I think harassment is just a fact of life for many black people and Asian people. It's just like, something you have to learn to deal with. Almost everyone I know has some experience of being insulted or called names. Sometimes it happens at school, sometimes it's just in the street, or when we're out shopping.

My parents say it happens at work sometimes. I mean, I know sometimes one of my best friends has used a racist word when we've had an argument or something, in the heat of the moment. I just let that go, because, you know, it's embarrassing to make a meal out of it - you just want to forget about it, but the thing is, you can't.

It's like it silences you, even if it wasn't meant to be really bad. If they knew how much it really hurts perhaps they wouldn't do it. Some kids use insulting words all the time for someone with another colour skin and they make a point of saying them in the street or in a bus, but it hurts most when your friends do it without thinking.