The best of us
LIKE every child, Lauryn Omeike made a wish as she blew out her candles. But on her seventh birthday she wished she was white.
It is heartbreaking to learn that was what a little girl in Scotland wanted just so she could fit in.
Lauryn revealed her experience as a mixed-race child with a black Nigerian dad and white Scots mum.
Now 19, she and twin sister Aleisha are drawing attention to the impact of the Black Lives Matter movement.
They want Scottish schools to teach more about Britain’s colonial past. They encourage greater discussion about the history Scotland is built on.
Lauryn and Aleisha are a credit to their family – and their country – for speaking out.
SISTERS who grew up wishing they were white are urging more people to support the Black Lives Matter movement and help change racist attitudes.
Twins Aleisha and Lauryn Omeike told of the racism they endured as children and called for better education on the matter in Scottish schools.
The mixed-race 19-year-olds, whose dad Steve is black and from Nigeria and their mum Pamela, who is white and Scottish, revealed they wanted to be white so they didn’t have to be different while growing up in Craigneuk, Lanarkshire.
Lauryn said: “I blew out my seventh birthday candles and wished to be white so I wouldn’t have to face constant abuse and being attacked because of the colour of my skin,” Lauryn said.
“It was just so I wouldn’t be different any more.
“When we grew up there were no talks in school about how racism affects black and ethnic minority groups. There was nothing. Education in schools is so important.”
The sisters, both now students at St Andrews University, are urging people to challenge racism whenever it raises its ugly head.
Aleisha said: “We’ve grown up in
BY MICHAEL PRINGLE
Craigneuk where some people aren’t accepting of us. I remember the first time I was called a ‘P***’. I didn’t even know what it meant, but it’s when I look back on it now I realise what we put up with.
“For some people it’s habitual to use slurs like the ‘N’ word.”
The prejudices they encountered as children were also revealed in a social media post where Aleisha also admits wishing to be white.
She used the post to list links to a number of organisations that fight racism.
The sisters have had to endure remarks and jokes about white supremacy. One individual repeatedly passed their house shouting that their dad was Osama bin Laden.
Aleisha said: “Some of it you don’t think of as being racist at first but then you look back on it and think, ‘Maybe that was because of the colour of my skin’.
“We were often scared to get into confrontations at school. Before you knew it, skin colour was getting whipped out as the weapon to be used against you.
“It’s not just about the hurt, it’s about feeding into that narrative that black people are bad or don’t deserve equality.
“We want to get the message out that this isn’t just a problem in America because someone died.”