A black student claimed she was called a “monkey” at a private school in London. The alleged racist abuse took place at the Lycée Francis Charles de Gaulle school, which costs £17,000 a year and is run by the French government.
The victim, Gabrielle, claimed she was abused in an article published in the school newspaper. The sixth form student alleged that students shared racist jokes on WhatsApp groups. They included her being called a “monkey” and told “it is better to be dyslexic than black”.
As reported by the Telegraph, Gabrielle said: “Racism and xenophobia are widespread in all year. Reflecting on my personal experience, I realise that I have always evolved in a school environment where racism persists.”
She also claimed that white students asked black students whether they could get an “N-word pass”. They then used the racist term continuously.
Gabrielle said: “Monkey insults are also very common towards black children, and some boys go so far as to proclaim that they ‘don’t like black girls’. Many justify their comments by labelling them as humour.
“These revolting remarks have hurt me a lot over the past seven years. Growing up, I learnt to build a shield for myself and to despise those who derive pleasure from making these kinds of jokes. But this is not the case for many.”
Headteacher Catherine Bellus-Ferreira has acknowledged that there is a clear racism issue at the school, which was attended by actress Jacqueline Bisset, film director Roland Joffe and former Tory MP Dominic Grieve.
On Gabrielle, she said: “I thought she was courageous, I thought she deserved to publish this article. I decided not to censor her article because I thought, ‘there is an issue here’. Maybe someone has listened to her well.”
She added: “We are not perfect and we need to improve. It would be really dishonest to say it doesn’t exist.
“But it is also not honest to say that Lycée Français Charles de Gaulle is a racist school. What we can say is that this girl couldn’t find the good adult to speak to or she wasn’t well listened to. I can’t deny it.”