Graduate, Jemima McKenzie, speaks to CONNECTED about what Black History Month means to her, the challenges she has faced and how she worked to overcome them at Reading.
Jemima, an ethics, value and philosophy graduate, now works as an Employment Advisor for Reed in Partnership – although she is currently subcontracted to the Department for Work and Pensions to help people who have been on Universal Credit for over six months get back into work through an employability programmed called Restart.
Jemima said: “I wish we didn’t need a Black History Month but we do, for so many reasons. It’s easy to get lost in the culture around you, so for me it’s important to spend time doing little things that I love to remind me of my culture.
“We also need to recognise that so many Black people have lost their lives and have been treated awfully throughout our past. We don’t want to go back to that – I do not want to worry about how other people perceive me or whether I’m going to be treated differently.
“For me, Black History Month is about achieving love and appreciation for all cultures.”
Being invisible
Jemima opens up about the difficulties and challenges she’s faced over the years, including during her time at Reading.
She said: “As a mixed-race bisexual woman from a working class background, I recognise that my challenges were different from my friends who were darker-skinned than myself.
“From my own experience, when I went out with a society or my friends I found that people would look through me like I wasn’t there. It’s a weird feeling when you’re the only person in a group who isn’t looked at, or isn’t acknowledged.
“Being treated like that made me feel like I didn’t want to be there. It felt like I was being pushed aside, like my opinions didn’t matter. Sometimes I would say something but would be spoken over. Then someone else would say the same thing and it would get acknowledged. That kind of treatment was the thing I struggled with the most to be honest.
“I don’t know for certain whether this treatment was down to the colour of my skin. But I do know that I wasn’t the only one who experienced it and I never noticed it happen when I was talking to other black students.
“I’m intersectional so I also had to deal with not just racist people, but homophobic people, as well as those who were both racist and homophobic.”
Accepting myself
Jemima shares that the University was really supportive of her during her journey of self-discovery and acceptance, and this propelled her to try and help others on their journeys.
She said: “Overall, my time studying at Reading was great – during my time here I learnt a lot about myself. I went on a journey of self-discovery, self-love and acceptance. Coming to terms with my identity was a big deal for me and the University played a large role in making that happen.
“No matter how hard it was at times, I’ll be forever grateful for my time at Reading. All the staff were positive and lovely to me and I made friends for life.
“I wanted to make this happen for everyone else as well. Through my philosophy studies and my own experiences, I realised I had a passion for diversity and inclusion. I cared a lot about helping people accept and love each other and to be able to exist peacefully without judgement.
“I saw that there were lots of other students who felt similar to myself – who felt that they didn’t belong, or had different experiences to their friends or counterparts. People felt there wasn’t enough space for their cultures.”
Making space for everyone
Jemima successfully ran to become the Reading Students’ Union Inclusion and Communities Officer for 2022-2023. In this role, Jemima focused on awareness-raising around the current issues at the time, with a focus on improving the sense of community and belonging amongst the students.
She said: “I spent a lot of the time looking at our societies and figuring out how we could make sure that everyone felt they deserved to be there and how to recognise when societies weren’t promoting an inclusive environment.”
“It was challenging because you can’t control everything and you can’t always be there for every situation. It was also about recognising the barriers and the challenges students and staff faced in standing up when they witnessed a problem – not everyone will always feel comfortable pulling people up. I’d say that active bystander training is perhaps the most important training for everyone in society to undertake.
“I had the pleasure of working with so many staff in the University who felt the same about these issues as myself, and who wanted to help and be better themselves. They were willing to put in the work to improve and change things.
“There are so many students at Reading who are passionate about making changes and sometimes people just need to be given a platform to use their voice. Having that platform to speak up is vital in the work towards achieving better diversity and inclusion. Being able to help provide that platform was my proudest achievement.”
Jemima shared that her time and experiences at Reading really helped her in her career. She said: “The journey I went on and the things I learnt during my time there as a student and as the Inclusion and Communities Officer – I wouldn’t have had that experience anywhere else.
“I left Reading knowing that despite my background, my sexuality and my skin colour, I was deserving of the opportunities to progress and have a successful career. I’ll never forget my time at Reading and it will always have a special place in my heart.”
Find out more about active bystander training, and discover the University of Reading’s programme of events to celebrate Black History Month.
