Question Time: Mother gives impassioned speech after her son is racially abused

A mother has been praised for an impassioned speech on Question Time after her son was racially abused.

During a discussion about racism in the UK, following the abuse directed at the England football team in Bulgaria, a woman spoke out about her son, who was called a “p***” in a racist attack.

She told the audience:

My son was attacked, even though he is the second generation. He was attacked and he was called a p***. Now you tell me, how does a person take ‘a p***’? What do we say? …

I’m not a p***, he’s not a p***, we’re human beings that are being labelled.

And my son said, ‘Mum, what do I do? I work for security, do I walk around and say no, I am not a p***, I’m a Sikh?’ I said ‘no son, you are a human being.’

The mother went on to talk about the effect of “white supremacy” on BAME people in the UK.

She said:

I was born in this country, my father served in this country, but it is white supremacy that is dividing everybody.

I don’t like being called a w**, I’m a human being – I went to school, I used to be called ‘curry face’. Is that a name? That’s disgraceful. I don’t like it.

We have to abolish all this race hate, colour hate. You and I, everyone here, has the same amount of bones, the same amount of blood. You take my skin off and we’re exactly the same. Where has racism come from?

Her speech was applauded by the Question Time audience and panel, which included health secretary Matt Hancock, with the mother also receiving support on social media.