"People said horrible things": what Rishi Sunak looked like as a child and why the matter of racism was very painful for him

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was born into an Indo-Aryan family, and as a child he suffered racism even from his mother Usha Sunak, a pharmacist. The woman forced her son to take extra drama lessons to remove his accent. During his childhood and teenage years, strangers also spoke ill of Sunak because of his pronunciation and non-English standard appearance.

The British Prime Minister spoke about his childhood pain in the special project Rishi Sunak: Up Close for ITV. His mother wanted Rishi Sunak to have a proper education and be "like everyone else," so she made him work harder on at least his accent, Daily Mail reports.

"Obviously, I experienced racism as a child. I was with my younger brother and sister in a fast food restaurant in the city, and people were saying some terrible things. The thing about racism is that it affects you in a way that almost nothing else does, right?" Sunak said.

According to him, the parents tried to create conditions so that their children would not be abused. That's why Yashvir Sunak, a doctor, even worked overtime so that his three boys could get an education at the prestigious Winchester College.

"I was very aware of that [the prestige of the college - Ed.] and it was a huge privilege for me. It was hard. Frankly, they took on extra work and loans so that their children could get a great education. This is what Indian families believe in," the British Prime Minister said.

As we have already mentioned, Rishi Sunak's mother wanted her son to not suffer from discrimination, so she made him work harder on his pronunciation.

"One of the things that my mom was obsessed with was that we didn't speak with an accent and that we spoke correctly. So she really wanted us to take extra drama classes and things like that," Sunak said.

The Prime Minister noted that as an adult, he considers possible attacks and discrimination by others to be the problem of the offenders, not his own.

"And I believe that most people in our country are open-minded... And you know, if someone wants to attack someone in politics, I really think that says more about them and their ambitions for our country or lack thereof when it comes to me and where I come from," Ricky Sunak concluded.

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