English | Indian/Sri Lankan
My Mother was born in Oxford. She was very much part of the Labour movement, Corporative & Trade Union movements. My Dad comes from a South Indian family. His Mum’s side is from Sri Lanka, or Ceylon as they would have called it. His Dad’s side is from the very bottom of India.
What I love about my parents in the upbringing they gave us was that they valued us as individuals with great capabilities. To also give us inner resilience and believe in ourselves. I’m very grateful to my parents for showing us who you are inside matters.
In my twenties and thirties, I reviewed how I analyse my identity, I was very influenced by the Nobel Prize winner Amartya Sen. He highlights that identity is multi-layered. My identity is very strongly influenced by the Labour movement. Also being a Trade Unionist and being part of the Labour party was often a bigger deal than my race and ethnicity. When people talk about your culture influencing your values, for me these were from politics and the religion in which I was brought up in. Feminism also played a big part, my Mother very much believed in gender equality, as did my Grandmother.
I have never felt discrimination in my party, but I know my earlier colleagues had. It is still a very white place. My constituency has a large population of mixed-race people. The Bristol Mayor Marvin Rees is also mixed-race. It showed the younger generation that you can be mixed-race and succeed in politics. My perception of being mixed-race has changed because the world has shifted, I have also been part of that shift. I am the first mixed-race MP in Bristol, it’s an incredible privilege. With that comes more awareness and more self-reflection of being British.
Most people who are in Parliament do not look like me, we can get ‘imposter syndrome’. The feeling that you don’t belong. There are those who went to Oxford or Cambridge, based on this they feel they are entitled to be here. Parliament was built and structured around white non-working-class men who will lead. A very narrow band of people, who never will walk in and at any point feel that they do not belong.
If I was reborn, I’d want to come back as me. I’m happy as who I am.