Eton Apologizes for Racist Treatment of One of Its First Black Students

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Eton Apologizes for Racist Treatment of One of Its First Black Students

The principal of Eton College, one of Britain’s most storied boys’ schools, which dates its founding to the 15th century, said on Tuesday that he was “appalled by the racism” that one of the school’s first black students experienced in the 1960s.

That reaction was far different from the one the student, Dillibe Onyeama, had initially received after a book he wrote detailing the racist treatment he endured at the school was published in 1972.

In an interview with the BBC published on Tuesday, Onyeama said that soon after the book came out, he was informed that he would no longer be allowed to visit Eton.

“As far as the school saw it, I was indicting them as a racist institution,” he told the broadcaster.

His book offered a vivid picture of the racist taunts he endured, including classmates attributing his bad grades to his race, accusing him of cheating and attacking his mother.

In his book, Onyeama recalled being asked, “Has your mother got a bone through her nose?”

The BBC interview spurred the school to issue the apology.

Simon Henderson, who has been the principal at Eton since 2015, said in a statement that his priority was for the college to be an “inclusive, compassionate and supportive community for all our pupils.”

Eton College, which is near Windsor, west of London, was founded by King Henry VI in 1440 and is well known for educating the elite in Britain — Princes William and Harry attended, as did many of Britain’s past prime ministers, including current Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, is another former student.

Henderson said that “significant strides” had been made since Onyeama was at Eton, “but — as millions of people around the world rightly raise their voices in protest against racial discrimination and inequality — we have to have the institutional and personal humility to acknowledge that we still have more to do.”

Black pupils currently account for six percent of the student body at Eton. Black, Asian, and minority ethnic pupils as a whole comprise a total of 19 percent.

Henderson said that he would like to meet Onyeama who, according to his Facebook profile, lives in Nigeria.

“I will be inviting Onyeama to meet so as to apologize to him in person, on behalf of the school, and to make clear that he will always be welcome at Eton,” Henderson said.

The New York Times



10 Dead as Landslide Hits Passing Cars on Indonesia's Java Island

Rescuers search for victims after a rain-triggered landslide hit passing cars on a road in Mojokerto, East Java, Indonesia, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo)
Rescuers search for victims after a rain-triggered landslide hit passing cars on a road in Mojokerto, East Java, Indonesia, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo)
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10 Dead as Landslide Hits Passing Cars on Indonesia's Java Island

Rescuers search for victims after a rain-triggered landslide hit passing cars on a road in Mojokerto, East Java, Indonesia, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo)
Rescuers search for victims after a rain-triggered landslide hit passing cars on a road in Mojokerto, East Java, Indonesia, Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo)

Indonesian rescuers recovered 10 bodies after a landslide struck vehicles on a hilly road on the country’s main island of Java, police said Friday.
Torrential rains pushed mud, rocks and trees down the mountainside road on Thursday, burying a van with seven people aboard and a pickup truck with three traders and full of vegetables near Watu Lumpang, a resort area in East Java’s Mojokerto district, said local police chief Andi Yudha Pranata.
According to The Associated Press, Pranata said rescuers pulled out the body of the van’s driver late Thursday and his six family members, including three children, wife and parents, were retrieved on Friday, together with the bodies of the three traders.
Footage released by East Java’s Search and Rescue Agency showed the road covered by thick mud, rocks and uprooted trees.
Seasonal rains from about October to April frequently cause flooding and landslides in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of 17,000 islands where millions of people live in mountainous areas or near fertile flood plains.