'My race already takes up so much brain space, so it can be frustrating when someone challenges you or asks questions, even out of curiosity.'
Sitting on the assembly floor, I braced myself as the primary school teachers inevitably struggled to pronounce my surname.girls and boys – the Hannahs, Laurens, and Sams.
The principal, well versed in multicultural identity, sorted it after my father complained. But the part that sticks with me is being disciplined, of course.Worse, my hair was dark, puffy and– below my hips. Kids tugged at it, stuck pens in it and asked how it was washed, as if it was alien. I thought I could meet people I might identify with, and even learn about the colonisation of my family’s country.When I spoke to a history tutor about the white Eurocentric curriculum, he said I was just ‘being whiny and rigid’.
Similarly, in halls, my flatmate’s boyfriend mocked the Indian and Iranian music I discovered travelling and subsequently listened to, seeing no irony in the fact he was vocal on social media about colonialism. But it is still difficult to reconcile this with the white people who challenge my race, like the close friend at university who tilted their head and said ‘come on, but you are white really’.how uncomfortable I am in spaces with only white people. It’s not that this has changed, but I never used to acknowledge it.
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