SWNSAn 11-year-old boy has spoken out about the racism he has experienced in his primary school.
Ashley Davies joined a new school in September after his family moved to Cornwall. However, since he has been there, he says he has repeatedly been called the ‘n-word’, ‘slave’, and ‘black idiot’, among other hurtful comments.
Ashley is in the last year of primary education, and despite his parents meeting with the headteacher on numerous occasions, they have said they are at their wits’ end and don’t know how to stop the abuse for good.
SWNSThe 11-year-old said:
It makes me feel kind of sad because I am just trying to make friends. I’ve had loads of comments from people who don’t want me there.
When I wake up in the morning, it’s like a burden. But it shouldn’t be a chore really. It should just be going to school but every morning before going to school I feel nervous about what’s going to happen there.
After speaking to the headteacher about the abuse, Ashley’s parents Martin and Natalie were left even angrier, as they were told Ashley should think about how he reacts to the abuse himself.
SWNSMum Natalie said:
Since the day he started there, he’s had comment after comment. The school have said they talk to the other children but it keep happening again and again.
Ashley is very placid and he’s never been in trouble. But no matter how hard he tries, he’s been abused and targeted. It’s not a very nice thing – he’s 11 years old.
I am not saying all these kids are horrible racists but this is moulding my son now for how he is going to see the world. At the moment, he seems like nobody cares and everyone is going to see him as different.
I think the school are trying but they don’t know what to do.
Natalie, whose grandparents are from Jamaica, said she has also experienced racism since the family moved to Cornwall.
SWNSShe added:
It’s constant. I’ve been spat at in the street and I also get comments like: ‘You guys are alright because you work hard’.
I work as a carer and I was walking past a pub in Hayle a few weeks ago at about 9pm. I was going to care for someone’s grandmother and a group of men outside the pub shouted: ‘Look at the n***** nurse!’
Ashley’s parents say he is deeply upset by the comments made at school. His dad Martin said: ‘It’s just so unfair on him. The school doesn’t seem to do anything. It’s just not acceptable.’
The headteacher at the school said they could not comment on matters involving individual pupils.
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Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.