Mo Weekly #22

Are white marker boards are discriminatory ?

The transition from black/green chalk boards was celebrated progress; less chalk; easier clean-up and an all-round neater outlook.

Those were my thoughts until I spoke to X earlier this week. X is what I would describe as a freethinker because she curses profusely and hates ‘the man’.

She described the shift from black/green chalk boards to white marker boards as an attempt to shift the focus from ‘coloured’ to ‘Caucasian’. That the narrative had to be removed from white chalks toiling on coloured backgrounds to coloured markers toiling on white fields.

WHY?

In the words of X: the change was motivated by the recognition that if you let a man have a little power he will thirst for more. When this happens, what do you do? You flip the script, shift the focus and change the board. And this is exactly what the man did.

The existence of white chalk boards in the first place is an oversight comparable to an accidental fart that one hopes goes unnoticed.