Friday essay: ‘why is it always on public transport?’ – racist threats have shaped, but not defeated me

By Preeti Maharaj, PhD candidate, education and identity, Victoria University

I am 14. It is 1991. It is a Wednesday. I am in Year 9.

“N—-r! N—-r!”

To get to school in inner-city South Melbourne from Sunbury in the outer northwest, it takes me an hour and a half. I have to catch two trains, a tram and then walk. This is the price for a brown immigrant girl of attending a select-entry girls school.

“N—-r! N—-r!”

I am in my school uniform. I am reading. I glance up and see that everyone is looking at me. I can’t remember how long it takes me to realise that I am the n—-r. I am at the end of the carriage, facing the torrent.…

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