Shushma

This week has been a sad but thought-provoking week due to the murder of Sarah Everard, which gave way to a taboo subject. I always think though why something like this has to happen for people to talk about it and will it just be everyone jumping on the bandwagon, sharing the same image/ phrases until it’s forgotten. I say this as the Me-Too Movement is hardly talked about now and the cover up of the BBC paedophiles in powerful places and establishments attempts to cover up their actions. Change can only come about if we, individually, as well as collectively, challenge or make a change in our own actions, challenging friends or change our language in how we perceive a woman based on their clothes. Sarah Everard was NOT in the wrong place at the wrong time. This takes away the wrongdoing of the culprit. All she was doing was getting exercise in while walking home. Does this mean she shouldn’t have walked home because SHE is a WOMAN? I’ve r

Lately the whole world seems to have woken up to racism, yet for me, it has been there ever since I leant what it meant. Why? I guess because I am not obviously ‘English’ due to the colour of my skin. My concerns regarding the demostrations at the moment, is that for many (English people) it’s was let’s jump on the bandwagon. Change can only happen if it is continuous, not a one-day fad. We don’t call Asians brown or English people white when describing someone, so I have always wondered why we say black people and they are not even black. When I was in primary school, there were only three Asian children in my class including me. I remember being called a ‘Paki’ and being told to “go back to your own country” so many times. The first time I heard it, I went home and asked my mum what Paki meant. She said let’s look it up in the dictionary. So, we did, and the definition says, ‘not white.’ I told my mum that is true as I am not white. From that day on, and even today, if someone we