Racism comes in all shapes and sizes

I grew up on a  very large council estate in Essex and it was pretty rough when we lived there, not only that but when we moved there in 1973, as it was anew estate we were actually on the edge, as the estate got bigger, we then found, ourselves dead in the middle.  It had its fun moments, such as dad taking us all over the field to play football, cricket etc and I played out constantly . There was just one major problem, because my dad was German, we also stuck out like a sore thumb in many respects, he used to tell the kids off for playing football outside our house, the constant thumping against the wall did his head in, unfortunately I in particular got he raw end of the deal,  I was continuously targeted with German inuendos and verbal abuse, relating to my German heritage, as a young girl, it felt like everybody hated me on that estate for having a German father. We didn't live in a time of tolerance or where there were consequences of such abuse and  had to learn to put up with it. This carried on for a few years and I think it really damaged my self esteem! I was always afraid that my dad would hear the verbal abuse! I could just about take it, but I didn't want any of my family or brothers and sisters to hear it. Nowadays, such verbal abuse would not be tolerated I'm sure and thank god we live in a multi cultural society where people are generally accepted for their cultures and race. In the 1950s Irish immigrants were victims of discrimination,  and my Grandfather was from Dublin and my Nan's family from Limerick! The damage that racism does to our society runs deep, bUt it is nothing but pure ignorance and I'm afraid a lack of intelligence.