RACIALLY ABUSED

In 1937, Hitler ordered the sterilisation of 400 mixed race children who were born to German women and French Senegalese soldiers. They were called ‘Rhineland Bastards’. “We should look forward to a generation that has not suffered the degeneration of our times”, he had said.

While we have come a long way since the Nazi days, not all of us have moved at the same pace. BNP leader Nick Griffin once called ‘miscegenation’ or mixed-breeding unnatural and destructive. He said we must preserve the white race. Where does one draw the line?How much is too much?

Here, editor of Intermix, Sharron Hall shares her experiences of her roles as a mixed race child and parent.

“When I started Intermix, people told me that I was watering down the race and that I should just accept it that I am black”

“You have to separate black from mixed race because you have to show that they are different influences and different life chances. When I was young my parents moved to Cheshire, which is a very white neighbourhood. I regularly got called all sorts of names. When you’re young, you know that people don’t like you, but you don’t know what it means."

"Then when I was about 12, we moved to Mosi, which was a predominantly black area, and I thought things would be different. And they were. Just not in the way I thought they would be."

"As far as they were concerned, I wasn’t brought up properly. My hair wasn’t combed right, I had ashy skin coz I dint know I had to cream it."

"Mixed race people are not represented in the curriculum or in any form of history. What tends to happen is that they are seen as black. And that is not fair. To be put into a category that you may not identify with."

"It is important that we talk about mixed race. Say ‘racially mixed’ or whatever you want, but say it. So people know that there others like them who lead perfectly normal lives rather than just always portraying a negative picture."

Chief officer, Dorset Race Equality Council, Adnan Chaudry speaks up against the BNP

"We encourage people to vote for anyone except the BNP."