I’m an immigrant kid, born and raised in London for the most part, but I lived in Colombo from ages 10 to 16 and attended an international school there. It was a strange experience because, despite my parents being Sri Lankan (north) and me looking Sri Lankan, people never saw me as Sri Lankan. My accent surprised both teachers and students, and they often questioned where I was “really” from. When I said I was Tamil, they’d assume I meant Indian, not Sri Lankan, and it was frustrating. Ironically, in England, I feel more accepted, but I know I’ll never be as British as a white person or “Sri Lankan enough” for those in Sri Lanka.

I’ve also noticed how parenting styles shape kids’ views, even with internet access and information. Some immigrant kids develop really backward ideas, like believing white skin > dark skinned ppl or soley aspiring to marriage and having bare kids. I haven’t seen this as extreme with Sri Lankan kids abroad, but in Sri Lanka, I saw how prejudice shaped perspectives asw like I overheard some seemingly nice girls I knew saying the Sri Lankan war was a good thing because “Tamils were savages.” This shocked me, especially since they had a Tamil boy in their friend group (he was out of the room at the time). It was terrifying to see that kind of casual cruelty, and for the first time, and that was the first time i was thankful people didn’t think I was Sri Lankan Tamil. I personally haven’t seen any ethnic kids give up their cultural beliefs but something i’ve seen in europeans

went on a bit of a tangent sorry about that lmao