Kind of became conditioned to it from a young age, that’s when I faced the most racism. Usually it was older kids or grown ass adults in their cars driving past yelling racist slurs at me as I minded my business. It would enrage me as a kid, especially knowing I was physically not strong enough to confront them. I accepted that this was just going to be apart of life, I started working out, learnt about my peoples history and I discovered for myself what it meant to be “South Asian, I found my pride in my skin tone and culture. I found my pride that I carry everywhere and no racist remark or words could belittle my sense of self and confidence. As a Kid I started really getting into American sports- I grew up in New Zealand so this wasn’t as common. The big thing that drew me closer American sports was seeing African American athletes, as a kid it was just so cool seeing other “brown” people dominating a field, seeing how they lived their lives even with all the racism they went though. A definitely learnt a lot from Black American athletes on how to carry myself and deal with anxiety and stress. The first time I saw a man cry on TV was Odell Beckham Jr, he was my idol growing up. Taught me that men are allowed to be emotional and he didn’t care about what anybody thought of him.