Manchester Students’ Union staff paint over Rudyard Kipling's 'If' in protest against ‘racist’ poet

'It is deeply inappropriate to promote the work of Kipling in our students' union'

Students' union executives decided to paint over Kipling’s words in a building at the University of Manchester (Twitter/@fatimabidSU)

Students’ union representatives have painted over a famous Rudyard Kipling poem at the University of Manchester in a protest against “racist” and “imperialistic” literature.

Kipling’s poem “If” was replaced by the students’ union executive team with “Still I Rise“, by black poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou, to better reflect the union’s values.

The union representatives decided to immediately remove Kipling’s words – which had been painted on a wall by a hired resident artist – from the students’ union building at the University of Manchester.

Sara Khan, liberation and access officer at the union, said students were not consulted on the decision to display Kipling’s poem – which concerns paternal advice to the speaker’s son.

They decided to take action when they saw the artwork, not because they disagree with the sentiment of “If” – which has a quote inscribed above the entrance of Wimbledon’s Centre Court – but out of opposition to Kipling’s other colonialist texts.

In a Facebook post, Ms Khan wrote: “We, as an exec team, believe that Kipling stands for the opposite of liberation, empowerment, and human rights – the things that we, as an SU [students’ union], stand for.

“Well-known as author of the racist poem “The White Man’s Burden”, and a plethora of other work that sought to [legitimise] the British Empire’s presence in India and dehumanise people of colour, it is deeply inappropriate to promote the work of Kipling in our SU.”

She added: “As a statement on the reclamation of history by those who have been oppressed by the likes of Kipling for so many centuries, and continue to be to this day, we replaced his words with those of the legendary Maya Angelou, a black female poet and civil rights activist.”

The development comes as students have been calling for more black and ethnic minority authors to be studied at university, in a movement to “decolonise” the curriculum.

Fatima Abid, general secretary of the students’ union, wrote on Twitter: “We removed an imperialist’s work from the walls of our union and replaced them with the words of Maya Angelou.

“God knows, black and brown voices have been written out of history enough, and it’s time we try to reverse that, at the very least in our union.”

A University of Manchester Students’ Union spokesperson said: "Student leadership is absolutely paramount in the development of The University of Manchester Students’ Union. Without it, we can’t uphold our principles of inclusivity, fairness and empowerment.

"We understand that we made a mistake in our approach to a recent piece of artwork by failing to garner student opinion at the start of a new project.

"We accept that the result was inappropriate and for that we apologise. We understand why our Exec Team took the action they deemed appropriate at the time to right a wrong inside their union."

They added: "It highlighted the need to adjust our processes and control mechanisms to guarantee that student voices are heard and considered properly so that every outcome is representative of our membership.

"We’re working closely with the Union’s Elected Officers to learn all we can from this situation and are looking forward to introducing powerful, relevant and meaningful art installations across the Students’ Union building over the coming months.

"The painting of Maya Angelou’s "Still I Rise" is a brilliant start to that initiative."