Being mixed is something I’ve always found really hard to describe in terms of experience. I’ve never once hated it, I do and always will love my mixed heritage. It’s a difficult group to be in in Devon because I don’t really fit in with the vast majority of my peers; regardless, throughout primary school and the start of secondary plenty of immigrant jokes/comments, Pakistani slurs and black stereotypes have been tossed towards me. In just year 6 I was teased for being a “monkey” and called the N word after a falling out, it resulted in having the police take my statement and see the messages, which I’m sure you could imagine was pretty frightening at 11 years old.. literal children throwing around the N word.
I’m not black nor white, I’m half Spanish half English, in no way shape or form can I imagine I have experienced the same as any black man or woman, but racism still effects me and I don’t wish it upon anyone.
This story is from a series of interviews by Kadeem Yarde, who spoke to people at a Black Lives Matter protest in North Devon. To see the original blog post use this URL: https://www.kadeemyarde.com/post/racism-in-north-devon