The Brown Boy from Hawke’s Bay Who Won’t Meet Racism with Anger
Media Story by Anna Vermue, AWAAZ
Image Source: awaaz.co.nz
"My brown skin and my turban were often the first things people saw."
Amanjot Singh was born and brought up along North Island's eastern coast. He realized early in life that the colour of his skin would travel faster than his voice. Much like how light outpaces sound in the cosmic world.
That left the 18-year-old Sikh boy from Hastings with a choice. How should he respond to prejudice? The story of that dilemma, and how he tackled it, is at the centre of a speech that is winning him accolades.
Singh has won the Race Unity Speech Awards in the Hawke's Bay region with his standup titled 'The Courtroom of Life'. He is one of 21 teenagers from across the country who will now compete in the final rounds in Auckland next month.
The awards are conducted by the New Zealand Bahá’í Community. At least 2,000 secondary school students have participated since the competition began in 2001.
The initiative, which celebrates Race Relations Day on March 21 every year, is supported by New Zealand Police, Human Rights Commission and Ministry for Ethnic Communities among others.
The topic of this year's contest is listening to understand. "I like to build a speech around a metaphor," Singh tells Awaaz.
"I thought about the difference between lawyers and judges, which led me to the courtroom idea, it also connects really well with the theme 'listening to understand'."
Singh participated last year too, but he didn't win. "My English teacher introduced me to the speech awards and I like to put myself in uncomfortable situations and public speaking was very much outside my comfort zone that time."
Singh says he decided to participated this year again because he really connected with the theme. "I was very passionate about sharing my own ideas on this topic."
To read more, visit: awaaz.co.nz