keepin it Desi but also Valeyti ...

By: Fizza *Paki Punjaban*

** this iz pretti long, but if u can giv sum time to read this it wud b gr8, az i think this iz sumthing worth reading for most British Asians**

1st if all id like to mayk this clear that my story may seem not big at all compared to many other Asians living in UK, such az lyk all our luvli Uncli ji's and that who made our bases in this country buuuut my story iz sumthing very similar from a lot of Asian students in my position (in this generation), and who ever reads this, i'd luv to c that u realise that representing loud and proud iz a gr8 thing lol and sort of learn from my experiences.

I'm a GCSE student, i liv in North East London,

since things lyk 9/11 and the July bombings happened iv seen a very big change in mani peoples attitude towards me and other Asian or Muslim people, which has also changed me in quite a few ways, such az now i stick up for my background and roots muuuuch more than ever before eeven if i no that this could turn more people against me and create racist issues against me. the main thing i keep in mind now iz that i am British Muslim and British Asian, i need to represent this and help others who r struggeling with issues such az racism, being victimised, stereotyped and so on. just thinking that i shud "blend in" iz sumthing which i realli disagree with. eeven if we try to blend in most others r still gonna look at us as brown-skinned first, and then evry thing else after, iv seen this happening aaal over my life. 1 of the main things which has made me put my backgorund b4 evrything else iz the fact that i hav been living in a dominantli white area for nearli half of my life and iv seen that the main thing theez people r gonna point out about me iz that i am brown-skinned and whether i represent fully or try to blend in, im always gonna b seen the brown skinned / asian girl, so i find it much better to represent niceli and stand out for wat i am, knowing that, a lot of my white nieghbours adore me, but ofcourse therz the typical 1z too.

Im part of the Student Executive team in my school (this iz a group of smart yr 11z who take responsibility of certain things to do with the school and help out students and departments within the school). I am the only non-white Student Executive (bcoz my school iz also prominantly white). eeven after being included in the Exec team, i still hav mani people including other student exec's, discriminating against me bcoz im Asian aaand i dont take others making sily racist comments and so on, so jus like iv been doin for a few yrs, i show them wat i am and tell them to get their facts rite b4 saying things.

the main reason why i joined the Student Exec team (and successfully got 2 gr8 posistions) woz to help out younger students, particularly students of the Ethnic Minority, so they dont go thru the horrible racist victimisation and discimination which i have experienced.

*British Muslim*

the people who sacrificed for us were our Prophets (may peace be upon them), then many people from India (the subcontinent) before the partition in 1947 and so on. Now this generation which we r part of r the 1z who need to Stand Up and Speak Up, now iz our time. thas exactli wat iv been doing, and hopefulli others will do too, mani Desi's do alredi, gd gd!

*British Asian* Pakistani

again, the people who had to mayk sacrifices for us hav done their part, now itz our time to make them proud and also to show wat we r about. that duzn mean going against all others, but it duz meen that we need to show people the reality, and mayk them get rid of the stupid stereotypical views of us which they hav.

eeven being on the Exec team, i am still being victimised with racist issues and so on. most people r always gonna put the fact that we r asian first, and then all other things after. knowing that in most cases people r goin to b discriminatory by looking at our skin colour (our tru IDENTITY which we'l never looz) shud let all asians know that we shud b representing nicely and proudly.

being Pakistani, Indian, Bangladeshi, Srilankan and so on shud b sumthing that we r proud of and show off wen ever possible, not sumthing that we try to run away from and hide. being Muslim, or ani other religion shudnt b shameful for us bcoz of certain people destroying the image of our religion.

now iz our time, time for us to correct peoples' wrong images of our religion and background, this generation iz the generation which can mayk the difrence and Inshallah we will.

also whether we r Indian, Pakistani or watever or follow a difrent religion to eachother, after the fact the we r all humans (like my mummy ji says lol) we shud keep in mind that we r all asian and being united iz wat iz gonna get us to the highest and most respectable level in fornt of every one. even tho im onli finishing my GCSEs, i hav seen sooo mani bad things us Asians hav to go throo sumtimes, although this country has given us a lot of excellent things and we hav given it a lot of gr8 stuff too from major asian industrialists and businessmen to asian labour workers, sum people of this place still need to no realise that we play a very big and important part in the UK. we r part of the British culture, but we'r the British *Asian* culture, people need to realise this, hopefulli they will if we r all united and help eachother wenever possible, like wat i am trying my best to do.