Society believes that the plague of discrimination is not still affecting us, however, it remains to corrupt even the furthest parts of society. With problems such as racism and hate crimes still prevalent in society, you can hardly argue that this is a clear-cut, and non-discriminatory society. Many different racial groups and ethnic groups often find people being either racially insensitive or being made fun of primarily because of the complexion of their pigments. For example a few weeks ago my family and I went out to dinner. What at first was a lovely evening out, soon became one of the most uncomfortable meals I have experience…

Initially, the meal was going well, it was when we were waiting that it became apparent that a table diagonally across from mine, where two women approximately around their mid-twenties sat and proceeded to very vocally create a spectacle of my family. Due to the nature of this restaurant, my mother, and wheelchair-bound father were sitting in a different area, and my siblings and I were sat in a different area. My family are a very jolly bunch, and as a side effect we’re fairly loud, but these women decided that despite the surrounding environment was also loud, for example, two white gentlemen to the left of our table, were being just; if not louder. One key phrase I remember from the mouth of one of the ladies were “oh she’s leaving the crazy table”, this was a comment regarding when my mother had left me and my siblings, as she came to check in on us. When the server who was present, did nothing and made no attempt to stop these women, it caused my heart to sink; as a proud British Indian, it shouldn’t be that I should be ashamed for my skin colour, and for the fact that my family are a lively bunch. This caused discrimination to become a key thing to remain prevalent in my mind. So I decided to ask my friends whether or not they had faced racism or any form of racial treatment based on just skin colour. Overwhelmingly 54% of the 30 people I asked said that they have felt targeted. I later ask some if they’d be ok with sharing their stories, and here are some of the stories I was told.

One of my friends who is from Pakistan was called a terrorist and was told she should “go back to her own country”. This girl is barely 16, but she faced a preconceived idea that just from her skin tone she is automatically grouped as a miscreant. A different friend of mine who is about 23, told me a story from when she was around the age of 7, a little girl said they “couldn’t be friends because I’m brown”, surely this alone presents the scaring nature of racial discrimination, because even after 16 years, these memories still stay with her. Finally, someone I know was harassed so badly when she was in year 8, it made her parents force her to move schools. This boy was a few years older than her and was also black, and whenever he saw her he’d yelled “my n*****” at her, initially she thought he was joking, but after a month later it got more aggressive, it took talking to multiple teachers to sort the problem out. Earlier this week, despite it being 4 years later, she saw him again, and she felt the fear all over again, and her instant reaction was to run. Luckily no exchanges occurred, but this presents the deep scars of racism.

Even as I write this feels anger and frustration of the difference in racial treatment. The only things all of these stories had in common was the fact these were against people of colour, however racism still affects white people as well, for example out of the 16 who said yes to being treated racially inferior, 2 of them were white, so even if it is a small minority it still counts and is just as scarring. Society needs to realise that even though racial conditions aren't as bad as they were, it still is a problem which needs solving.