Racism... the beginnings...

I'm writing this assuming that you know me, maybe I shouldn't be so presumptuous so I'll give myself a little introduction. I'm K, a 21 year old mixed race (hence the caramel) law student (hence the dreams... I DREAM BIG! QC BIG!) in London who has a passion for the media, the nightclub scene and would like to get into modelling a little more (a less important dream). I'm not religious nor am I usually politically inclined, I personally believe without these influences in your life it's much easier to think for yourself, develop your own opinions and then choose when you're mature enough. That is not to say I don't have the utmost respect for anybody who has a religion - it takes alot of strength to have faith, but this has been my personal experience... and I feel like it's led me the right way.

While I may not be politically inclined, I definitely appreciate certain political moments as much as the next person - I was overjoyed to see a mixed race president in the United States, we've come leaps and bounds in the past few decades - the only shame was the actual constant focus on race. Would he have won if he wasn't mixed race? We'll never know because it seemed to be the main issue. I don't even know what his policies were. I just know Obama is half Kenyan, Hilary Clinton was a woman running for the same post, John McCain is white and old and Sarah Palin's daughter got knocked up. Blame the media. But racism is one issue I feel very strongly about, having been subjected to many lovely forms of "jokey" racism over the years. FOR INSTANCE:

HALF BREED
MONGREL
NOT BLACK, NOT WHITE... MUST BE GREY
NIGGER
PAKI
ARAB

I imagine many of the people reading are probably laughing, don't worry I won't judge you for it... but when you truly get down to the nitty gritty of it, these are disgusting things to say to people whether they are anatomically correct or not. These remarks have come from a variety of individuals from a variety of places, most commonly white English people, but quite often from Black people. I don't imagine Barack has been referred to by black people as any of these names, as he has become such a pivotal figure in the advancement of racial equality in the USA, but by birthright... he is mixed race. Now picture someone using these words to describe Obama... it'd be disgusting, right? We are all equal, none of us chose our race... we don't deserve to be a running joke for it either.

Admittedly, I do realise the majority of the people that say these things really just need to either be locked up or sentenced to start high school again - but is it really appropriate to use these remarks as jokes with your friends? Personally I'm against it. And I'm hoping that people are slowly coming to realise that we're just enabling people, such as the BNP to alienate certain individuals from our community - the British community, which I class as inclusive of asylum seekers, refugees, black, Asian and white people. Racism in all its forms, is wrong.

Website of notable mention: LIVESTEEZ.COM