Do you see my colour???Surrounded by Privilege:

Do you see my Race? I’ve been aware of my colour since I was a child and was called “blackie” while being chased around, despite not being black, the kids knew I did not look like them, so my brown skin was called black. Having many of these experiences of being “othered” and not seeing anyone that remotely looked like me in the media was quite discomforting. In the education sphere my luck wasn't any better. Teachers didn't look like me and the curriculum was Eurocentric. When given a new assignment I would eagerly look for the option of “your own choice” and I would add diversity to our assignment.

Despite being aware of my colour, for the most part throughout high school all my friends were white. My good friends are Croatian, Irish and Maltese, it never fazed me during high School, however, now during the horrific death of George Floyd this color issue is getting under my skin. The world seems to suddenly be very aware of” Black Lives Mattering” and so Instagram is full of people showing their support. As I've been going through the people I follow on Instagram I noticed one friend that never posted anything in regards to race.Now in her defense I guess she could say that she was being apolitical, which is the polar opposite of my core belief as I believe everything is political- the “Personal is Political”. I began to reflect recently (that maybe I have made some of my friends so comfortable that they never saw my race. Was I being irresponsible by not making known that I was a Racialized person,and making my friends aware of how isolating it feels being the only girl of colour in the group. I never brought up my issues of racism or frustrations with the curriculum. I think why I’m frustrated is because I don’t see racism as being a political issue but a human rights issue. Do my friends realize that even in the act of not choosing to post something in support of anti-racism, that they are reflecting White privilege.