I’m just hopeful my generation will be able to maybe not fix things, but improve them
“I DO a lot of campaigning around race equality. What I would like to see in 2019 is a lot more research into the racial wage gap. There is not enough prominent research into what it is like for women of colour to be in the workplace and get paid so little compared to their white or male counterparts. I would also like to see some actual work being done in that area, in trying to make that equality, some sort of initiatives so there’s a whole Government drive towards that goal.
I went to the United States on an exchange set up in Jo Cox’s memory. It was inspiring. We visited so many different organisations. We went just after Trump was elected and they were talking about the amount of hate crime that was spiked then in the US. The organisations there felt like they were getting pushed back, but they were still pushing forward. They were saying no matter what happens, keep pushing forward because eventually you will make change.
What drives me is when I was a kid, I experienced a lot of racial bullying. I used to get so upset about it, but when I was older and in high school before I left, I talked to the kid and I asked him why and he didn’t have a proper reason.
From then I realised a lot of it is done out of ignorance, so from then on I tried to prevent people being as ignorant, and make them come to terms with the damage they can do when they’re being racist or homophobic.
I’m studying international politics at Stirling University. A large part of me is really nervous to go into the jobs market. But again, I’m hopeful. I’m just hopeful that everything will work out and my generation will be able to maybe not fix things, but improve them.
I want to see more consideration for what individuals experience on a day-to-day basis when they’re of colour. Because some days it’s fine, but other days you can be walking down the street and you get spat at or given dirty looks or something. Those things are not severe enough for people to say it’s a hate crime. It’s just a day-to-day stigma around people of colour that I want us to get rid of. I know it won’t happen overnight. It probably won’t happen in the next 10 years but I’m hopeful.”