‘Children are not racially innocent… [They] attach value to skin colour; white at the top of the hierarchy and black at the bottom.’ No, this is not an extract from a racist screed — it is how teachers in Brighton are being taught to view their youngest pupils.
Brighton and Hove City Council is running workshops in racial awareness for teachers in the city’s schools. The hour-long ‘Racial Literacy 101’ course takes the prevalence of white supremacy in modern Britain as its starting point. It aims to equip teachers to differentiate between overt and ‘covert white supremacy’, through instruction in the history of the slave trade and discussion about the nature of racism in contemporary society. Participants are taught that examples of covert white supremacy include ‘denying the existence of white privilege’, ‘eurocentric curriculums’ and ‘saying “it is just a joke” when a person of colour becomes offended’.