When You Encounter Racism – You Deserve Support and to Be Heard
Experiencing racism hurts. It can shake your sense of safety, cause fear and hesitation, and affect both your mood and your ability to cope. Racism can be encountered in everyday life – sometimes as an unexpected, isolated incident, sometimes as repeated experiences that linger for a long time. None of these experiences are insignificant, and no one deserves to be treated poorly because of their background, appearance, language, or culture.
What Can Racism Feel Like?
Racism can show up in many ways: discriminatory words, being ignored, being left out, or in structural barriers that affect your life opportunities. Racist situations may evoke:
- Sadness and frustration
- Anger and fear
- Shame and insecurity
- A feeling of not belonging
- Worry that your experience won’t be believed
It is completely understandable if the encounter stays on your mind or if it is difficult to process alone. Many also wonder whether they overinterpreted the situation, or why they couldn’t respond in the moment. These reactions are normal, and they reflect the fact that the situation was wrong and had an impact on you.
Why Is It Sometimes Hard to Talk About Racism?
Talking about racism can be heavy. You may fear that you won’t be taken seriously, or you may have experienced dismissal when sharing your experiences in the past. Many also protect themselves by holding back their feelings or trying to forget what happened. Still, the experiences may linger and affect your wellbeing for a long time.
You do not have to deal with this alone.
What Racism Is – And Why It Is Not Your Fault
Racism is thinking and behaviour that treats people as inferior based on their ethnic background, skin colour, religion, language, or culture. It can appear in the actions of individuals or in societal structures such as employment and housing opportunities, or interactions with authorities.
Phenomena related to racism include:
- Racialisation: making assumptions based on appearance
- Discrimination: unfair treatment without a valid reason
- Othering: subtle exclusion, such as “Where are you really from?”
- Structural racism: systems and practices that put different groups in unequal positions
- Internalised racism: adopting negative stereotypes about one’s own background, which can harm self-esteem
None of this is your responsibility. Your experience does not determine your worth, and no one deserves to be treated worse because of their background.
Support is Available
A person who has experienced racism needs support, and you have the right to receive it. If you want to talk about what happened, how you feel, or how to move forward, the Crisis Helpline is here for you.
Your experience matters.