Birmingham Post

ENDLESS HELL OF RACE HATE

-

As a child, our family car was firebombed, burnt out in a racist arson attack.

In years to follow, I experience numerous incidents of racism while representi­ng my country.

In 2007, travelling to Norway, dozing in the plane, I feel something strange.

I open my eyes and see the man beside me is licking my arm.

“I want to know what a black girl tastes like,” he says calmly. I don’t have the words to reply.

In Beijing, I stand for an hour ignored by every taxi. Finally, a kind white British man notices and explains that nobody will stop for me because of my skin colour.

He hails a taxi and one immediatel­y stops. He explains to the driver where I need to go.

I got used to being followed in supermarke­ts across the world, judged as a potential shoplifter due to my skin colour.

I had nobody to talk to at a leadership level in UK Athletics about racism.

The track was dominated by black British athletes, but the boardroom was filled with white men. We couldn’t see it, so we couldn’t be it.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom