Jamaican/Norwegian | Nigerian
I am mixed-race, straight and have recently become an atheist. My mother was born in the UK; however, her father was Jamaican and her mother Norwegian. My father was (I am told) Nigerian. I have also been told that I had an Indian great/grandmother and Ethiopian and Irish connections. My mother’s maiden name was Kelly which was born from the slave trade. I grew up in Kirkby, Knowsley which borders Liverpool. It was a very racist area. It was tough being raised there. I was under 2 years old sat in a pram outside a shop when a group of children approached me and covered me in their spit and shouted racist remarks. That was when I knew I was different. I have one long term friend left, her name is Heather. I was disfellowshipped from a religion and all my friends and my mother have disowned me and now actively shun me. Heather also left the religion partly due to the way I was treated by them. I do think there are bias attitudes towards mixed-race people, but maybe not as much as in times past. I feel it can be an unspoken bias and there appears to be a bias to the shade of skin colour, half cast, quarter cast, although these terms should never be used as they as offensive, a bias still exists. I was persecuted at school and had to physically fight most days due to the colour of my skin. I now work in a multicultural secondary school and I am able to identify with lots of students. I help and support EAL pupils, encouraging them to be proud and confident of who they are and where they originated from. If I had the opportunity to be born again I would want to be born exactly as I was. No changes. I love being who I am. My life experiences have moulded and shaped me into a person I am comfortable with and proud of. I hope in the future it will become even more diverse as people integrate and migrate. I hope that one day there will be just one race, the human race.
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