Marli's Movement: Weymouth 12-year-old shares her experiences of racism
What started as a piece of homework is now being turned into a campaign
A 12-year-old from Weymouth has written a poem about the racism she has experienced in her home town.
Marli McNab was born in Dorchester and has a Belizian Dad and a white British Mum.
For a recent piece of homework, she was asked to write about something that she wanted to improve on in the world and change.
Marli started writing about the George Floyd incident, white privilege and how she felt about racism herself.
She told Greatest Hits Radio Dorset what inspired her to write it:
"It was mainly just everything I have seen on the news on a day-to-day basis and what is going in other countries. Then about people putting me down and me working myself to get back up every day."
Vicky McNab is Marli's mum, she says that her daughter has experienced quite a lot of nasty and racial comments:
"I think she's struggled a bit and it has really come to light this year, with everything that's gone on, to realise what she's been through and it has made her ask some questions and revisit those experiences and absorb them and realise that it's not quite right.
"I am extremely proud of what she's done but also quite shocked by what she has written, I maybe overlooked it a bit. There have been incidents and they have been dealt with but I suppose it is the unconscious racism that happens and as a white person, I don't have to think about that in my life."
MARLI'S MOVEMENT
Marli and Vicky are in the process of setting up a community charity that allows them to put on workshops in schools.
They want to educate children about the impacts of racism and teach them about the history of it.
Alex Furhmann, Westham East Councillor told Greatest Hits Radio Dorset that he is supporting the movement.
"As a teacher myself, workshops and education organisations are a great way of engaging, particularly with young people as that's where the energy in society is. Marli's movement is a great opportunity to share practice, speak about those things that are sometimes uncomfortable and when something is uncomfortable to talk about, it means you should probably talk about it.
"I think one, we have to celebrate that there is a young person willing to put herself out there and to expose her feelings and experiences. We should be talking to each other and having those discussions over dinner at the table and with our children, certainly I'll be having them with mine. __
"I just hope this act of bravery and work that she's done can be recognised by the community as an opportunity and learn and think well we might all be predominantly white and we might all not be racist but there are still experiences and things that are happening within our community that we can still help, talk about, discuss and help our children learn."