I have never really experianced race discrimination untill my daughter was born. untill that point in my life I would have said that race issues were largely a thing of the past and that as a society we had mostly moved on.

Now I am not so sure.

Its difficult to continue to feel that way when you have to comfort your 4 year old daughter who has come back from nursery in bits because a child there told her 'you are black, why don't you just go home, back to where you belong' (she is half Persian half kiwi by 'race' but her home is the u.k!). Or when you spend 4 hours after flying half way around a planet trying to convince immigration that your daughter is actually your daughter and that you are not in fact child trafficking, simply because she looks different from you and has a different last name. It's very tempting to take off the rose coloured glasses when you are asked for the 100th time 'what relationship you have with the child that you have bought into the out patient department for her appointment today' (oh you mean because we look a little different, that would be her momma, and proud). and it is easy to feel cynical when your yet to be born baby has 'HIGH T.B RISK:immunise post partum!!!!!' stamped a thousand times in her medical records on the basis of her last name only. Yes it is easy to become cynical about all that. I choose instead to feel heart broken for the 5 year old boy at nursery who who upset my wee girl so much, that he has parents who have taught him to hate and not to love. I choise to be greatful that there are people out there working so hard to tackle child trafficking. I choose to educate the nurses and the doctors who assume I can not be related to my daughter simply because I am blonde and she is dark. I choose to feel greatful that my child received an expensive immunisation for free, one that she really absolutely didn't qualify for on the basis of her risk, but that may one day save her life. Like most things in life it's all about perspective. Race discrimination is still most certainly an issue in society, less than in the past certainly, but still an issue. It is how we choose to deal with that discrimination that is important.

my 2 pence for what it is worth.