positive reactions, although there’s always some white guy trying to make a point about how “white privilege doesn’t exist.”
The similar page mentioned above, which posts anonymous stories related to sexism has over 2000 likes, and posts anonymous occurrences of sexism in Exeter. Both pages raise awareness of conscious discrimination, but also the unconscious bias that goes by unchecked both in Exeter and in popular culture.