“I moved here (Liverpool) when I was 8, I'm originally from Kenya. My dad had a good job in Liverpool. I lived in Wavertree, along Lawrence Road, and this experience always sticks to me whenever I think about racism. When I was at school and I used to eat food that wasn’t Halal, the dinner ladies used to frown at me. I shouldn't be getting told at the age of 8 that I shouldn't eat certain foods because they’re not Halal. They couldn't imagine a black person being Christian. This was also coming from the likes of teachers; this was not coming from children. This was a big turning point for me, coming from Kenya. I never understood racism at that point; my mum didn't have the heart to tell me that people would be different or mock you for your skin colour. I come from Africa and everyone is of the same skin colour, so in that sense we are equals, but here (Liverpool) it's different.
“It got to a point where it became quite intense and I didn't know what to do any more. I think after some time one of the teachers said to me ‘why are you eating this, aren't you Muslim? Are you a Christian?’ I was like ‘Yeah! I'm Christian, I promise I'm Christian, I go to church’. The Teacher was baffled, saying ‘this doesn't make sense’ – I explained that she could speak to my parents. They even placed my two sisters into Arabic classes at this point.
“There was a lot of racism at the time. Even in the playground, the white kids would say about my skin, ‘Euww! that's the colour of poo, you need to be flushed down the toilet’. We were taught something completely different in Kenya and coming to Liverpool was some of my first experiences with racism.
“Black Lives Matter is not a trend. Black Lives Matter because we're singled out as a race, even from other ethnic backgrounds. It seems that they like our culture, but they don't like us.”
Serena Muhanji, 22
