Scottish/Jamaican | Cypriot/Danish
My parents had a lot against them in the beginning. My Mum's Dad was extremely strict and quite old fashioned. He didn't approve of my Mum and Dad's relationship so they had to have it in secret. It was essentially a 'my Dad or him' situation. She chose my Dad. As a result, her Father didn't speak to her for ten years. Zero contact. It's insane to think it about now because he is such a huge part of our lives. As the story goes, he showed up on Christmas when I was about two and acted like nothing had happened. Ever since then he has been amazing and I think he hugely regrets what he did, but the past is the past and it was a very different time then. If I loved someone I would be with them no matter what race or religion.
I think, unfortunately, the majority of racism is structural and severely ingrained within society. It's low-level things, too. Things you wouldn't think about or even notice. I think a lot of it is learned behaviours and stereotypes which I do feel like we are finally starting to change. This year has been huge in terms of moving forward and I think we all feel positive about the future.
I have always worked in the magazine industry and the majority of my colleagues have been White. It has gotten slightly better in the last few years, but when I first started out I don't remember meeting anyone who was mixed-race or Black. I don't know whether or not this is to do with racism or money. Breaking into the world of magazines is extremely tough. You have to intern and work for free, sometimes for years. Although, this is less a racial thing and more a privilege thing, I guess this deters people from going into these jobs because they can't afford to. Depressingly, the way that society is run does often mean that ethnic minorities are less likely to live in overly wealthy areas etc, so perhaps this is the reason why, rather than because of their race. I was very lucky in that I only had to work for free for a month at the start of my career. If it had been any longer, I wouldn't have been able to continue. Saying that, I was paid terribly for about four years.
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