100 Voices #AllAgainstRacism: Mufutau Yusuf - "When I went to school in Dunshaughlin, we were the first Black kids there. There were a lot of people giving us cold shoulders"

Mufutau Yusuf
Dancer

When I came to Ireland from Nigeria, I was nine, and we were living between Trim and Kilmessan. It’s a very rural area. We were the first Black family there and it was a shock for the community. There were a lot of people giving us cold shoulders and not necessarily wanting to interact with us.

After a year or two, I felt like people got used to seeing us. They knew who we were, and that we weren’t dangerous and posed a threat. Some are still closed-minded, but generally people were okay.

When I went to school in Dunshaughlin, we were the first Black kids there. I don’t think kids have malicious racial intentions. But their parents might not be as open-minded and make remarks at home that the kids then think it’s okay for them to say when they come into school.

Things are much better compared to when I first came to Ireland, but there’s a long way to go. There’s still a lot of people who are overtly racist. And there’s a lot of behaviour that people might not think is racist, but which is.

We need to make it easy to talk about, so that we can say, “We want to fight this.” And then really address it. There needs to be things set up in the workplace, in social activities and in school so that kids are aware that this person looking different to me or coming from a different culture isn’t bad.

Teachers need to encourage kids to take the initiative and talk about their differences. When you have these conversations and make people aware of the emotional and psychological impacts of racism, real progress can be made.

Read Part 2 of 100 Voices: #AllAgainstRacism in Hot Press:

Special thanks to the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission for their support in this project.