“I’m not racist but… You canny be a Pakistani cause
I’m fae the west of Scotland and I’ve met so many of them
and you’re nothing like any of them” What?? Yeah…
My name is Tomiwa
My name’s Mahrukh My name is Sarah
My name’s Fariha I’m not racist but...
I don’t date black women Ughh…
Yeah, I know People say that?
Yeah! Like, it’s more that
something you see I think I see it a lot
in my timeline “I’m not racist but
I don’t date black women” “I’m not racist but black
women are this, or that”
I’m like, it comes from everyone d’you know?
What do you respond when people say it to you?
I don’t really get a lot of ‘I’m not racist but...”
to my face to be quite honest I think people are probably
a bit too scared to say it to my face
Yeah I feel like if you need to caveat
what you’re saying with I’m not racist,
it’s definitely racist… “I'm not racist but...
when are you going home?” Has someone said that to you?
Oh yeah Yeah, I was working in
a charity shop and I was just at the counter
and these two gentleman came up to the counter and
they were gonna pay for something but they kinda came up and
just looked at me and I was like “Hi there
can I help you?” Literally, and the guy was like
“when are you going home?” and I was like “I’m not”
“When I finish…seven…” Like I don’t know,
what does that mean? And I didn’t actually react to it
as if it was a racist thing until my manager came out
and she was like “How dare you say that
to someone! Get out of my shop!” Really?
Yeah She fully backed me
I’m glad she did that This is a much more serious
situation than I’d processed Because you look this way,
you obviously cannot be from here and it’s like then
when they’re like “Where you from?” and you’re like “I’m from Edinburgh”
and they’re like looking at you trying to process it
You can see them trying to work it out in their minds
“but she’s black!” “But where are you frommmm?”
“But she sounds Scottish, but she’s from Edinburgh
but I just don’t understand!” People have asked me
if there’s black people in Scotland Really?
Yeah, and I’m like “yeah!”
There’s black people everywhere… including Scotland
I’m not racist but you’re really lucky that your daughter just
looks like a Scottish kid with a tan I’m like, well, she is Scottish
and yeah, that wasn’t what I was aiming for….
not marrying a white man I think the scariest thing
for me was that she said it in front of my daughter and
I’m like she’s two She doesn’t need to
internalise these messages this early I’ve worked so hard to make
sure she doesn’t think about her skin colour and you,
random stranger, coming up and ruining that.
Get out of my life “I’m not racist but…
you cannae be a Pakistani cause I’m fae the west of Scotland
and I’ve met so many of them and you’re
nothing like any of them” What?
Yeah… after like a two minute conversation, he established that
I was nothing like any Pakistani that lives in the west of Scotland
Is it because you’re so articulate and you don’t own a corner shop?
Oh my god… He didn’t know if I
owned a corner shop or not And yeah… I don’t know
Well that’s what he said and I got so angry at him
I love other people telling you who you can
and can’t be I’m afraid you’ve been
living your life wrong That’s the problem
though isn’t it? Cause I feel like a lot
of the time we have like a black person or like a black woman
and they must be like this and they must fit this mould
and then we have like a Muslim woman and they
must be like this and they must fit this mould
and if they don’t then like you can’t be Muslim
How much energy do you actually spend trying to educate
someone or trying to change someone’s mind before realising
that they’re too far gone and it’s just you’re never
ever gonna get though to them So what is the actual point
but then do you try? I don’t know
How much should you try? I almost try and be like,
I’m gonna make myself as visible as possible and
take up as much space as possible So anybody else who sees me,
like another black woman or like a young black girl
sees me can be like “I wanna do that
I wanna be like that” and then before you know it,
we’re everywhere It’s like kill them with success
Yeah exactly! Which is a good...
that is a good tactic Yeah
Yeah