Racial abuse must never be tolerated

I read about the story related to racism and racial behaviour in the Bath Chronicle (‘I was racially abused while trying to help others,’ February 14) and cannot express how angry and annoyed I am. Not because I am the 13-year-old son of the victim, who has done so much for his family and Bath community in the past 12 years, but because I wonder how a person in civilised society can even behave in this manner with anybody openly on the road. I have finished primary school in Bath and now studying at King Edward’s School in Year 8. Fortunately I have never been a subject of racism, bullying or racial behaviour but I have read about it in some local schools in Bath, which is utterly despicable. I am sure that the woman would not come out in the public and will be able to debate on the subject of ‘go back to your country’ but can she tell me which ‘country’ my father and hence I and my parents and my grandmother – who suffers from Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s – should return’? England is the only country which I consider my home and England is the only country which I represent in international junior chess tournaments. She might be older than I am but what contribution she has made for our beloved country? My father told me that in her reply she said she ‘does not do any work.’ Did she know how much my father encouraged me to be selected for the English junior chess squad, did she know how hard he worked and how happy he was when I won British Chess Championship (under ECF100 Grade) in Llandudno in the summer of 2017, which Bath Chronicle had also reported? Does she know how proud I feel to play for my country? Does she know how hard I and my father are working so that I could be selected to represent England in International Mathematics Olympiads? Does she know how hard my father has been working in the last 12 years? Almost every evening, after picking me up from the school and almost on every weekend, he is out on the streets on the doorsteps of the residents listening to their concerns and problems in our community. On many days, I do not find him at our dinner table because he is away meeting residents or gone for a meeting on inter-faith or religious harmony. The lady’s views are utterly disgusting and unacceptable to say the least. She does not understand the meaning of ‘live and let others also live in their own space.’ She does not understand the meaning of humanity, harmony, peace and community-comradeship. I must finish by saying that I am extremely proud of my father, who was one of the youngest lecturers and readers in India and has been serving the University of Bath and the community in an elegant and painstaking manner. I am also thankful to Bath Chronicle for making it a front page story and giving importance on Bath Live, where at the time of writing it has been shared more than 18,000 times on social media. I do not hate you dear anonymous lady but may God give you enough wisdom to understand that your views and racial attitude will be never accepted in our society. Yuvraj Kumar King Edward’s School, Bath