Caller says he's 'a walking contradiction' to government's 'white privilege' report
22 June 2021, 14:49
Working class caller: I am a walking contradiction
This caller told James O'Brien that his white privilege became clear when he left school with no GCSEs yet eventually secured a job at a top law firm in London.
The conversation comes as MPs have said phrases such as "white privilege" may have contributed towards a "systemic neglect" of white working-class pupils who need support.
Dominic in Surrey Quays began by telling James: "I am a walking contradiction to this report from the government, because I grew up in Hackney, white working-class, inner city, and I was doing quite well at school at that point.
"And then for reasons in the family, when I was halfway through secondary school I moved to a rural town in Yorkshire to live with my grandparents, and that was the point that I fell off.
"It wasn't a case of when I was in an inner city school mixing with people of different backgrounds, it was the point when I went to rural Britain that my education fell of a cliff and I was completely forgotten about."
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James replied: "This lays blame at Tony Blair's door, they shifted the emphasis into big cities, because I think the school's were doing particularly badly there, and they actually turned the problem upside down."
Dominic said: "I am the epitome of white privilege because I did terrible at school, I left with no GCSEs, I completely underperformed... but I was able to turn my life around, and now I work for a top law firm in the city, I'm studying my Masters, I'm doing so many things that I don't think would've been available to me if I didn't have certain privileges."
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"If I was being stopped and searched everyday, I then would've had a criminal record that wouldn't have allowed me to work at a law firm for example.
"I wouldn't have passed the checks."
