The effects of racism

Racism of any kind is very hurtful and can make you feel sad and lonely, anxious or angry and can lead to more serious problems.

It can make you want to withdraw and avoid people or the places where it might happen - so you may play truant from school or pretend to be ill.

But this just leads to more problems as your educational performance begins to suffer, making you feel more anxious and depressed - so you might seek comfort in food, alcohol or drugs.

This causes more problems, and so on, in the end you may become aggressive or disruptive yourself and end up in trouble.

Racism, bullying or ignorance?

Sometimes it’s hard to tell the difference between racism, bullying and ignorance. But it can make a big difference to how you deal with it.

Out and out racism is any deliberate act or behavior that is intended to hurt others on a racial level.

But sometimes what looks like racism is straight bullying like any other, unpleasant but opportunistic, where a bully is trying to exploit a point of difference to provoke a reaction. This is no less painful but there is a better chance that it can be dealt with successfully in exactly the same way as any other kind of bullying.

And there are a lot more occasions when the hurt is unintentional, again the result of ignorance or lack of thought, and again no less painful. People who would never consider themselves to be racist somehow find it easy to make fun of someone else’s accent or to tell a joke that is racially stereotyped? After all it’s only a bit of fun!

Challenging racism

Dealing with ‘individual racism’ that has been learned from a very young age is difficult, eradicating it would require a big change at a societal level, so as another individual it is best to ignore and avoid it where you can.

However most racial bullying can be dealt with in much the same way as any other kind of bullying.

The most important thing is to get some help. Don’t try to deal with it on your own. Talk about it to your parents, other members of the family or someone else you trust, especially if they have experienced it too. Just sharing the problem and listening to what has happened to others will help. From there you can work out how to deal with the situation.

If the problem is at the name calling level, try to ignore it or avoid it wherever possible, and try not to react - reaction is the fuel of bullying. Confront it with a witty put down if you can, but not if there is any risk of the situation turning nasty.

Report it to your teacher if it happens to you or you see it happening to someone else. Teachers are trained to deal with racism and bullying.

Definitely don’t confront anyone if there is any risk that it might lead to something worse than name calling. If it is already more serious than name calling, especially if it involves violence, and your teacher cannot stop it, you should report it to the Police.

If you don’t want to talk to your teacher or the police, some local councils have set up third party reporting schemes so you can remain anonymous while the a council official takes up the matter for you.