Politics
Anna Vanaga
327Canterbury Politics student Tamanna Miah, 20, wants more people to recognise the damaging effects of such discrimination.
So Tamanna teamed up with Fixers – the national charity that supports young people aged 16-25 to tackle any issue that matters to them, however they choose – for help to achieve her goal.
A report about her campaign will feature on ITV News London on Thursday 5 June from 6pm and ITV News Meridian on 12th June.
Tamanna said: “When I was growing up, I was the only Asian kid in town. There was a group of girls who turned against me.
“I used to get physically abused, emotionally abused and they’d call me names. I felt alone and worthless. I used to ask myself, “Why am I the colour that I am?” and “Why am I not the same as everyone else?”’
With the help of Fixers, Tamanna and her team have made a film to show what it is like to be the target of racist bullying.
To watch Tamanna’s Fixer film please click: http://bit.ly/1ndsuS4
The message behind the film is that racial abuse does not always have to be physical to leave scars.
Tamanna said: “We are trying to say in our film that any kind of abuse, whether it’s physical or verbal, can be harmful, just as hitting someone can be harmful.
“It can affect you mentally and emotionally. It can really do a lot of damage.”
Steve Goodsell, Regional Manager for Show Racism the Red Card, supports Tamanna’s Fixers campaign.
Steve said: “There were over 80,000 incidents of racial bullying reported in schools between 2007 and 2011 and Childline reported a 69 per cent increase in racist bullying calls made to them – so it is a growing problem.”
(Tamanna is third from left!)
The Mayor of Sevenoaks, Councillor Simon Raikes, also supporting the campaign attended the film’s official launch event.
He said: “I think the film is very powerful. It gives you a visual demonstration of just how damaging mental cruelty and mental bullying can be.”
Tamanna hopes to use her film to target those who may be tempted to bully. She wants to show them the impact that their actions could have and hopefully make them think twice.
“I’d be happy if after seeing my film young people would look beyond someone’s skin colour and value them for who they really are,” she said
Fixers works with young people across the UK. Each Fixer is supported by the charity’s team of in-house creative professionals to produce a resource to get their chosen message across. Many young people choose to create a short film, website, poster campaign, information leaflet, or hold an event or flashmob.
Fixers has already supported more than 12,500 young people across the UK to have an authentic voice in their community.
Young people have campaigned on issues with Fixers as diverse as cyber-bullying, self-harm, suicide and the need for more random acts of kindness.
Fixers aims to work with over 70,000 young people aged 16 to 25 by 2020 to help them to take action and tackle the issues they feel strongly about.
