(Image by Charlectoe Museums Association)

In line with the Ramblers commitment to being an anti-racist organisation we invited writers to share their experience and views relating to rural racism, to help broaden our understanding of this complex issue.  

 

Corrinne’s perspective 

My parents were ramblers. As a child I trudged over damp hills asking: ‘How many more miles?’ I grew to love it and even walked from John o’ Groats to Land’s End. Though born in Birmingham, no one made me feel I didn’t belong in the countryside. Most ramblers enjoy similarly uncomplicated relationships with nature.  

In adulthood I became an academic and read many studies about racism in rural settings. But before discussing the evidence, it’s worth addressing some standard responses whenever the topic of rural racism is raised. From scorn to aggression, these responses amount to confident collective denials that the problem exists. But what is all this certainty founded on?  

 

Others’ experiences of racism 

Racism was never directed at me in the countryside because I am white. I get a very different picture from friends and colleagues of African, Asian and Caribbean heritage. My student was called a w*g in a village pub. An African farmer I know was questioned by police three times for harvesting sweetcorn in his own fields. My colleague Viji Kuppan was met at a village pub door with a racial slur by a man brandishing a knife. All ten companions for my book of country walks through colonial Britain have experienced racism in the countryside.  

Viji blogged recently about interviewing two women of colour who live in the countryside. One had been spat at. The other received a violent threat. This blog was covered by The Telegraph, The Times and Daily Mail in articles that collectively attracted nearly 4,000 online comments. Overwhelmingly, these comments expressed disbelief.  

The Times removed many remarks because they ‘violated our policy’. But among the article’s top-rated reader comments were: ‘It’s simply not true. Utter fake news’, ‘Nothing to do with colour, country folk just aren’t given to greeting any stranger’ and ‘Pave over the countryside. It’s the only way to stop racism.’ Popular comments below the Telegraph article included: ‘This is just all made-up stuff’ and ‘Are the local woods racist?’  

A highly rated them-and-us style comment appeared below the Mail article: ‘Millions of us have grown up with our countryside… we have an understanding that there is beauty, peace and a lot to learn from nature. A few million haven’t, don’t see the appeal and don’t venture into it. Their choice, there are no [more] fences, restrictions or boundaries applied to them than there are to the rest of us.’  

 

Open-mindedness 

But which road of suspicion and disbelief ever led to insight? ‘The tender-minded’, Martin Luther King Jr wrote, ‘will reach a conclusion before they have examined the first fact; in short they pre-judge, hence they are prejudiced.’ Open-mindedness is a great virtue. I urge people to read the many rigorously researched reports that reveal racism in rural settings is commonplace.