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When we first sat together, none of us knew exactly how to begin. We had come from different parts of Europe, each carrying our own experiences. Our life stories were not identical, but we all knew the feeling of living between cultures and trying to understand where we belonged. As people began to speak, the room changed. Many of us admitted that we had hidden parts of ourselves to avoid standing out. Some had stopped speaking their mother tongue. Others avoided traditional clothing, hairstyles, food as they did not want to invite questions about their African heritage.
A few of us realised we had accepted stereotypes without fully noticing how much they had affected our confidence and mental health. What surprised us was how powerful it felt simply to listen. Someone else’s story could suddenly explain a feeling we had carried for years. The shame became lighter when we understood it was not ours alone. We stopped seeing our struggles as personal weaknesses and began seeing them as shared experiences shaped by racism and exclusion. We realised that our life stories were not only about the pain of racism and hurt of racial trauma, but also the life stories and experiences about courage, resilience, resistance and pride.
They were about African family, humour, legacy, heritage, and culture and the strength passed down through Black communities across the African diaspora. The more we shared, the easier it became to celebrate pride in our Blackness instead of apologising for it. We left those conversations seeing ourselves differently. We understood that only our voices, and narratives can confront and challenge racially prejudiced depictions of Black life and experience and create spaces where we feel seen and respected. Our life stories removed the silence that allows the single story to continue. By embracing our experiences, we build communities where Black youth feel proud of who they are. |
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Published on 31.07.2026 at 11:08 
