By Arin Lad (Year 7)

During lockdown I was going through some old photographs of me and my friend Riley in Australia. We were in a new country and I was starting a kindergarten, which was a part of a bigger school.

We played a lot together in class, but I was always afraid of his mother, I didn’t know why? When I questioned my mum about this recently, she was quite honest with me and said that on the second week of school my mum was taking me to kindergarten, as was Riley’s mum and he said hello to me. His mum quickly grabbed his hand and said why are you talking to that boy? He apparently replied because he’s my friend. His mum said you are not play with him. My mum overheard the whole conversation and was shocked.

We played together in school, but he would never come over for playdates. I was too young to understand what this was.

I realise now the only reason why he wasn’t allowed to play with me was because of the colour of my skin. I was the only person of colour in the whole school. I never knew that. But even at that age, I started asking questions why I looked different to other children.

We are not born racist we are made to be racist. I think that’s really sad. I don’t keep in touch with Riley.

This is my work that shows what I think of this subject - I feel very strongly about this and I hope this shows through my simple yet powerful poster.

How can we have an anti-racist world? 

By Vikram Navin Chandra (Year 5)

As I read and watch about the protests all over the world, about ‘Black Lives Matter’, I feel ashamed that an innocent person had to die for people to start taking notice. I’m sure that many people were upset about racism, but I feel like this should have happened a long time ago.

Racism can span from what people might call ‘small’ things, for example, only allowing certain people to join a group, or it can result in hatred, like how the Nazis hated Jewish people. However big or small, this should be trampled out. Unfortunately, many people who want to end racism, have leaders who are racist. Boris Johnson compared the way Africans smiled, to watermelons, and he compared Muslim women in burqas, to letterboxes. He claimed his words were taken out of context, without even a hint of apology. Referring back to being unable to say that you were wrong, this is another example of that. Despite having many people protesting peacefully, many leaders are racist themselves, and they ignore that. I also think that protesters that protest violently are in the wrong as well as the people who are racist. On Monday 22nd June 2020, Mr Calvey showed us a clip from the movie, Cry Freedom, and we saw, Steven Biko played by Denzil Washington, argue so well with just words. Violence solves nothing, it just causes more arguments, look at Nelson Mandela, he was one of the main people who achieved freedom for South Africa, and he just used peaceful protests. Assaulting random people who are in a police uniform, people who could also be anti-racist, is wrong.

These protests also remind me about the British Empire. Why is the British Empire not on the Primary School curriculum? Why have we not been taught about it from an early age, so we knew how bad it was? What is so bad about admitting you were wrong? German children are taught from an early age about the Nazis and how bad they were. This is because they don’t want the same mistakes to be repeated again. We need to look at the past and learn from the mistakes, so then we can all have a better future.

Vedekia Mehta (Year 3) - I'm hoping to get the sign in details for this video.

By Mr Keith Ford

Changing through friendship

Sylvester and I became friends back in 2007. He a black man from Oklahoma. Me a white man from Mississippi. Even after all these years, Sylvester marvels at our pairing. In his mind for so long, he wondered, ‘Could anything good come from Mississippi?’

For those who don’t know much about American history, Mississippi is more than just a place. In the minds of so many, it represents the worst of racism: the Ku Klux Klan, burning crosses, black inequality, the gross poverty of the delta region, and the epicentre of the American Confederacy. Even today when I visit, I am embarrassed to see Confederate flags on vehicles and Confederate Monuments in town centres. In 1861, America came to blows with itself. The southern states started seceding from the Union, proclaiming: ‘We shall have our own confederate union, where we can carry on with the righteous practice of slavery without interference!’ We learned about these wrongs, and even though the schools and the church I attended were integrated, you could still see racism going on.

Sylvester and I struck up a quick friendship based on our art – he a photographer and me a musician – and our common faith. When he tells a story, it is often accompanied with giggles, and it is never long before we crack up with laughter and glee. Our friendship carried on even though we lived quite a distance from each other, and for a period of time he became a mentor to me in my work as a high school teacher. He too had taught in a high school, working with young people in Luton for over 20 years and getting on their side and trying to understand them. Many of them had been excluded. During those years we would have long conversations, and I would have my notebook out fastidiously taking notes. ‘Keith, when fights would break out in my classroom, as they would regularly do, our classroom policy was: Bless, and do not curse. If so-and-so hurled insults at so-and-so about his Mum, the offender had to stand up and say 3 nice things about their Mum. Not in a sarcastic way, but to speak genuinely and truthfully.’

Just over 10 years ago, Sylvester moved back to America with his wife Janet (who’s English). He joked recently that he could write another book about his return there, and call it ‘Black Again’. He had hoped that attitudes would have changed, but there have been instances where he still gets shut out because of the colour of his skin.

As a young American, I learned about racism. Today I can read about it in the news. But with Sylvester, it’s up close. From the beginning he has been open with me about the pain he has experienced and continues to experience. He knows I am interested and trying to understand him, close friend to close friend, and what is remarkable to me is that he hasn’t become bitter in spite of some very hard circumstances. On the contrary, he has learned to forgive and reach out to people that may well snub him because of his skin colour. There have been moments after many conversations when I have seen more clearly the deeply embedded prejudices I unwittingly harbour. Sylvester has been safely navigated through darkness with his joy and sense of humour intact, and this fellow soul searcher continues to guide me. There is more uncovering to do and more frank conversations to be had.

By Vikram Navin Chandra (Year 5)

'Where are you from?"

Thank you for illustrating this 'micro aggression' Vikram as this is a very common experience. I have frequently been asked this question and when I answer 'Darlington' I know this isn't what the person is really asking me. Ms Melanie Gentles.