by John Toscano

Created on: May 31, 2008

Using the standard classification, I suppose I am "a white Caucasian", though I have always found this categorisation rather silly and have consistently refused to tick the box on the occasional form that requires me to give this information. My father was Spanish and my mother English and during my school days in the North-East of England both my Spanish name and my slightly darker than average skin colour attracted a lot of taunts. In those days, dark-skinned people were something of a rarity where I lived and the odd Asian immigrant who came to live in my town would sadly find themselves subjected to a lot of negative attention and overtly racist comments.

I wasn't spared this sorry treatment and had to put up with being called "greasy dago", "wop" and various other unsavoury names. Until writing this article, I had never checked the meaning of either of these words in a dictionary but on consulting the Longman Contemporary English Dictionary, I find that dago is "a very offensive word for someone from Spain, Italy, or Portugal. Do not use this word." Well, I had thought it meant something like that and appreciate the cautionary instruction given, a re-assuring reminder that awareness of these issues has grown. A similar instruction is given in the definition of wop, which is "a very offensive word for someone who is Italian. Do not use this word". Other than in this article, I certainly won't, but I can't help but wondering how twelve year old children picked up these words. Something else happened that makes at least one parent a likely suspect; one boy at school told me that his father, on seeing me in the class photograph, had asked his son if I was a Pakistani immigrant. I don't think he asked this question in a complimentary way.

I don't remember suffering greatly as a result of this name-calling but I think it had the effect of making me want to renounce my Spanish origins and persuade myself and my peers that I was truly "White" and English. I shamefully recall joining in with a group of youths making disgusting racist comments to a waiter at an Indian restaurant, selfishly concerned with being accepted by the group and not even considering the feelings of our unfortunate target.

Thankfully, as I grew up, I found myself in the company of more enlightened people and never repeated such thoughtless and reprehensible behaviour. I became interested in learning more about different cultures and later my work took me to several different African countries,

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>