Rita
They assume, because I’m mixed race, that there is no way – on God’s green earth – that I could ever have a posh accent.
Rita
is an emerging actor, as she puts it: ‘It’s funny because people don’t expect
me to be Jewish, because I’m mixed race, so I hear anti-Semitism much more than
someone who looks stereotypically Jewish would do.’
‘It also works in reverse (there is a lot of racism in our society), and because I am mixed race, I hear what people really think (people will often make an exception for me, when they discover I’m Jewish), because I’m different, I’m Jewish.’
‘We live in a very classist society and to be “better spoken” – whatever the hell that means – (means that) people make judgements of who I am and where I come from, (they) make judgements of me when I enter a room, and as soon as I speak, I see their whole demeanour change.
‘If I didn’t have a “posh” accent, I‘d never see the difference between racism and classism. Clearly (people) have these preconceptions about what someone’s skin colour is, and how that skin colour (might) dictate your accent and how you grew up. My skin colour stays the same when they hear my accent, but they change anyway. All of a sudden the racism is not important, it’s about class.’
‘It also works in reverse (there is a lot of racism in our society), and because I am mixed race, I hear what people really think (people will often make an exception for me, when they discover I’m Jewish), because I’m different, I’m Jewish.’
‘We live in a very classist society and to be “better spoken” – whatever the hell that means – (means that) people make judgements of who I am and where I come from, (they) make judgements of me when I enter a room, and as soon as I speak, I see their whole demeanour change.
‘If I didn’t have a “posh” accent, I‘d never see the difference between racism and classism. Clearly (people) have these preconceptions about what someone’s skin colour is, and how that skin colour (might) dictate your accent and how you grew up. My skin colour stays the same when they hear my accent, but they change anyway. All of a sudden the racism is not important, it’s about class.’
This project is part of the initiative ‘Stand Together and Go Virtual’, supported by the German Embassy London and the Goethe-Institut London.
