Life Bloggers Series: Racism and what it means to me

Hi, everyone; I’m going to talk about racism, what I have experienced and what racism means to me.

What Is Racism?

Racism is discrimination or antagonism by an individual, community, or institution against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group. It can go both ways, and it shouldn’t be tolerated. It’s ridiculous that 95% of young black people have heard and witnessed the use of racist language at school. Whilst 45% of young black people felt that racism was the biggest barrier to attaining success in school, and it’s stupid that the biggest barrier is that 50% said that the biggest barrier was teacher perceptions of them, e.g. being seen as “too aggressive”. Racism is basically everywhere now, and it seriously needs to stop.

How Racism Has Affected Me.

I myself have been called a monkey over 3 times, the n-word multiple times I’ve been told to “not wear eyeliner because I’m already black enough”, I’ve been mixed up with another black girl multiple times and I look nothing like her and I’ve been told that my hair looks like a rats nest and I should cut it all off. I think all of those comments really broke me when I got home because I did nothing to deserve it. I told my foster parents, and they told me to tell the school. I did, and I’m still waiting for the school to do something. Now, I’m mainly just ignoring the bad comments, but I think that racism both ways should never be tolerated in schools.

What NOT to do if you’re experiencing racism:

Don’t fight them it will just make you get into trouble.
NEVER retaliate it will make them say something else.
Don’t bully them, it will make you look like the worse person.

What TO do if you’re experiencing racism:

Tell a trusted adult and the school (if it happened in school).
If the school didn’t do anything, remind them and tell your trusted adult.

My overall opinion about racism:

I think racism should not be tolerated in any form. If you see, hear, or are experiencing racism at the moment, tell a trusted adult immediately.

Thank you for listening to this blog about racism.

Byeee.

Blog by Fifi

This blog has been created as part of a series of ‘Life Blogs’ by care-experienced young people, following the 2024 London sessions with The Royal Literary Fund and VoiceBox