KCL students start campaign craze WHO I AM

The ‘I,too,am’ campaign has been sweeping the nation raising awareness of racism at different universities.

Now two King’s first years have launched a similar photo oriented campaign, ‘Who I am’ in response to the ‘I, Too, am’ campaigns to highlight the positive side of cultural curiosity.

Surya Elango, studying history told The Tab: “We did initially ask the Kings Ethnic Minority Association, who launched the King’s ‘I, Too, am’, campaign, if they wanted to get involved but they declined. They felt that the campaign could be construed as an apologetic attempt to undermine the directives of the ITooAm, campaign, but this is something we actively dispute.”

Elango, although she ‘understood the importance of campaigns like ‘I,Too, Am’ raising the issue of micro aggressions on university campuses’, told The Tab “I understood the importance of “I, Too, Am”, I just felt that there were other ways of promoting cultural awareness, so that’s why we decided to go ahead with this project regardless.”

Sophie Neal, who studies English literature, agreed. She added: “Other campaigns seemed to gloss over the fact that diversity is something incredible that deserves to be celebrated and discuss.”

So they decided to go about her own way of promoting awareness, through the light hearted statements portraying the mixed backgrounds and cultures which melded together created their identities.

Surya went on to say: “As a first generation immigrant, born in India raised in North Lincolnshire…I have faced racism throughout my life at different levels. However I really only accepted my “Indian side” when my friends at school began to ask me questions about my culture. Now I am totally comfortable with who I am thanks to cultural curiosity – all I needed was someone to be interested and ask.”

The idea to use blackboards instead of whiteboards stemmed from the symbolic gesture of education over shock factor.

She said their aim was to “celebrate cultural diversity of all kinds, encourage cultural curiosity and educate people in a fun yet simple way.”

Sophie chimed in saying “most of all, we wanted people to realise just how extensive diversity in our society is and that this is something that ought to be celebrated!”

And having attracted Indo-Irish, Coptics, pirate auditioning Somalis, Pakistani-Italians, to just name a few, from King’s College London, University College London, Imperial College London, Greenwich University, Essex University and Birkbeck University,  to the cause, she has well and truly created a form of expression which many minorities across the country are keen get behind.

One participant, half Irish, half Indian Serena Gordon said ‘people who ask questions aren’t trying to offend you, at least that’s what I’ve gathered from my experience, they’re just curious and there is no need to make them feel bad about it unless it’s clearly with spite’. She expanded saying ‘each of us have a responsibility to make others feel comfortable enough to ask questions, otherwise we’re promoting ignorance’

Surya added that she herself has asked her English friends many cultural questions. “I’ve asked plenty of questions in return such as ‘What does a Sunday Dinner consist of? What’s the etiquette behind using a fork and knife?'”

Promoting understanding and a homogenous society through inquisitiveness, Surya and Sophie are planning to expand their campaign to celebrate both sexuality and disability, but continuing to avoid being attached to any particular institution.