Haroun's story
My family and I are Pakistani and I’ve always grown up in very ‘white’ area of the country. When I was at primary school it didn’t really matter and no-one would comment on how I looked different, it wasn’t even really something I thought about myself.
When I got a bit older I started to hear things in the street about ‘coloured’ people coming to the area and although it really upset me, my parents were pretty protective and tried not to let it affect me.
When I got to secondary school is when the bullying really started. Kids would call me all sorts of names and would tease me about the colour of my skin. The teachers didn’t seem to notice or didn’t care.
It completely tore me apart. Even kids who said they were my friends would join in the bullying when it started. I just felt so alone. I wanted to be part of something so badly that I got involved in a gang.
I was really angry all of the time because of what had happened to me and the gang I was in was pretty violent. I got convicted of assault so I have a record, which I really regret.
In the end, two of my family who I was really close to got convicted of robbery and went to prison. That was a real turning point for me and I stopped to think about what I was doing and why I was so angry.
I got involved with a local young people’s magazine and for the first time I felt that I was doing something valuable and that I was good at it. I feel like I’m worth something now and that the way I reacted to racism was not the best way to cope with it.
There are so many other things that you can choose to do. I know I won’t go back on the bad road again. I’ve too much to do with my life.
