Growing up black in the UK has been an adventure, and i say this with a smile. Now guess if it's a smile of joy or a smile of disapproval?
Well, it's a smile mixed with various emotions (bitter sweet). Imagine walking towards a white man or lady and they cross the road to the other side because of the shade of your skin (being judged by colour) did come into good use sometimes as you get a space on the bus or train to yourself as people don't want to sit next to you (sweeeet).
As a child going to school i did not realise how different i was treated until i had a conversation with an old school friend (white male) who opened up about feeling intimidated by the black kids (not many) in the school, he confessed about attempting to get one of the kids excluded from school because he received a higher mark in their exams and thought only white kids were allowed to achieve high marks (i was laughing at this stage). Then he went on to say that he didn't like me because i was a better athlete even though i was i was mediocre.
Now this also made me think about all the times i had been the minority in a group of white people and how they felt about me eventhough i had no ill thoughts about them. Eventually it got physically as my Dad got physically attacked on his way from home from work for being BLACK. This made me look at my friends (good white friends) a bit differently and thought they were all the same, just after people with a different coloured skin shade.
I later came to the realisation that the more i drew away from my white friends, the more i started to notice the subtle racism which me feel self conscious about myself as a person and almost felt unworthy (sad i know). As time went on and the demographics changed, i came to realise that human beings are just afraid of things they do not understand.
This was made even more evident to me through the dialogue i had with my old school friend. This shorts post is about me growing up black in the uk, but it also holds a deep message in that we as human beings need to take time to peel back the layers and take the time to understand one another. The only way this can be done is by showing love were hate rears it's ugly head.
Remember, love conquers all face your enemies with love and love will follow you where ever you go.
I know this text may not flow, but this is me pouring out my personal experience in the rawest form.
Thank you for reading this.