Claire Brock: Trina, let's talk first about
the racial abuse that The Lion King cast a Bord Gais Theatre were subjected to as
they made their way home from performances this week.
Many people may have been shocked at what
happened, but experience and research shows that, sadly, this is not uncommon.
Trina O'Connor: No, it's not uncommon.
These kind of what we call microaggressions that people are faced
with every day are something that very often aren't
reported because they're just something that people have to deal with.
I think because this is high profile, people are hearing about it.
But if you talk to anybody from the Bam community or even people with disability,
any of these communities will tell you that they face
violence on the street,
they face aggressive language, they face slurs on a daily basis.
So it's not unusual.
So just because it's high profile,
people are hearing about it more and most people just get on with it because they
don't know what to do and it's just become part of their life.
CB: Yeah. Yemi, as a black woman, have you been subjected to similar abuse?
Yemi Adenuga: I certainly have, Claire.
My children have.
I have four kids.
I'll just give you perhaps an example that many people might be able to relate with.
When I run in the local elections in 2019 at the Doors, I remember particularly one
month asking me if I thought I was intelligent enough to run.
And every time I spoke,
he kept pretending that he didn't understand what I was saying.
My son, who is now 13, came home one day when he was in primary
school and he said to me that some of the kids around the area where we lived
at the time, it asked him permission to use the 'N word' for him.
Now, these are kids.
Nobody is born racist.
We learn to be racist.
And if we can learn to be racist, we can learn to be anti racist.
So we have a lot of work to do
in that regard, one thing is clear.
Ireland is a multicultural nation now and a lot of migrants who are here are
here to live, to build their lives, to contribute to the economy.
I have four children.
I have two grandchildren.
I'm first generation migrant.
My children are second generation migrants.
My two grandsons are third generation migrants.
I'm concerned about them and what we need to begin to do is to have conversations
about how we can live together, how we can understand ourselves better,
learn more about ourselves and create a platform where we can have difficult
conversations and not run away from conversations that we're afraid of.
There's a lot of fear,
fear of the unknown, because people sometimes would say they
don't understand some of the people from other cultures.
Let's just have conversations.
CB: It sounds like what you're saying is, Yemi,
it's an education issue. YA: Absolutely.
Education is a big part of what we're talking about.
I know that there's a lot of work on going on hate crime legislation.
There was a call, I think, the year before the last, for consultation.
So major stakeholders got involved in that.
The Minister for Justice, Helen McInty,
has developed a draft hatecrime legislation.
That's great, and that will address a number of things.
However, you cannot legislate your way into a person's heart.
This is where education is key, where we need to give people
a reorientation and a better understanding of the society around the event.
CB: It's a really good point Yemi is making, Louise.
That these conversations aren't being had necessarily.
People are frightened to go there
and to call it out when they see it taking place on the street.
And for the victims or people who are feeling this and hearing this every day,
they feel they know where to go with this, but to get on with their lives.
Louise O'Reilly: Yes, I think that we do need to start having those.
And when it comes to uncomfortable conversations, we'll then let's have them.
That's a good point that you made, you know, racism -
we're not born racist.
People learn it right.
And if you can learn to be racist,
you can learn to be not just not be racist, we must be anti-racist.
We must be active.
So when we see it, we must call it out.
So if we see it on the street, we must call it out and challenge all forms.
So racism against people of colour,
against members of the travelling community.
There are words that we should not use, right?
There might be words that I used when I
was younger or you used when you were younger.
And maybe we could use the excuse that maybe 20, 30 years ago.
Yes, we didn't realise how offensive those words are.
Now we know how offensive some of the languages, and we need to not just
police ourselves, but we need to be active.
So when the racist jokes is said, we need to be the ones that say,
that is not funny and it's not funny for a whole range of reasons.
So, allyship is about more than just
saying, I am not a racist and I'm just going to put myself back in here.
It's about being proactive, being anti-racist and being vocal about it.
And that gives, in my experience,
that gives people a real confidence to be able to have the conversation.
If you lead the conversation, other people will join.
Because I have a great belief that people
do not want to discriminate, they do not want to be racist.
And if we need to go to meet people where they are, to help with language,
to help with a space to have those conversations, well, then let's do it.
But we have to talk about it and we have to be free to have discussions about it.
And we have to acknowledge that there
might be people who need to learn, so let's help them.
But let's do it.
Not just as saying I'm not a racist, tick that box.
Go away. It's about being anti-racist