When Maya* started a new teaching job, she did not expect to be called the n-word as she walked down the corridor.
The bullying from her fellow teachers proved relentless. She was called a “curry lover” and believes she was hidden from meeting parents at one point due to her skin colour.
It was not just racism she faced there but also sexism. Male colleagues told her she would have to “bend over a desk to get a promotion” and had “blowjob lips”. Incidents like these happened “almost every day”, she says.
Eventually forced to leave her job, Maya signed a Non Disclosure Agreement (NDA) making her unable to speak about the abuse she suffered. As part of the conditions of her exit, she also received a significant payout, which she describes as “money to keep quiet”.
The UK was not open and tolerant in the 70s, which is why there was one race riot after another on the 80s.
The UK has definitely gotten worse in the last few years or so, possibly a decade, but before that was a golden period just after terrorism-related Islamophobia had died down and before refugee-related Islamophobia kicked in where the UK was probably the best it ever was on terms of racial attitudes.
Yeah, speaking as someone who grew up in the UK and had South Asian friends, the 80s (and 90s) were bad for racial intolerance and discrimination against minorities. I saw it a lot, along with the same shit directed towards black people. It was definitely a tangible part of the post-colonial culture. It’s still a problem, but it’s nowhere near as bad as it used to be.