UK college apologises to ex-Nigerian student years after racist experience

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A prestigious British public school, Eton College, has apologised to an ex-student, Dillibe Onyeama, a Nigerian, for being subjected to racial discrimination while in the school.

This is happening at a time of global outrage against the killing in police custody of George Floyd in the US. Onyeama, now an accomplished writer, was the first Nigerian and first black student to graduate from the College. He obtained his school-leaving certificate in 1969.

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Eton was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as “Kynge’s College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore” to provide free education to 70 poor boys who would then go on to King’s College, Cambridge, which he founded  in 1441.

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Speaking on Black Lives Matters in an interview with the BBC, the Nigerian writer had shared how racial subjugation and subsequent banning from Eton College encouraged him to write a book about his experience at the school.

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The BBC thereafter contacted the headmaster, Eton College, Simon Henderson, for comments and he said he was “appalled” by the racism experienced by Mr Onyeama.

Eton College is reputable for educating some prominent members of the British society, including Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is the 20th British prime minister to have attended the school, as well as Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby.  Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry, former Duke of Sussex, also attended the prestigious college.

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However, Henderson said the school had made great strides in handling racial matters but acknowledged that there is “more to do.”

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“We have made significant strides since Onyeama was at Eton but – as millions of people around the world rightly raise their voices in protest against racial discrimination and inequality – we have to have the institutional and personal humility to acknowledge that we still have more to do,” the headmaster said.”

He promised to invite Mr Onyeama to apologise in person and “to make it clear that he will always be welcome at Eton.”

“We must all speak out and commit to doing better – permanently – and I am determined that we seize this moment as a catalyst for real and sustained change for the better,” the headmaster added.

But Mr Onyeama told BBC that the apology was not necessary and would not change his view of Eton, which on the whole, he said, was positive.

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The writer, who said he was taunted on a daily basis at Eton by fellow students, added that the apology “compels the recognition that prejudice on the grounds of colour or race dehumanises its victims in a way that ordinary forms of prejudice do not.”

 

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