Hello hi,
I woke up to multiple tags, mentions etc. on Instagram
and at first, I was wondering what had happened, then I realised that the
buzz was about a video I had posted some days ago on Instagram. The video (here - https://www.instagram.com/p/BeXD00Bgj7A/?r=wa1) showed me sitting next to an empty seat in the train while many were standing
and I wrote briefly about one of my many encounters, which I will elaborate on
here. Well, Instablog9ja posted it, thanks guys! You’ve given me some seconds
of fame J
LOL. On a serious note, I am glad that it was re-posted as it’s given me a
platform to create awareness on this issue.
Picture of my umbrella comfortable sitting during a train ride :)
So, I read some of the comments – I could not read all
of them as they were too many but the ones I read were enough to give me an
idea of how to respond. Before I continue, I have to say that I was impressed
with how passionately people commented on these posts, whether positive or
negative. It shows how invested and observant people are in certain matters and
secondly, it shows how sensitive the topic is.
In the beginning, it took me a while to notice that I almost always sat alone in the bus or
train. Somehow, my bag always had a seat of its own and I honestly did not mind
because my bag is usually heavy. I just assumed that if people wanted to sit
next to me, they would ask me to remove my bag, which had happened on very few
occasions. However, one day after a period of time, I started to feel like it
was possible that majority of the people here were too nice to ask and so I
tried to stop keeping my bag on the other seat. Guess what? My other seat still
remained empty! And so I went back to keeping my bag on the seats. At that
time, I still had not associated this pattern to my background or ethnicity; as
a matter of fact, I barely gave it any thought. I have to admit I was
comfortable sitting by myself, either reading a novel or listening to music
during transportation and did not care less until one day, an African friend of
mine was in the bus with me. As usual, my bag sat and he questioned why. I
responded casually “because nobody would sit there anyway”. He laughed and said
that I was correct. I was surprised at how quickly he agreed with me and later
on, he explained that he had noticed that many people did not like to sit next
to black people in the city and so his seat was usually empty or the last to be
sat on. I was shocked to hear that and honestly, that was the first time that the
thought of any association of this seating pattern with my background crossed
my mind. I shrugged like I did not care and responded “that’s fine then, my bag
can continue to sit” and tried not to give the matter anymore thought.
Fast forward to some months later, I was visiting a couple
of friends in Sweden and we all got on the train together. We sat at some empty
4-seater area, i.e., those areas that have 2 seats on each side opposite each
other. By the next stop, some other passengers had come on the train and one of
them did not have any seat. So I began making gestures to show her that we had
an empty seat but my friend told me not to bother myself, that people did not
like to sit next to black people and I responded “In Sweden too?!” And that was
how we began to talk about our observations. As usual, I tried to explore other
options - maybe the passenger did not feel comfortable sitting in the midst of
3 people that she did not know, especially if they all appeared to be friends
but my friend shook her head; she said she had also noticed it when she sat by
herself and repeated exactly the same thing that my other African friend had
said - about the next seat to her being the last to be sat on.
Although I had heard similar views from 2 Africans and
a few more people after then, I remained unconvinced. The researcher in me
needed to do her own research to make valid conclusions and so from that day, I
began conducting personal experiments. I tried to make difference excuses –
perhaps it was the seat that I sat on, maybe the seats were reserved for the
elderly or maybe they were faced in the opposite direction of travel and so people
would not want to sit on them; perhaps, people preferred window seats; perhaps,
I did not look very friendly; perhaps, it was the way I carried my bag, maybe
it looked too bulky and a passenger would think that it would hit them; perhaps
it was the manner with which I sat, maybe I spread my legs too widely and so I
was taking some space of the other seats; perhaps the music sound from my
earphone was too loud; perhaps I made loud phone calls inside the bus etc., you
name it, I thought it. I tried to test out my different “research hypotheses”
by changing seating positions, squeezing myself to create more space, trying to
relax my face to look more friendly (at the risk of even looking weird, lol),
holding my bag in different positions such that my arm hurt sometimes, not
making calls in the bus (which I hardly ever did anyway), and in general making
changes that I thought would be suitable to invite another passenger. After many
different adaptations, I came to the realisation that indeed the seat next to
me usually remained empty or would be the last to be filled, at least 90% of
the time! Although, I agree that that there are some exceptions e.g. some
people naturally prefer to stand on the bus or do not bother to sit if they are
going to get off soon, or that some seats are reserved for the elderly or
disabled (however, you can sit in those areas until an elderly gets on the bus
or train and that’s when you are required to stand), I had seen enough to make
my own research conclusions. I finally accepted what some of my friends had
earlier pointed out – that the reason why people did not frequently sit next to
me in transit was most likely because
I was African or black.
Now, is this racism? I am not an expert on this topic;
therefore, I did not label it as such (if you read my Instagram post). However,
I definitely think that there’s some form of systematic bias, whether conscious
or not, and I am even more convinced of it now, based on the responses that I
got from people after I posted that video on my Instagram page a couple of days
ago. A lot of people attested to it and one of my friends pointed out that even
when people eventually sat next to you, they would only sit with half bum-bum (buttocks),
i.e., they tried not to let their bodies touch you. Don’t get me wrong, I am
not saying that strangers should fall on your shoulders when they sit next to
you; of course there should be a respectable space as much as possible,
however, it’s quite obvious when someone sits next to you with an attitude
depicting that they would rather not have. I had told myself not be concerned
about such issues and I have been doing a great job at it such that I barely
notice this behaviour as much as before. So why did I make that video? Because it
was perfect timing, I was bored on the train, it happened and I like to make
random videos. And why did I post that video? Initially, I was not going to but
coincidentally, I was having a conversation with a friend of mine that evening
and she was telling me about an awful experience that she had just had, which
she thought was based on bias and discrimination. Hers was of a much more
important issue, it’s personal so I cannot write about it. However, our
discussion made me feel like it is important to shed light on issues relating
to potential bias, as often times, people are not even aware that they are
victims or the causes. Therefore, I posted the video.
So I hope this post addresses some of the comments on
my Instagram or on Instablog9ja. I can understand that some people living in the
same country but in other cities might not have the same experiences. I guess
if you live in a city densely populated with Africans, then people would be
forced to sit down next to you because they cannot afford to stand throughout
their journeys, all the time; that is not the case for me as I am usually the
only black person on the bus or train in my city unless I am with a fellow African
friend. It is also possible that people in such diverse cities are more exposed
and so tend to show less attitude of bias. Whatever, the case might be, I’d say
make sure you don’t let people’s attitude towards you make you feel less of
yourself.
Having written all these, I’d love to wish everyone a
happy weekend and please feel free to check out my blog stories here on my blog
and on Bella Naija (my last post on Bella Naija can be found here). Until next time,
continue to spread love. xx
Please follow me on Instagram @Ugochiukah and twitter
@vivio_gogo
