Black drag performer says they were racially abused by ‘students’ in Cambridge
Drag performer Guillotina says they were called slurs by students. (@luanaburtonph/@velvetmag)
Drag performer Guillotina says they were called slurs by students. (@luanaburtonph/@velvetmag)
A Black drag queen has said they were racially abused by a group of young people they believe to be Cambridge University students.
Drag performer Guillotina said a group of student-age individuals allegedly called them a “n****r” in public.
The artist, who says they are the “only Black drag performer in Cambridge,” entered a McDonald’s in Cambridge City centre at 3am on Saturday (22 November) when one member of the group allegedly yelled the slur at them.
“He and his friends started laughing as they did this, all while deliberately avoiding eye contact and denying me the chance to confront them,” they wrote in an Instagram post.
“When I turned to my friend, who also heard it, we were both shellshocked. By the time I came to my senses, they had already run away.”
Guillotina said in a statement on Instagram that they tried to speak to a security guard outside the fast food chain, but no one assisted them. They have since filed a police report.
The alleged incident, which they said “only took a minute or two,” left them feeling “uncomfortable everywhere.”
“I didn’t realise I process emotions on a 3-5 working-day delay. When I last posted [to Instagram about the incident] I thought I’d feel fine, but now I feel like cr*p,” they said. “Like, total crap. I feel like I’ve been going through all five stages of grief multiple times a day.
“I’ve had to take a week off work because I can’t do anything without thinking it’s going to happen again.”
Guillotina said the alleged abuse wasn’t isolated and was indicative of a wider issue of racism in the UK and, in particular, Cambridge.
“Cambridge does f**king suck if you’re Black,” they said. “If I – a random Black person – can have n****r hurled at me so comfortably, so eloquently, so unchallenged by the whole gathering of students there, then no one in their right mind would want to live here.
“This wasn’t targeted. They didn’t know I was a drag performer. I’m not a student, and I wasn’t even in drag.”
Cambridge has a ‘problem with race,’ academics say
The University of Cambridge has regularly faced criticism for its response to instances of racism on and around the campus.
A 2020 report from End Everyday Racism (EER) heard of at least 117 incidents of racism on and around University grounds between 2018 and 2020. Over 52 per cent of those incidents took place inside college departments.
Last year, the University’s veterinary school had its accreditation downgraded after it was accused of failing to address racism and student welfare.
The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) said the course had failed to meet 50 out of 77 accreditation standards by overlooking racist incidents against marginalised groups, including Black and Asian students.
Micha Frazer-Carroll, an author and journalist, said in a column for the Guardian in 2018 that Cambridge University has a “problem with race” and “must admit it.”
“If we truly want to create university environments that are inclusive and productive, we must listen to the experiences of those whose voices are continously overlooked, and work to make our institutions accessible, in every sense of the word,” she wrote.
Responding to widespread criticism of its failure to address racism on campus, the University’s vice-chancellor, Stephen J Toope, said: “Our university should be free from racism, discrimination, prejudice and harassment. Achieving this objective requires an honest acknowledgement of the detrimental impact that racism can have on the entire collegiate community.”
PinkNews has contacted Cambridgeshire Police to confirm whether an investigation into the alleged incident is underway.
